The Write Genre
by Lori Jamison Rog/Paul Kropp
Reviewed by Deana Graham

This combination educational philosophy/teacher resource book is effectively a step by step instruction manual for the craft of teaching writing. Containing a plethora of mini-lessons and dozens of graphic organizers and student work samples, this book is invaluable. As this is the number one resource Iíve discovered at the Oregon Writing Project, I have already ordered a copy for my classroom.

The first three chapters lay a foundation for writing within the classroom, outlining the writing process (with plenty of tips on how to achieve each step), setting up the writing workshop in the classroom, and defining and applying the Six Traits to any classroom setting. These chapters include helpful charts to hang in your classroom and teacher helps like a form for a writing log and a concise scoring rubic for students. One of the more helpful reproducibles is a grade level guide to conventions; what you can expect from students in each grade level between 3^rd and 8^th grades.

The remainder of the book is organized around six writing genres including a personal memoir, fictional narrative, informational report, persuasive (opinion piece), procedural writing (how-to), and poetry. The final chapter introduces the idea of a multi-genre final project. This book could easily be used either as a full year curriculum or used eclectically, to teach a certain genre. The graphic organizers for each genre are excellent and could be used with almost any classroom writing format.

Within each genre the authors provide an entire unit, from immersing students in the genre (with literature lists) to pre-write activities, drafting to editing and publishing. All along the way, mini-lessons that support the writing process in that genre, are provided. These mini-lessons are engaging and hands-on. They often make use of the student examples included in each chapter (saving you the need to scrounge for your own examples-theyíve thought of everything!). Even ideas for sharing or publishing student work are included at the end of each chapter. Oh, and donít forget the superb student checklists they have included for each genre. This checklist is not too long to be overwhelming, but long enough to include all the vital elements of revision in the specific genre. These are excellent and usable ìas isî for most grade levels.

The multi-genre project chapter, included at the end of this resource is intriguing, yet almost overwhelming. Iím not sure if it is a realistic project for elementary, but would love to try it at the middle school level. This idea is reminiscent of a science fair project. Students gather a collection of writing pieces in different genres and text forms, but all focusing on a single theme. Each genre piece reflects a different facet of the theme, combined into a visual presentation such as a display, a scrapbook or a Web site. I believe you would have to devote a LOT of class time to complete this project, but I get excited just thinking about the possibilities.

The Write Genre will be a part of my elementary and middle school writing curriculum. I would highly recommend it for any teacher of writing.