Rain, Steam, and Speed: Building Fluency in Adolescent Writers

This book shows how adolescent students at all skill levels, including English learners, can be engaged in systematic writing practice, enabling them to communicate quickly, confidently, and thoughtfully on a variety of topics. In describing their innovative approach, the authors:

• Show how to introduce timed writing exercises to build fluency and thinking skills
• Provide 150 powerful writing prompts on provocative topics
• Offer strategies for enabling students to overcome writing blocks
• Include assessment, grading, and motivational guidance

The approach has been extensively tested by a master teacher, takes about one hour of instructional time per week, and can be used over an entire school year.

Gerald Fleming is an award-winning teacher who has taught the San Francisco Public Schools for over thirty years. He teaches English, social studies, and journalism, and also teaches curriculum and instruction at the University of San Francisco.

Meredith Pike-Baky is a curriculum and assessment coordinator, a teacher educator, and a teacher consultant with the Bay Area Writing Project.