Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 176
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-4758-4165-7 • Hardback • August 2018 • $77.00 • (£59.00)
978-1-4758-4166-4 • Paperback • August 2018 • $39.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-4758-4167-1 • eBook • August 2018 • $37.00 • (£30.00)
Gregory Berry teaches English at South Salem High School, where he has also served as teacher leader, instructional coach, and department coordinator, and is also an adjunct English instructor at Chemeketa Community College. He received his BA in English, BS in Education, and MS is education from Eastern Oregon University and his doctorate in educational leadership, curriculum, and instruction from Portland State University in 2009. He is the author of Literacy for Learning: A Handbook of Content Area Strategies for Middle and High School Teachers, published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2014 and Cultivating Adolescent Literacy: Standards, Strategies and Performance Tasks for Reading and Writing, published in 2017.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One: The Modes of Writing and Common Core State Standards
Chapter Two: Vocabulary and Academic Language
Chapter Three: Using Writing Rubrics and Scoring Guides to Teach and Evaluate Writing
What are Rubrics?
Critique of Rubrics
Benefits of Rubrics
Sources of Writing Rubrics
Creating Your Own Rubrics
Instructional Uses for Rubrics
Chapter Four: Expository/Explanatory Writing
Chapter Five: Narrative Writing
Chapter Six: Argument Writing
Strategies for Teaching Argument
A Lesson Plan for Argument Writing
An Opposing Viewpoints Argument
Chapter Seven: Research Writing
Viewpoints Essay
The I-Search Paper
Chapter Eight: Timed and On-Demand Writing
Chapter Nine: Using Multimodal Text and Technology to Support Writing
Multimodal Text
Google Classroom
Writing in Online Spaces
A Sample Multimodal Project: Personal Culture Exploration Project
Editing and Grading Programs
About the Author
“Writing is hard work,” and teaching writing to teens…teaching secondary students how to write well is beyond hard work. Stronger Writing Skills for Teens is an exceptional resource for any secondary teacher looking to advance their ability to teach writing. Berry is able to link a brief rationale based upon research to an approach of teaching writing that accounts for Common Core standards and NCTE guidelines. Readers are provided with a plethora of strategies and specific tools to teach basic aspects of writing such as vocabulary and academic language, as well as the more complex processes of teaching a variety of writing styles and providing feedback. Veteran, novice and pre-service teachers will each find something to glean from this book to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and the quality of their student’s writing.
— Aaron Imig, Professor of Education, Director of Graduate Education, Corban University
Stronger Writing Skills for Teens takes the much-needed growth mindset approach to writing—all students can become successful writers given the appropriate instruction, modeling, and practice. Berry combines his own expertise in this field with the work of esteemed colleagues to create a practical, intelligible volume for teachers to use as they facilitate students’ learning and mastery of the Common Core writing standards. Reading Berry’s book is akin to attending an outstanding professional development session where educators return to their classrooms with a vast array of writing strategies and tools that can, and should, be implemented immediately.
— Anne DePiero, Instructional Mentor and AVID Co-Coordinator, South Salem High School
To build robust writing strategies, teachers need Greg Berry's invaluable resource, Stronger Writing Skills for Teens: Modes, Methods, and Materials That Work. This teacher/author surveys Common Core Standards, reviews NCTE guidelines, and offers an overview of best practices for instilling strong vocabulary, academic language, and writing modes in students. His suggestions for effective multi-modal and research writing, including Macrorie's classic I-Search project, provide powerful, useful options. Berry includes a variety of rubrics, activities, self-assessment checklists, and beneficial online tools, backed by his analytic approach to research. Teachers will find Berry’s methodically arranged book indispensable for managing the challenges of teaching writing to teens in the digital age.
— Megan Trow Garcia, Education Consultant and Fulbright New Century Scholar
As a professor of education, I tell all of my pre-service teachers that they are going to have two types of books in their classroom on the shelf behind their desk: those that they used in their teaching programs and will never look at again and those that they will return to again and again to guide their practice. Dr. Berry’s book is one of the latter. In this work, ideas for teaching writing are presented lucidly and with examples, and its organization allows a teacher to easily navigate the work to find a new strategy that will fit their subject, their class, and their teaching personality. Dr. Berry has created the kind of book that a teacher will keep—and use!—for the entirety of their career.
— Jason Niedermeyer, Instructor, School of Education, Western Oregon University; teacher, South Salem High School
Honest, research driven, and thoughtfully organized, this would be a great handbook for any new English teacher to draw from when starting out in the profession. Greg Berry’s Stronger Writing Skills for Teens: Modes, Methods, and Materials That Workprovides teachers with a synthesis of researched and reliable methods for teaching writing. From front-loading vocabulary and concepts, to assessing writing, to latest trends and research, this easy-to-navigate text provides ideas and processes for those looking to refine their craft of the teaching of writing.
— Kari Caulder, Literacy and Language Arts Specialist, Salem-Keizer Public Schools