A Teacher's Guide to Organizational Strategies for Thinking and Writing (Wrinkles in Teaching: A Series of Guidebooks for Teachers)

A Guide to Organizational Strategies for Thinking and Writing offers teachers and students ten patterns for arranging ideas that will expand their repertoire of organizational skills. Each pattern is illustrated by passages that model the strategy, and each is accompanied by an assignment that invites application and practice. Models that encompass a wide range of subjects—literature, history, science, mathematics—are provided for students in the early grades, in middle school, and in high school or college. Teachers will find the first part of the book helpful in planning writing instruction, not just for language arts but for any subject that requires English exposition. Students, from emerging to accomplished writers, will benefit from reading the passages and completing the assignments. The strategies include six basic approaches—chronological, spatial, topical, comparison, contrast, comparison contrast—and four less well-known patterns—traditional narrative, point counterpoint, question-answer, and extended analogy. The book concludes with a lesson in modeling rhythm and rhyme in poetry. Some other key features of this book include: •Ready-to-use assignments •A bonus lesson on modeling rhythm and rhyme •Leads to additional resources •An introduction to modeling prose passages CONTENTS 6 PREFACE 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10 INTRODUCTION 12 PRELIMINARIES 14 THE STRATEGIES 26 APPENDIX A. TEACHING THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES 48 APPENDIX B. SEAGRASS AND SILVER: A LESSON IN MODELING RHYTHM AND RHYME 52 REFERENCES 58 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 60 Ten illustrated patterns for arranging ideas that will expand teachers and students repertoire of organizational skills. Pattern illustrations use both models and mentor texts from a wide range of subjects geared to students of all grades and ages