The Common Core Writing Book, K-5; Lessons for a Range of Tasks, Purposes, and Audiences

“As we work within the Common Core, we must take care to not lose sight of meaningful teaching and learning. In working toward the new standards, kids are going to be doing hard things. But children can still write for reasons that matter. This is not inconsistent with the goals of the Common Core State Standards.”
―Gretchen Owocki

“My goal with The Common Core Writing Book,” writes Gretchen Owocki, “is to support K–5 teachers as they provide differentiated instruction in relation to the ten Common Core writing standards.” Gretchen presents a comprehensive framework of strategies that help you choose the best path for meeting students’ needs and the Common Core standards.

As she did for reading in the bestselling Common Core Lesson Book, Gretchen empowers teachers with information and proven practices. She breaks the writing anchor standards into manageable chunks, emphasizing differentiation, engagement, and writing for authentic purposes. She offers:

• a clear description of what each standard asks from students
• instructional decision trees that connect assessment to planning
• instructional strategies that gradually release responsibility to students
• suggestions for tailoring support to meet students’ individual needs.

“Because effective teaching does not emerge from a mandate, a state office, or a manual,” writes Gretchen Owocki, “we must avoid paths that cast educators as secondary decision makers or that offer quick solutions or static packages.” Whether you turn to The Common Core Writing Book to enhance your current curriculum or to design your own, Gretchen Owocki will help you create instruction that is standards focused and student centered.

Gretchen Owocki powerfully demonstrates the importance of bringing meaningful instruction to not only traditional reading-instruction topics like comprehension, but also to contemporary issues such as Common Core and RTI. In the bestselling titles The Common Core Writing Book, 6-8; The Common Core Reading Book, 6-8; The Common Core Lesson Book, K-5; The Common Core Writing Book, K-5; and The RTI Daily Planning Book, she masterfully breaks down instructional issues and strategies into manageable chunks that help teachers differentiate instruction, meet curricular goals, and improve as practitioners.

For more than 15 years, she has helped teachers find researched-based practices that improve learning by letting students experience curriculum as part of their own development. In other Heinemann titles such as Comprehension; Make Way for Literacy; and Time for Literacy Centers, she shares teaching that engages students through authentic, meaningful tasks and challenges them to grow as readers and writers. A professor at Saginaw Valley State University, Gretchen is a Heinemann Professional Development Services provider.

» Read Gretchen's article "Setting a Course to Maximize the Potential of CCSS" in the Heinemann PD Journal.