The Writing Revolution

The Writing RevolutionNOW AVAILABLE:

The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades, by Judith C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler

According to national tests, only about 25% of all students score proficient in writing. In some schools, the percentage is much lower.

Recently adopted state writing standards have ratcheted up expectations, requiring students at almost all grade levels to write not just simple narratives but also complex informative and argumentative essays. That’s a welcome development. But there’s been little reliable guidance on how to teach those skills. The standards tell teachers where their students should end up but don’t provide the road map that can get them there.

The Writing Revolution (TWR) offers just such a road map. It provides a clear, coherent, evidence-based method of instruction that teachers can use with any grade level or subject matter. The model, also known as the Hochman Method, has demonstrated, over and over, that it can turn weak writers into strong communicators by focusing on specific techniques that match their needs and providing them with targeted feedback.

Insurmountable as the challenges faced by many students may seem, TWR can make a dramatic difference. And the method does more than improve writing skills. It also helps:

▪ Identify comprehension gaps

▪ Boost reading comprehension

▪ Improve organizational and study skills

▪ Enhance speaking abilities

▪ Develop analytical capabilities

TWR is as much a method of teaching content as it is a method of teaching writing. There’s no separate writing block and no separate writing curriculum. Instead, teachers of all subjects adapt TWR strategies and activities to their preexisting curriculum and weave them into their content instruction.

But perhaps what’s most revolutionary about TWR’s method is that it takes the mystery out of learning to write well. The method lets students in on the secret. It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content.

Read about the changes the method helped spark at one low-performing high school in this Atlantic magazine article.

Read an excerpt from the book and an interview with the authors.

Click here to order The Writing Revolution.

And visit the website of The Writing Revolution, a nonprofit organization, to learn more about the method and how you can help bring it to more schools, teachers, and students.