A comittee of authors
Cambridge University Press
321 pages
2.78 Mb PDF
ISBN-10 978-0-521-77677-6

Literacy is one of the most highly valued cultural resources of contemporary
American society, yet far too many children in the nation’s
cities leave school without becoming sufficiently literate. This
book reports the results of a 5-year longitudinal study in the city of
Baltimore, Maryland, tracing literacy development from prekindergarten
through third grade for a sample of children from low- and
middle-income families of European and African heritage. The authors
examined the intimate culture of each child’s home, defined
by a confluence of parental beliefs, recurrent activities, and interactive
processes, in relation to children’s literacy competencies. Also
examined were teacher beliefs and practices, and connections between
home and school. With its broad-based consideration of the contexts
of early literacy development, the book makes an important contribution
to understanding how best to facilitate attainment of literacy for
children from diverse backgrounds.

This brilliantly lucid and concise study traces China's history and culture from Neolithic times to the present, working into an integrated and authoritative narrative that covers centuries of politics, warfare and government, science and technology, economics and commerce, religion, philosophy, and the arts. Most valuable of all, Dr. Morton illuminates the essential Chinese design, the underlying mental set of the people and the society. He has given approximately equal treatment to all premodern periods, as each has its importance in the evolving history of the Chinese experience, and has illustrated the work with numerous photographs, maps, paintings and drawings and quotations from the literature.

  Features and Benefits

 

• F: Clear examples and model paragraphs
• B: Illustrate organizing elements, such as topics sentences, supporting details, and signal words.

• F: Step-by-step activities
• B: Guide students in major rhetorical forms, such as comparing and contrasting, describing, analyzing data, writing test answers, letter writing, and summarizing.

• F: Varied and contextualized writing opportunities
• B: Assist students with real-life tasks.

• F: Editing and proofreading exercises
• B: Help students perfect their composition skills.

 

Writing Matters is designed to develop students’ writing ability and give them the confidence to use this ability in everyday life. Through extensive use of real-life examples it provides useful models for students and teachers to work from and discuss in the classroom. It emphasises that writing is a process and also that the demands of writing vary depending on the reader, the purpose, the content and the writing situation.