Why Jane and John Couldn't Read--and how They Learned


Book Description

Although there is broad agreement about the major components of good reading instruction, many students continue to struggle with reading, and some never achieve high levels of literacy. This book presents an interest-driven model of reading that focuses on students' strengths and abilities, not their deficits.




The Secret History of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Brontë Wrote Her Masterpiece


Book Description

The surprising hidden history behind Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Why did Charlotte Brontë go to such great lengths on the publication of her acclaimed, best-selling novel, Jane Eyre, to conceal its authorship from her family, close friends, and the press? In The Secret History of Jane Eyre, John Pfordresher tells the enthralling story of Brontë’s compulsion to write her masterpiece and why she then turned around and vehemently disavowed it. Few people know how quickly Brontë composed Jane Eyre. Nor do many know that she wrote it during a devastating and anxious period in her life. Thwarted in her passionate, secret, and forbidden love for a married man, she found herself living in a home suddenly imperiled by the fact that her father, a minister, the sole support of the family, was on the brink of blindness. After his hasty operation, as she nursed him in an isolated apartment kept dark to help him heal his eyes, Brontë began writing Jane Eyre, an invigorating romance that, despite her own fears and sorrows, gives voice to a powerfully rebellious and ultimately optimistic woman’s spirit. The Secret History of Jane Eyre expands our understanding of both Jane Eyre and the inner life of its notoriously private author. Pfordresher connects the people Brontë knew and the events she lived to the characters and story in the novel, and he explores how her fecund imagination used her inner life to shape one of the world’s most popular novels. By aligning his insights into Brontë’s life with the timeless characters, harrowing plot, and forbidden romance of Jane Eyre, Pfordresher reveals the remarkable parallels between one of literature’s most beloved heroines and her passionate creator, and arrives at a new understanding of Brontë’s brilliant, immersive genius.




Literacy and Learning in the Content Areas


Book Description

The Fourth Edition of Literacy and Learning in the Content Areas: Enhancing Knowledge in the Disciplines provides readers with the knowledge, motivation, tools, and confidence for integrating literacy in their disciplinary classrooms. Offering an original, literature-based approach to teaching disciplinary literacy, the new edition shares important ways in which teachers of courses in the disciplines can enhance student learning of subject matter and skills while also fostering their growth in the many facets of literacy. Throughout each chapter, Kane provides engaging and creative strategies and activities to make literacy come alive in discipline-specific courses and to encourage students to explore and learn in the classroom. Embedded in each chapter are examples, resources, and strategies to help readers actively engage with and implement literacy practices. These features include Teaching in Action examples by subject area; Activating Prior Knowledge activities to stimulate critical thinking to prepare readers to learn complex theoretical and conceptual material about teaching, learning, and literacy; and end-of-chapter Application Activities to apply field experiences to classroom use. New to the Fourth Edition Every chapter of this new edition is updated to reflect the current approaches, standards, and benchmarks for discipline-specific literacy. Enhanced Companion Website with BookTalks to introduce relevant books in many genres and subjects, encouraging readers to explore the books for themselves and providing a model for BookTalks in their own classrooms. Expanded practical instructional strategies for teaching literacy in math, science, and social studies. Updated to include newly published titles in children’s literature, young adult literature, and nonfiction.




Literacy Assessment and Instructional Strategies


Book Description

Literacy Assessment and Instructional Strategies prepares literacy educators to conduct reading and writing assessments and develop appropriate corrective literacy strategies for use with their grade K–5 students. Connecting Common Core Literacy Learning Standards to effective strategies and creative activities, the book includes authentic literacy assessments and formal evaluations to support reading teaching in the elementary classroom. Initial chapters discuss literacy assessment and evaluation, data-driven instruction, high-stakes testing, and instructional shifts in teaching reading, while later chapters focus on the latest instructional and assessment shifts, including pre-assessing literacy knowledge bases, using informational texts for vocabulary development, and close reading of text. Written by reading practitioners and researchers, this book is a must-have for novices as well as for veteran classroom teachers who want to stay on top of changing literacy trends.




Me . . . Jane


Book Description

Patrick McDonnell-beloved, bestselling author-artist and creator of the Mutts syndicated comic strip--shares the inspiring story of young Jane Goodall, the legendary and inspiring conservationist featured in the hit documentary film Jane. In his characteristic heartwarming style, Patrick McDonnell tells the story of the young Jane Goodall and her special childhood toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. As the young Jane observes the natural world around her with wonder, she dreams of "a life living with and helping all animals," until one day she finds that her dream has come true. With anecdotes taken directly from Jane Goodall's autobiography, McDonnell makes this very true story accessible for the very young--and young at heart. One of the world's most inspiring women, Dr. Jane Goodall is a renowned humanitarian, conservationist, animal activist, environmentalist, and United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), a global nonprofit organization that empowers people to make a difference for all living things.




Reading Strategies for Social Studies


Book Description

Help students read about social studies content and build their historical thinking skills! This 2nd edition resource was created to support College and Career Readiness Standards, and provides an in-depth research base about content-area literacy instruction, including key strategies to help students read and comprehend historical content. Each strategy includes classroom examples by grade ranges (1-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12) and necessary support materials, such as graphic organizers, templates, or digital resources to help teachers implement quickly and easily. Specific suggestions for differentiating instruction are also provided to help English language learners, gifted students, and students reading below grade level.




Reading Strategies for Fiction


Book Description

Help your students develop the reading skills they need to succeed with this timely resource! This book provides teachers with standards-based strategies to help students navigate the complexities of literature as they learn fiction-related concepts in the language arts classroom. This book offers detailed strategies for using graphic organizers, developing vocabulary, predicting and inferencing, understanding text structure and features, and using text evidence to support understanding. The strategies also help prepare students for success in college and careers. Classroom examples and differentiation suggestions with every strategy provide clear models for success!




Reading Strategies for Science


Book Description

Help students read about science content and build their scientific thinking skills! This 2nd edition resource was created to support College and Career Readiness Standards, and provides an in-depth research base about content-area literacy instruction, including key strategies to help students read and comprehend scientific content. Each strategy includes classroom examples by grade ranges (1-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12) and necessary support materials, such as graphic organizers, templates, or digital resources to help teachers implement quickly and easily. Specific suggestions for differentiating instruction are also provided to help English language learners, gifted students, and students reading below grade level.




Reading, Writing, and Rhythm: Engaging Content-Area Literacy Strategies


Book Description

Rhythm, rhyme, and rap are powerful hooks that spark students' interests and engage them in learning. This innovative resource provides effective strategies for incorporating rhyme and rhythm-based activities and lessons into Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Math instruction. Through the use of music, singing, student- and teacher-created raps, Reader's Theater, Freeze Frames, and historical songs, students will develop their literacy skills, master content-specific knowledge, and be more likely to retain information while meeting standards goals.




The Victims of "Dick and Jane" and Other Essays


Book Description

With the bankruptcy of modern education and the fallout of years of state controlled public schools, today's students are best indentified as "victims" rather than pupils. In this collection of essays Samuel Blumenfeld discloses the epidemic of humanistic educational theory and provides a clear way out to a truly biblical form of education. Written over a period of 20 years these essays will equip you with a comprehensive Christian view of education along with an easy to understand analysis of the degradation of public education. Book jacket.