In the Middle: New Understandings about Writing, Reading, and Learning

Front Cover
Boynton/Cook, 1998 - Education - 546 pages

Recommended by the Ontario Ministry of Education

Grades 6-10

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 ofIn the Middleis 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."

From inside the book

Contents

Always Beginning
1
LEARNING HOW TO TEACH READING
27
MAKING THE BEST OF ADOLESCENCE
51
Copyright

19 other sections not shown

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About the author (1998)

Nancie Atwell is the author of several books for teachers including Coming to Know: Writing to Learn in the Intermediate Grades; In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning; and Side by Side: Essays on Teaching to Learn. In these books, Atwell provides practical tips for teaching presented with humor, eagerness, and a love for students. Teachers throughout the country have accepted her theories and implemented them with great success. Parents interested in their children's education can also greatly benefit from her expertise. Atwell learned and perfected her techniques as a teacher of eighth graders for twelve years. She is now the director of Writing to Learn in the Elementary School, part of the Bread Loaf School of English Project.