And with a Light Touch: Learning about Reading, Writing, and Teaching with First Graders

With its first edition, ...And with a Light Touch was immediately praised for its authentic portrayal of classroom life and learning. "It's my bible for teaching young children" and "It reads like a novel," said veteran and preservice teachers alike. Those with minimal background in children's literature have found the book a godsend. Every page rings true with the voice of a caring, real-life classroom teacher-one who marvels at what young children can do if given the chance to work in daily reading and writing workshops taught with a sensitive and responsive approach.

Now, Carol Avery offers a second edition, giving more insight and examples of children and a teacher learning together. Since her first edition, Carol has worked extensively in kindergarten and second grade, has had her own fourth- and sixth-grade classrooms, and has watched three grandchildren learn to read and write. Her latest edition incorporates Carol's stories and learning from these new experiences. It also expands sections on crafting writing, phonics instruction, read-alouds, and documenting assessment, and includes an updated bibliography. At the same time, it retains its focus on these major areas, addressed in depth:

• the writing process--structuring daily writing workshops and the development of young writers
  
• the reading process--structuring daily reading workshops and learning to read without a basal reader
  
• children's literature--incorporating children's literature into the daily life of the classroom and stimulating children's responses to literature
  
• classroom environment and tone--organizing and managing the classroom
  
• expanding literacy--reading and writing across the curriculum and a focus on kindergarten
  
• assessment--documenting and reporting student progress.

Throughout, Carol rejects the concept of "one right way" to teach, but believes instead that a responsive environment provides the greatest possibilities for student growth.

As Donald Graves notes, Carol shows "real children in the process of learning to learn". Classroom teachers, preservice teachers, parents, and anyone concerned with young children learning to read and write will appreciate this book for its honest look into a first-grade classroom, both its ups and its downs.

Carol Avery is a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English and is widely respected for her expertise in language arts teaching and for her advocacy of teachers and children. She is the author of ...And With a Light Touch, a book on teaching language arts, which is lauded by classroom teachers and educators for its insightfulness and relevance to classroom practice. She has facilitated hundreds of workshops and presentations for teachers throughout the United States and Canada, as well as several abroad. She has special expertise in children's literature and, in her capacity as a reviewer, recommends the best new books to teachers attending her workshops. Carol has worked as a consultant for schools nationally and internationally, demonstrating reading and writing lessons in K-12 classrooms and sharing stories of her classroom experiences in both suburban and urban schools. She has taught at the elementary, secondary and college levels and also served as a school librarian. She holds a bachelor's degree in library science and masters degrees in elementary education and writing.

Donald H. Graves was a pioneer in literacy education who ultimately revolutionized the way that writing is taught in the United States and around the world. The research study he began in the 1970s at the Atkins Academy, a rural New Hampshire elementary school, would transform writing instruction and launch a new kind of resource: professional books for educators. His bestselling book, Writing: Teachers and Children at Work, challenged teachers to let children's needs and interests, not mandates, guide instruction. For the first time, young children became engaged as writers--not just students learning to write. As they were guided to make the decisions writers make in an authentic writing process, they raised our beliefs about what young writers were capable of.

Don Graves was a teacher, principal, Education Director, and Co-Director of an urban teacher preparation program. He was Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire .

Heinemann proudly published Don's many other titles including A Fresh Look at Writing; A Sea of Faces; The Energy to Teach; Teaching Day By Day; and Inside Writing (coauthored with Penny Kittle). Children Want to Write: Don Graves and the Revolution in Children's Writing, edited by Thomas Newkirk and Penny Kittle, pairs Don's most important writings with recovered video from his classrooms, creating a vivid and surprising portrait of the man still referred to as "the Don."

NCTE's Donald H. Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing is given annually to deserving educators who have shown exemplary understanding and insight on student improvement in writing.

For additional information about Don Graves, see:

• Where It All Started by Tom Newkirk
• A True Friend & a Good Writer by Nancie Atwell
• The Teacher as Learner: The Research of Donald Graves by Mary Ellen Giacobbe