Research shows that high-level, on-site, and ongoing professional development is the surest route to school improvement in literacy, and Regie Routman in Residence delivers it to your school. This trio of DVD-based programs can help all of your teachers reach new levels of expertise in their efforts to raise student achievement and boost test scores—just as it has in pilot programs in Colorado, Tennessee, and Washington state. Each full-year program is based on four foundational beliefs:

1. Change begins with defining common beliefs about teaching and learning. For lasting, schoolwide change and high achievement, teachers across grade levels must develop common beliefs about what student writers are capable of, and which practices best advance children’s writing.
2. An Optimal Learning Model provides an effective, unified model for teaching and learning. Teachers can plan, teach, and assess with greater ease and effectiveness with an Optimal Learning Model, ensuring that teaching always nudges students toward independence.
3. Responsive teaching engages students and raises their achievement. Research indicates that when children write for authentic reasons, achievement goes up. Writing leads to success in reading, so we can raise achievement in both by asking students to write for real audiences and purposes.
4. Applying new ideas leads to lasting, significant change. This is true for students and for teachers. Transforming Our Teaching Through Writing for Audience and Purpose gives teachers consistent opportunities to discuss, analyze, and try out with their students what they’ve seen in each session. By applying what they learn, their teaching is transformed, and so is students’ learning.

Writing for
Audience and Purpose

Reading to Understand