Close Reading in Elementary School


Book Description

The Common Core State Standards encourage teachers to use close reading as a means to help students access complex text. Many literacy experts believe close reading has the power to create strong, independent readers. But what does that really mean, and how does it work in the classroom?This book is your must-have guide to getting started! It provides step-by-step strategies and scaffolds for teaching close reading and improving students’ comprehension of complex texts. You will learn how to teach close reading based on text type, how to transition students through increasingly challenging texts, and how to use close reading as a springboard for close writes and close talks. Special Features: • An easy-to-use framework for creating a close reading lesson • Close reading strategies for a variety of literary and informational subgenres • Ideas for teaching close reading to meet specific comprehension objectives based on the Common Core, including analyzing text structure and evaluating argument • Suggestions for helping students read with increased levels of rigor • A clear explanation of what text complexity really means and how it varies by student • Scaffolds to help students at all ability levels do a close reading • Guidelines and procedures for close talks—purposeful, focused discussions about text • Procedures for close writes that vary based on genre and student ability level In addition, each chapter includes study guide questions to help you apply the ideas in the book to your own classroom. With this practical book, you will have all the tools you need to make close reading a reality!




Reading, Writing, and Rising Up


Book Description

Give students the power of language by using the inspiring ideas in this very readable book.




Reconnecting Reading and Writing


Book Description

Reconnecting Reading and Writing explores the ways in which reading can and should have a strong role in the teaching of writing in college. Reconnecting Reading and Writing draws on broad perspectives from history and international work to show how and why reading should be reunited with writing in college and high school classrooms. It presents an overview of relevant research on reading and how it can best be used to support and enhance writing instruction.




Perspectives on Writing


Book Description

Providing a foundation in which researchers may build future research and theory and in which teachers may design more effective classroom practice, this book presents 12 essays that bring together the contributions of researchers and teacher-scholars to present the significant theory and research related to the writing process. The book is divided into 5 sections: Part One focuses on the development of writing; Part Two addresses the relationship of writing to reading and the ways to which readers effectively respond to informational prose; Part Three discusses the need for development of vocabulary and the technical aspects of writing; Part Four describes the research and theory that inform classroom instruction; and Part Five examines three aspects of a portfolio approach to writing assessment. Essays in the book are: (1) "A New Framework for Understanding Cognition and Affect in Writing" (John R. Hayes); (2) "Writing and the Sea of Voices: Oral Language in, around, and about Writing" (Anne Haas Dyson); (3) "Emergent Writing: A Discussion of the Sources of Our Knowledge" (Judith A. Schickedanz); (4) "Alternative Models of Writing Development" (Arthur N. Applebee); (5) "Writing and Reading Relationships: Constructive Tasks" (Judith A. Langer and Sheila Flihan); (6) "Responding to Informative Prose" (Bonnie B. Armbruster); (7) "Just the Right Word: Vocabulary and Writing" (Dale D. Johnson); (8) "Mental Processes and the Conventions of Writing: Spelling, Punctuation, Handwriting" (Richard E. Hodges); (9) "Writing across the Curriculum" (Richard T. Vacca and Jo Anne L. Vacca); (10) "Teaching Writing in Urban Schools: Cognitive Processes, Curriculum Resources, and the Missing Links--Management and Grouping" (James Flood and Diane Lapp); (11) "Writing and Communication Technologies" (Colette Daiute); and (12) "Writing Portfolios: Activity, Assessment, Authenticity (Robert C. Calfee). Appendixes contain "Rhetoric and Research on Class Size" (Edmund J. Farrell and Juli.




Traditions of Writing Research


Book Description

Traditions of Writing Research reflects the different styles of work offered at the Writing Research Across Borders conference. Organized by Charles Bazerman, one of the pre-eminent scholars in writing studies, the conference facilitated an unprecedented gathering of writing researchers. Representing the best of the works presented, this collection focuses solely on writing research, in its lifespan scope bringing together writing researchers interested in early childhood through adult writing practices. It brings together differing research traditions, and offers a broad international scope, with contributor-presenters including top international researchers in the field The volume's opening section presents writing research agendas from different regions and research groups. The next section addresses the national, political, and historical contexts that shape educational institutions and the writing initiatives developed there. The following sections represent a wide range of research approaches for investigating writing processes and practices in primary, secondary, and higher education. The volume ends with theoretical and methodological reflections. This exemplary collection, like the conference that it grew out of, will bring new perspectives to the rich dialogue of contemporary research on writing and advance understanding of this complex and important human activity.




