Designing Writing AssignmentsPaperback, 21 February 2008

Effective student writing begins with well-designed classroom assignments. In Designing Writing Assignments, veteran educator Traci Gardner offers practical ways for teachers to develop assignments that will allow students to express their creativity and grow as writers and thinkers while still addressing the many demands of resource-stretched classrooms. She explores how to balance pedagogical and curricular goals with the needs of multiple learners while managing everyday challenges such as mandates, testing, and the paper load.

Gardner uses her classroom experience to provide ideas on how to effectively define a writing task, explore the expectations for a composition activity, and assemble the supporting materials that students need to do their best work. This book includes dozens of starting points that teachers can customize and further develop for the students in their own classrooms. A companion website also offers readers resources such as

• complete lesson plans available on www.readwritethink.org
• links to relevant NCTE standards, position statements, and guidelines
• an online bibliography that includes links to related NCTE journal articles
• links to online lesson plans, teaching resource collections, and education policy issues