Bonnie Campbell Hill and Carrie Ekey affirm the good work you’re doing, and inspire you to read further and incorporate new ideas so that you can teach writing even more effectively, intentionally, responsively, and joyfully with cutting-edge ideas in writing instruction.

Two detailed rubrics help you create classrooms in which young writers can flourish:

A rubric for leaders helps principals, staff developers, and literacy coaches ascertain what works at your school and what’s next so that together you can set schoolwide goals and provide time, resources, and professional development opportunities for writing instruction and word study.

A rubric for teachers helps them assess their strengths and areas for growth in teaching writing and word study.

Each chapter walks through one strand of the rubrics and provides opportunities to develop common language and practices for writing instruction and word study:

ponder boxes guide book study, stimulate discussion, and suggest next steps
book lists point the way to further professional learning
classroom photographs and vignettes from exemplary classrooms burst with practical examples and ready-to-use ideas