A Door Opens: Writing in Fifth Grade

By Jack C. Wilde

A Door Opens presents classroom writing practices--teaching poetry, fiction, report writing, persuasive writing, and writing across the curriculum--that Jack Wilde uses in his fifth grade classroom. It provides support, challenges, and points of reference for the reader's conceptualization of a writing classroom.

A Door Opens is an outgrowth of the two worlds Jack Wilde has inhabited for the past twelve years. First and foremost is the world of the public school classroom as a fifth grade language arts and social studies teacher. Second is the adult world of teacher education, specifically the New Hampshire Writing Program. These worlds complement each other: The public school teaching provides the experiences for him to reflect on and present in the summer writing program, and the writing program challenges him to consider and reflect on his classroom teaching. This book is a result of that process.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0435087614
• ISBN13: 9780435087616
• Release Date: March 1993
• Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
• Length: 125 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 9 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 6

Customer Reviews

Great book for teaching writing (and not just 5th grade)!

This book is easy to read and broken into logical chapters, yet still contains a wealth of information. Mr. Wilde walks you thorough his first several years of teaching and shows how his teaching methods evolved way beyond the usual read-and-report style. He also shows how he took a subject he was not very fond of and by incorporating new ideas he not only got his students to enjoy it, he enjoys it, too! (To find out what it is, you'll have to read the book!) He is also very approachable. I reviewed this book for a graduate course, and had a couple of questions I wanted to ask him. I looked him up on the web, found his email, and he responded very quickly. A great book and a super person all in one package ~ what more could a beginning teacher want as a resource? :o)