A Student's Guide to Academic and Professional Writing in Education

This concise handbook helps educators write for the rhetorical situations they will face as students of education, and as preservice and practicing teachers. It provides clear and helpful advice for responding to the varying contexts, audiences, and purposes that arise in four written categories in education: classroom, research, credential, and stakeholder writing. The book moves from academic to professional writing and chapters include a discussion of relevant genres, mentor texts with salient features identified, visual aids, and exercises that ask students to apply their understanding of the concepts. Readers learn about the scholarly and qualitative research processes prevalent in the field of education and are encouraged to use writing to facilitate change that improves teaching and learning conditions.

Book Features:

• Presents a rhetorical approach to writing in education.
• Includes detailed student samples for each of the four major categories of writing.
• Articulates writing as a core intellectual responsibility of teachers.
• Details the library and qualitative research process using examples from education.
• Includes many user-friendly features, such as reflection questions and writing prompts.

Katie O. Arosteguy, Alison Bright, and Brenda J. Rinard are senior lecturers in the University Writing Program at the University of California, Davis, where they teach professional writing, including a course on writing in education. They are all National Writing Project Teacher-Consultants.

"This text is accessible, student-friendly, and organized in a way that will support readers’ learning...can help teachers at any stage of their career to grow as writers. It can also help teacher-writers become the kind of teachers who reflect on their pedagogical choices and who write as a way to improve the conditions for all teachers and students."

—Teachers College Record

“Helping teacher candidates with the vast variety of writing formats and requirements is important work. The authors have done a very good job of covering almost all the bases.”

—The Texas Forum of Teacher Education

“At the heart of A Student's Guide to Academic and Professional Writing in Educationis a commitment to the value of teachers’ voices—that what teachers write matters, whether it be classroom writing, research writing, credential writing, or stakeholder writing. And it is this hopeful potential of teaching writing to aspiring teachers that underscores the value of teaching writing across the disciplines and into the community today."
―From the Foreword by Mya Poe, director of the Writing Program, Northeastern University

“My favorite thing about this book is that it acknowledges that educators write in the first place. The writing of teachers and other educators is such an important tool not only for teaching but for professional learning, for reflection, and for advocacy. This book is one tool to help prospective educators embrace all the writing that is to come.”
—Anne Elrod Whitney, Penn State College of Education

“To fulfill the promise in their title, the authors needed to be experts in writing studies, teacher education, and K–12 teaching; Arosteguy, Bright, and Rinard clearly have the necessary expertise and experience. Their guide, which is grounded in rhetorical analysis and genre study, will help student writers, not only as they become teachers but also as they teach and live in the world. Providing a mini-course in educational research, the book is useful across a number of courses and points in a credential program or on the learning-to-teach continuum. Like all the best teaching, the instruction offered emerges from work with students. The authors know the questions students might ask and the places where they might misstep. The book is supportive, analytical, logically sequenced, clear, and student friendly. Promise fulfilled.”
—Tim Dewar, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, UC Santa Barbara

Contents

Foreword by Mya Poe

Preface

Acknowledgments

PART I: ACADEMIC WRITING 

Chapter 1. The Educational Landscape: How and Why Educators Write
   Writing in Education Is Rhetorical
   Genres as Responses to Rhetorical Situations
   The Role of Reflective Writing in Education
   Types of Writing in Education: How this Guide Is Organized
   Conclusion

Chapter 2. Style Issues in Writing in Education
   Understanding the Hierarchy of Rhetorical Concerns
   Avoiding Bias in Your Writing
   Writing Concisely and Clearly
   Exercises

Chapter 3. Writing the Reading Response
   Examining the Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, Audience, Context, Voice, and Genre
   Preparing to Write the Reading Response: Engaging Your Active Reading Skills
   Writing a Reading Response: Summarizing the Reading 
   Writing a Reading Response: Formulating Your Response
   A Sample Reading Response
   Exercises

Chapter 4. Writing with Scholarly Sources: Annotated Bibliographies and Research Papers
   Examining the Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, Audience, Context, Voice, and Genre
   What Is Education Research?
   Types of Education Research
   The Scholarly Research Process
   Write an Annotated Bibliography
   Draft the "Issue in Education" Paper
   Exercises

Chapter 5. Writing with Qualitative Data: Field Logs, Observation Write-ups, Profiles, and Case Studies
   Examining the Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, Audience, Context, Voice, and Genre
   Writing a Field Log
   Using the Field Log to Compose the Observation Write-Up
   Writing the Educator Profile
   Writing a Case Study
   Conducting Action Research
   Exercises 

PART II: PROFESSIONAL WRITING 

Chapter 6. Writing Lesson Plans
   Examining the Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, Audience, Context, Voice, and Genre
   Knowing Your Teaching Environment in Order to Write an Effective Lesson Plan
   Designing Your Lesson Plan 
   Exercises

Chapter 7. Writing Teaching Philosophies
   Examining the Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, Audience, Context, Voice, and Genre
   Before You Write Your Teaching Philosophy
   Writing the Teaching Philosophy
   Exercises

Chapter 8. Writing Critical Reflections
   Examining the Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, Audience, Context, Voice, and Genre
   Teaching Portfolio Assessments: Demonstrating Teacher Readiness
   The edTPA Format
   Writing Critical Reflections in Formal Annual Evaluations
   Writing Critical Reflections for Professional Growth
   Exercises

Chapter 9. Writing Proposals for Educational Policy Change
   Examining the Rhetorical Situation: Purpose, Audience, Context, Voice, and Genre
   Using Different Genres to Write for Change
   How to Write a Proposal for Policy Change
   Writing the Proposal
   Exercises

Chapter 10. Crediting Sources in APA Style 
   Why to Use Sources: Building Knowledge in the Field
   How Does APA Style Differ from Formatting Styles You Already Know?
   Effective Methods for Integrating Sources and Supporting Arguments
   APA Documentation: Crediting Sources

Conclusion