sIn Transforming Our Teaching Through Reading/Writing Connections, Regie Routman shows how to raise students' achievement in reading and writing through a model that interconnects these two literacies. The opening sessions ask teachers to articulate their beliefs about reading and writing and then align them with their practices. Subsequent sessions show how students' literacy understandings are deepened when children's work in writing is used to enhance their reading, and vice versa.sResearch shows that high-level, on-site, and ongoing professional development is the surest route to school improvement in literacy, and Transforming Our Teaching Through Reading/Writing Connections delivers it directly to your teachers.delivers it directly to your teachers.sTransforming Our Teaching Through Reading/Writing Connections is based on four foundational ideas.s1. Change begins with defining common beliefs and setting high expectations about teaching and learning. For lasting, schoolwide change and high achievement, teachers across grade levels must develop common beliefs about what student writers are capable of, and which practices best advance children's writing.s2. An Optimal Learning Model provides an effective, unified model for teaching and learning. Teachers can plan, teach, and assess with greater ease and effectiveness with an Optimal Learning Model, ensuring that teaching always nudges students toward independence.s3. Responsive teaching engages students and raises their achievement. Research indicates that when children write for authentic reasons, achievement goes up. Writing leads to success in reading, so we can raise achievement in both by asking students to write for realaudiences and purposes.s4. Applying new ideas leads to lasting, significant change. This is true for students and for teachers. Transforming Our Teaching Through Writing for Audience and Purpose gives teachers consistent opportunities to discuss, analyze, and try out with their students what they've seen in each session. By applying what they learn, their teaching is transformed, and so is students' learning. gives teachers consistent opportunities to discuss, analyze, and try out with their students what they've seen in each session. By applying what they learn, their teaching is transformed, and so is students' learning.sFor more information on Transforming Our Teaching Through Reading/Writing Connections, visit its companion website, s