Book excerpt: This bestselling resource has been fully updated, putting formative assessment at the heart of the Talk for Writing process and showing how to help children love writing across the curriculum. By helping children speak the language of non-fiction in a fun engaging way before they attempt to write, the Talk for Writing approach builds children's confidence and linguistic ability enabling them to craft their own writing. In the new edition, this practical resource offers: • Fully worked, tried and tested examples of how to apply Talk for Writing to each non-fiction text type • A wide range of fun activities helping children internalise how to express and link text effectively • A process that co-constructs learning so that children learn how to structure text and create toolkits of key ingredients • Guidance for teachers in England on how to apply the approach across the primary curriculum • An OLC including new footage of Pie Corbett demonstrating Talk for Writing and new footage of classes engaged in the approach • Advice on how to use the DVD and handouts to train all staff in the approach • Evidence of impact from cold to hot tasks Designed for busy teachers, Talk for Writing across the Curriculum, second edition, will help transform children's writing and attainment across the curriculum. "This book celebrates the importance of talk in becoming and growing as a writer: talk to share ideas; talk to analyse text; talk to co-construct writing; and to talk to evaluate writing. Throughout the book constantly underlines the importance of talk for learning and the many creative and rich ways talk can be used to help young writers internalise the rhythms and patterns of text. Full of practical ideas and activities, the teaching combines being creative and being critical in a wholly integrated way. An invaluable resource for primary school teachers!" Debra Myhill, Professor of Education at the University of Exeter, UK "The teaching of reading has always taken priority in policy and practice in literacy. Pie Corbett and Julia Strong have produced a very welcome counterweight to that dominance in their Talk for Writing Across the Curriculum. It is so refreshing to see suggestions for teaching to bring elements of language together, especially when done in such an entertaining and engaging way as this. This new edition makes a 'classic' even better." David Wray, Emeritus Professor, University of Warwick, UK "This latest update of Pie and Julia's best-selling book reflects changes in the curriculum, strengthening the T4W approach, using cold and hot tasks, showing new worked examples of how to apply T4W to each non-fiction type and placing formative assessment at the heart of the process. It is exciting to see how all the best ideas and findings in education are converging, evidenced in this latest 'up to the minute' excellent publication." Shirley Clarke, Formative Assessment Expert