Modes in Focus is the latest in a collection of writing resources from leading writing expert and educator Ruth Culham in collaboration with co-author and literacy specialist Libby Jachles.
To learn more about this new resource, visit the Scholastic Teacher Store.
Available for grades K–5, Modes in Focus is designed to support educators in teaching narrative, informational, and opinion writing. While writing traits focus on how students write, writing modes focus on what students write.
This new resource helps support writing instruction by linking mentor texts to the modes of writing and providing model lessons that help students develop the skills needed to write clearly. The kits for each grade level come complete with ready-to-use lessons, mentor texts by contemporary children’s authors and new releases, teaching guides and tools tailored to the varied needs and interests of students, in addition to a companion site with resources, videos, downloadables, and more.
Each mode is organized into three key qualities that provide a spiraling skills approach to teaching and learning each mode over time: for narrative writing – plot, character, and setting; for informational writing – facts and details, structure and features, and clarity and focus; for opinion writing – claim/opinion, evidence, and logic.
There is also a detailed Getting Started Handbook which includes information on how to use the materials for distance learning if needed, along with a copy of Ruth Culham’s Teach Writing Well.
Photo (c): Deyan Georgiev/Shutterstock
