Grades K-2

In their popular About the Authors, Katie Wood Ray and Lisa Cleaveland show that with thoughtful instruction, even the youngest students can create dazzling writing. Now with The Teaching Behind About the Authors, Katie is your guide on a tour of Lisa's writing workshop, where you'll come face to face with emerging writers and see for yourself how smart, organized, high-powered teaching helps ignite a passion for writing.

Katie presents insightful commentary as she tracks Lisa's instructional moves, interpreting the broad themes and the nuanced moments of Lisa's whole-class teaching and closing shares. Ray and Cleaveland show the predictable, unified ways of thinking and talking that help children develop important habits of mind over time.

Tied to the units of study contained in About the Authors and shot during real, unstaged school days–complete with the interruptions and typical classroom happenings that every teacher must navigate–The Teaching Behind About the Authors conveys what actually happens in active writing workshops. It offers a context for true professional learning with a model of excellent instruction, including the language you need for success with our youngest writers, and a helpful guide to support your viewing experience.