Teaching Idea Development

Book excerpt: Idea development is a concrete skill that can be taught in a systematic way. This step-by-step guidebook provides educators in all content areas with the tools they need to help students think more critically and write with more fully developed ideas. The guide (authored by instructors with the Kentucky Writing Program) offers the reading-writing-thinking sequences that successful writers use when developing ideas. It contains ideas teachers can implement immediately in intermediate, middle, or secondary schools. The strategies and tactics offered in the guide are designed to work in the current rigorous, standards-based school environment, to provide results that are both successful and measurable. The guide explores the theory and practice of implementing idea development in the classroom, from identifying and solving common idea-development problems to strategies for teaching essential writing skills, including: description; comparison and contrast; cause and effect; dialogue; anecdotes; and vignettes. (Contains 21 references.) (NKA)