Learning to Read and Write


Book Description

Originally published in 1986. This is an excellent resourcebook for the holistic teaching of language and the arts. The book works its way through theories of language acquisition and literacy before specifically discussing the role of the arts in literacy education and the integration approach. Each chapter has an extensive annotated bibliography detailing the resources available. The final listing includes both resources for teachers but also the children. Bridging the gap between theory and practice, this sociopsycholinguistic account will be of great use to anyone seeking a better understanding of teaching and learning reading and writing.




Reading Essays


Book Description

Approaches abound to help us beneficially, enjoyably read fiction, poetry, and drama. Here, for the first time, is a book that aims to do the same for the essay. G. Douglas Atkins performs sustained readings of more than twenty-five major essays, explaining how we can appreciate and understand what this currently resurgent literary form reveals about the “art of living.” Atkins’s readings cover a wide spectrum of writers in the English language--and his readings are themselves essays, gracefully written, engaged, and engaging. Atkins starts with the earliest British practitioners of the form, including Francis Bacon, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, and Samuel Johnson. Transcendentalist writers Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson are included, as are works by Americans James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, and E. B. White. Atkins also provides readings of a number of contemporary essayists, among them Annie Dillard, Scott Russell Sanders, and Cynthia Ozick. Many of the readings are of essays that Atkins has used successfully in the classroom, with undergraduate and graduate students, for many years. In his introduction Atkins offers practical advice on the specific demands essays make and the unique opportunities they offer, especially for college courses. The book ends with a note on the writing of essays, furthering the author’s contention that reading should not be separated from writing. Reading Essays continues in the tradition of such definitive texts as Understanding Poetry and Understanding Fiction. Throughout, Atkins reveals the joy, delight, grace, freedom, and wisdom of “the glorious essay.”




Cultivating Literate Citizenry Through Interdisciplinary Instruction


Book Description

The role of literacy instruction extends far beyond traditional English language arts classrooms. Cultivating Literate Citizenry Through Interdisciplinary Instruction delves into the necessary concepts within the realm of literacy across and within various academic disciplines. From the foundational core courses of English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies to enriching extracurricular pursuits like agriculture, theater arts, visual arts, and kinesiology, this book encapsulates the essence of fostering literacy competencies in all domains. This comprehensive resource caters to a diverse audience, spanning preservice and in-service teachers, teacher educators, district and school leaders, and educational researchers. It is a versatile tool, ideal for integrating literacy methods courses focusing on content-area and disciplinary literacy instruction across all age groups. Practicing teachers will find it an invaluable resource for their ongoing professional development, while educational leaders will gain profound insights to inform their instructional support strategies.




"I Hate Reading"


Book Description

It can take a lifetime to eradicate a reader’s shame—or it can take one great teacher Shame-bound readers want someone to notice them. It’s true. But then what does a teacher do to help students? Justin Stygles found fresh answers in Gershen Kaufman’s seminal research on shame and applied it to his teaching. The results proved to him—and now us—that building relationships and taking deliberate actions to alleviate shame is crucial. With this remarkable book, Stygles shows us how to build an interpersonal bridge with students and make vulnerability okay. But make no mistake—disengaged readers need to feel competent before they fully buy in, and so the author packs the book with powerful instructional ideas. Learn to: Spot all the distress signals, including withdrawal, perfectionism, and compliance. Help students see that they are not permanently locked out of a reading life Use assessment instruments to note and celebrate incremental change Plan mini-units that develop skills in concert with engagement Design small group experiences that are free of levels and other shame-inducing labels Pump up independent reading with scaffolding and sociability Harness writing about reading to convince students of their uniqueness. The shame factor is real. It’s time we meet it head on, with innovation and the best thinking from multiple research fields. I Hate Reading is the tool that does just that.