In the Middle: New Understanding About Writing, Reading, and Learning
Nancie Atwell reflects on the ten years of her teaching experience since writing the first edition of the seminal work, In the Middle.
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When first published in 1987, this seminal work was widely hailed for its honest examination of how teachers teach, how students learn, and the gap that lies in between. In depicting her own classroom struggles, Nancie Atwell shook our orthodox assumptions about skill-and-drill-based curriculums and became a pioneer of responsive teaching. Now, in the long awaited second edition, Atwell reflects on the next ten years of her experience, rethinks and clarifies old methods, and demonstrates new, more effective approaches. The second edition still urges educators to "come out from behind their own big desks" to turn classrooms into workshops where students and teachers create curriculums together. But it also advocates a more activist role for teachers. Atwell writes, "I'm no longer willing to withhold suggestions and directions from my kids when I can help them solve a problem, do something they've never done before, produce stunning writing, and ultimately become more independent of me." More than 70 percent of the material is new, with six brand-new chapters on genres, evaluation, and the teacher as writer. There are also lists of several hundred minilessons, and scripts and examples for teaching them; new expectations and rules for writing and reading workshops; ideas for teaching conventions; new systems for record keeping; lists of essential books for students and teachers; and forms for keeping track of individual spelling, skills, proofreading, homework, writing, and reading. The second edition of In the Middle is written in the same engaging style as its predecessor. It reads like a story - one that readers will be pleased to learn has no end. As Atwell muses, "I know my students and I will continue to learn and be changed. I am resigned - happily - to be always beginning for the rest of my life as a teacher." Booknews Atwell, founder and teacher at a K-8 demonstration school in Maine, urges middle school educators to come out from behind their desks and turn classrooms into workshops where students and teachers create the curriculum together. Includes several hundred mini-lessons with scripts and examples for teaching them, ideas for teaching conventions, and systems for record keeping. Seventeen appendices offer forms for keeping track of individual student work, and lists of favorite adolescent literature. This second edition contains new chapters on genres, evaluation, and the teacher as writer. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
ForewordAcknowledgmentsSect. IAlways Beginning1Ch. 1Learning How to Teach Writing3Ch. 2Learning How to Teach Reading27Ch. 3Making the Best of Adolescence51Sect. IIWriting and Reading Workshop87Ch. 4Getting Ready89Ch. 5Getting Started118Ch. 6Minilessons148Ch. 7Responding to Writers and Writing217Ch. 8Responding to Readers and Reading262Ch. 9Valuing and Evaluating299Sect. IIITeaching with a Capital T329Ch. 10Taking Off the Top of My Head331Ch. 11Call Home the Child: Memoir370Ch. 12Hanging with Big Sis: Fiction393Ch. 13Finding Poetry Everywhere415Ch. 14Taking Care of Business455App. AMaterials for Writing, Reading, and Publishing485App. BWays Student Writers Can Go Public489App. CKinds of Writing That Emerge in Writing Workshop492App. DWriting Survey494App. EReading Survey495App. FStudent Writing Record/Sample Record496App. GStudent Reading Record/Sample Record498App. HPersonal Spelling List/Sample List501App. IWeekly Word Study/Sample Study503App. JPeer Writing Conference Record505App. KEditing Checksheet506App. LFavorite Adolescent Literature507App. MFavorite Collections of Poetry516App. NQuotes for the Walls of a Writing-Reading Workshop519App. OFinal Self-Evaluation of Writing and Reading522App. PWeekly Homework Assignment Sheet525App. QRecommended Resources for Teachers of Middle School Writing, Reading, and Literature526Bibliography531Index537
\ BooknewsAtwell, founder and teacher at a K-8 demonstration school in Maine, urges middle school educators to come out from behind their desks and turn classrooms into workshops where students and teachers create the curriculum together. Includes several hundred mini-lessons with scripts and examples for teaching them, ideas for teaching conventions, and systems for record keeping. Seventeen appendices offer forms for keeping track of individual student work, and lists of favorite adolescent literature. This second edition contains new chapters on genres, evaluation, and the teacher as writer. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.\ \
