Ask successful writers and they’ll tell you, the key to writing well is revision. Ask elementary school teachers and they’ll tell you, the real challenge of writing instruction is teaching kids how to revise. Ruth Culham is both a successful writer and a writing teacher, and she’s discovered how to teach writing and revision in a way that’s accessible to both teacher and students: First read the writing, assess it using the traits of writing, then teach the writers and guide revision decisions using traits as a common language and map.

This book shows you how to assess and teach writing in a way that’s practical and doable—and best of all, see results. Traits-based revision lies at the heart of this book, as it’s been at the heart of Ruth’s career in writing instruction. Rethinking revision is what will ultimately help you to teach writing well.