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Thinking Through Genre: Units of Study in Reading and Writing Workshops Grades 4-12
Being able to read and write in a variety of genres is a common requirement for today's students. Thinking Through Units of Study in Reading and Writing Workshops 4-12 supports English teachers who seek to engage their students in genre studies in the reading and writing workshop. The book profiles six different units of memoir, feature article, editorial, short story, fairy tale, and response to literature. Each study is set in an individual fifth- through tenth-grade classroom and is described from its theoretical foundations, through the planning for the specific needs of the students, to the teaching, and finally evaluation. Each chapter The classroom-focused nature of this book brings each study to life while simultaneously encouraging readers to borrow, adapt, and change the ideas for their own classrooms. Whether teaching one of the genres profiled here or applying principles to a different unit of study, this book offers clear, research-based, pedagogically sound models that will be appreciated by teachers incorporating genre studies into their reading and writing workshops.
306 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 28, 2013
I read this book because I'm going to teach 8th grade for the first time after 5 years teaching upper high school. I noticed a lot of middle school curricula organized by genre, and I wanted to know why. Lattimer teaches genre as inquiry-based studies of text forms, which students can "leave owning their knowledge." Students read many, many examples of each genre, discover its characteristics for themselves, use pieces as models for their own writing in different genres, and integrate genre knowledge into their own schema that they can apply when reading future texts.
The book is pretty stellar. I like how the genre studies build off each other and how each chapter includes a lot of real teacher talk, real student comments in response to lessons, and the teacher's thought process as she made decisions about what to teach next based on students' developing understanding. Also, real students' writing samples are included, which could be very useful to use as models in one's own classroom.
There were some things that frustrated me about this book, though they are more complaints about the working conditions of teachers than the book's overall quality:
1. It was frustrating to read about how much time these teachers put into reading multiple drafts of student writing, having individual writing conferences with students, prepping materials, and modeling their own writing process for the class. It made me feel like a bad teacher for not having the time to do all those best practices all the time (I teach 5 preps!). It's important to remember that these units were developed with two teachers working together, not by one teacher alone in the classroom.
2. The book presumes a familiarity with reader's notebooks and writing workshops. My students annotate and respond to literature and each other's writing all the time, but I've never used notebooks. This book refers to students' reading notebooks often, but doesn't explain how they're set up.
3. The genres covered are all short texts (articles, fairy tales, short stories, etc.), which poses the challenge of finding materials. The book gives many recommendations of publications, anthologies, and other sources of texts, but once again, the problem of time. How will I find enough to seek, read, and anthologize all those texts for myself?
4. Finally, I wish the book had more graphic organizers that could be adapted for classroom use. Rubrics are included for some but not all of the units (Lattimer says she creates them with her students, but never describes how this process works). Of course, this is inquiry-based teaching, so it's not about worksheets, and reading through the unit and lesson descriptions, you get a clear picture of what was done in the classroom. However, that means it takes time to read this book. It took me a month, even though I was on summer vacation. It was totally worth it, but definitely not something I would recommend reading during the school year if you need something for immediate implementation.
Like I said, these aren't criticisms of the book, just things I think any teacher should be aware of when s/he picks it up. The book is excellent, and I plan to draw on it heavily as I organize my 8th grade curriculum.
The book is pretty stellar. I like how the genre studies build off each other and how each chapter includes a lot of real teacher talk, real student comments in response to lessons, and the teacher's thought process as she made decisions about what to teach next based on students' developing understanding. Also, real students' writing samples are included, which could be very useful to use as models in one's own classroom.
There were some things that frustrated me about this book, though they are more complaints about the working conditions of teachers than the book's overall quality:
1. It was frustrating to read about how much time these teachers put into reading multiple drafts of student writing, having individual writing conferences with students, prepping materials, and modeling their own writing process for the class. It made me feel like a bad teacher for not having the time to do all those best practices all the time (I teach 5 preps!). It's important to remember that these units were developed with two teachers working together, not by one teacher alone in the classroom.
2. The book presumes a familiarity with reader's notebooks and writing workshops. My students annotate and respond to literature and each other's writing all the time, but I've never used notebooks. This book refers to students' reading notebooks often, but doesn't explain how they're set up.
3. The genres covered are all short texts (articles, fairy tales, short stories, etc.), which poses the challenge of finding materials. The book gives many recommendations of publications, anthologies, and other sources of texts, but once again, the problem of time. How will I find enough to seek, read, and anthologize all those texts for myself?
4. Finally, I wish the book had more graphic organizers that could be adapted for classroom use. Rubrics are included for some but not all of the units (Lattimer says she creates them with her students, but never describes how this process works). Of course, this is inquiry-based teaching, so it's not about worksheets, and reading through the unit and lesson descriptions, you get a clear picture of what was done in the classroom. However, that means it takes time to read this book. It took me a month, even though I was on summer vacation. It was totally worth it, but definitely not something I would recommend reading during the school year if you need something for immediate implementation.
Like I said, these aren't criticisms of the book, just things I think any teacher should be aware of when s/he picks it up. The book is excellent, and I plan to draw on it heavily as I organize my 8th grade curriculum.
July 5, 2012
The author really opened my eyes to better see how to connect reading and writing. I appreciated the reminder to create units of study beyond fiction and non-fiction, to more focused authentic reading and writing purposes, especially with non-fiction. For example, students can explore author's purpose, position, questioning the text, developing an opinion and supporting that opinion through a study of reading editorials and then composing their own.
Beyond providing some nice examples of genre units, it provided me an overview and guide on how to plan my own units.
Last big take away...
A years progression in units can vary according to student needs or curriculum. Therefore, some units may be genre based and other short units may be more focused to a particular skill/strategy. Towards the end of the year, a teacher can choose more multi-genre studies focused on a particular author, topic, or theme.
Beyond providing some nice examples of genre units, it provided me an overview and guide on how to plan my own units.
Last big take away...
A years progression in units can vary according to student needs or curriculum. Therefore, some units may be genre based and other short units may be more focused to a particular skill/strategy. Towards the end of the year, a teacher can choose more multi-genre studies focused on a particular author, topic, or theme.
May 23, 2010
Very practical book on teaching the genre-study approach in secondary classrooms. Lattimer found a good balance between a general sense of the genre study, specific lesson ideas, and illustrative examples at a variety of levels. I like how she focuses on authentic products (e.g., book reviews, feature articles) instead of school-based "genres" like essays or literary response.
Read
December 21, 2010I'm marking this as "read" but I have never actually read it cover to cover. Its just a nice book to have around as you think about teaching different genres of reading and writing and can be a great source of ideas.
June 14, 2009
.... about the most boring redundant book I've had to read for one of my grad classes
January 8, 2011
FANTASTIC book. Someone stole mine though. ahhhh
January 29, 2012
Outstanding book with detailed lesson ideas that integrate reading and writing.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews