Genre-Based Strategies to Promote Critical Literacy in Grades 4–8


Book Description

Draws on critical and radical change theory to equip both aspiring and practicing library and teacher candidates with practical, research-based ideas for enacting critical literacy practices in middle grade libraries and classrooms. Genre Based Strategies to Promote Critical Literacy in Grades 4-8 provides strategies and lesson plans with additional resources and tools for school librarians and teachers to engage middle grade students in reading children's literature through a critical literacy lens. To be critically literate readers and thinkers, students must learn to question what they read, asking themselves who wrote the text, why the text was written, and how the text positions its readers and others. Teaching students how to read from a critical literacy stance is a timely and relevant practice in a world in which text is available instantly and on nearly any mobile device. In many cases, preparation programs for school librarians and teachers do not teach candidates how to incorporate critical literacy practices in library and classroom settings. This book provides both pre-service and in-service school librarians and teachers with that professional development and guidance for teaching critical literacy in children's literature courses.




Thinking Tools for Young Readers and Writers


Book Description

In her new book, bestselling author and professional developer Carol Booth Olson and colleagues show teachers how to help young readers and writers construct meaning from and with texts. This practical resource offers a rich array of research-based teaching strategies, activities, and extended lessons focused on the “thinking tools” employed by experienced readers and writers. It shows teachers how to draw on the natural connections between reading and writing, and how cognitive strategies can be embedded into the teaching of narrative, informational, and argumentative texts. Including artifacts and written work produced by students across the grade levels, the authors connect the cognitive and affective domains for full student engagement. “This book seamlessly bridges the gap from research to everyday practice.... You get an extremely well-organized set of overarching instructional principles that are right for our era and brought to life through well-explained instructional guides and classroom activities.” —From the Foreword by Judith Langer, University at Albany, SUNY “I have always admired Carol Booth Olson’s work with secondary students and teachers. She now applies those essential principles and practices to elementary and middle school students. Bravo!” —P. David Pearson, professor emeritus, University of California, Berkeley




Poverty Impacts on Literacy Education


Book Description

Income disparity for students in both K-12 and higher education settings has become increasingly apparent since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of these changes, impoverished students face a variety of challenges both internal and external. Educators must deepen their awareness of the obstacles students face beyond the classroom to support learning. Traditional literacy education must evolve to become culturally, linguistically, and socially relevant to bridge the gap between poverty and academic literacy opportunities. Poverty Impacts on Literacy Education develops a conceptual framework and pedagogical support for literacy education practices related to students in poverty. The research provides protocols supporting student success through explored connections between income disparity and literacy instruction. Covering topics such as food insecurity, integrated instruction, and the poverty narrative, this is an essential resource for administration in both K-12 and higher education settings, professors and teachers in literacy, curriculum directors, researchers, instructional facilitators, pre-service teachers, school counselors, teacher preparation programs, and students.




Handbook of Research on Teaching Diverse Youth Literature to Pre-Service Professionals


Book Description

Perspectives and identity are typically reinforced at a young age, giving teachers the responsibility of selecting reading material that could potentially change how the child sees the world. This is the importance of sharing diverse literature with today’s children and young adults, which introduces them to texts that deal with religion, gender identities, racial identities, socioeconomic conditions, etc. Teachers and librarians play significant roles in placing diverse books in the hands of young readers. However, to achieve the goal of increasing young people’s access to diverse books, educators and librarians must receive quality instruction on this topic within their university preparation programs. The Handbook of Research on Teaching Diverse Youth Literature to Pre-Service Professionals is a comprehensive reference source that curates promising practices that teachers and librarians are currently applying to prepare aspiring teachers and librarians for sharing and teaching diverse youth literature. Given the importance of sharing diverse books with today’s young people, university educators must be aware of engaging and effective methods for teaching diverse literature to pre-service teachers and librarians. Covering topics such as syllabus development, diversity, social justice, and activity planning, this text is essential for university-level teacher educators, library educators who prepare pre-service teachers and librarians, university educators, faculty, adjunct instructors, researchers, and students.




Literacy in Grades 4-8


Book Description

Comprehensive yet succinct and readable, Literacy in Grades 4-8, Third Edition offers a wealth of practical ideas to help preservice and practicing teachers create a balanced and comprehensive literacy program while exploring the core topics and issues of literacy in grades 4 through 8. It addresses teaching to standards; differentiating instruction for readers and writers; motivating students; using assessment to inform instruction; integrating technology into the classroom; working with English learners and struggling readers; and connecting with caregivers. Selected classroom strategies, procedures, and activities represent the most effective practices according to research and the many outstanding classroom teachers who were observed and interviewed for the book. The Third Edition includes added material connecting the Common Core State Standards to the instruction and assessment of literacy skills; a combined word study and vocabulary chapter to help readers integrate these important topics in their teaching; more on technology, including comprehension of multimodal texts, enhancing writing instruction with technology tools, and teaching activities with an added technology component; added discussion of teacher techniques during text discussions, strategic moves that help students become more strategic readers. Key features: In the Classroom vignettes; more than 50 activities,some with a technology component; questions for journal writing and for projects and field-based activities; troubleshooting sections offering alternative suggestions and activities for those middle-grade students who may find a particular literacy focus challenging.




Optimizing Higher Education Learning Through Activities and Assessments


Book Description

The mission of higher education in the 21st century must focus on optimizing learning for all students. In a shift from prioritizing effective teaching to active learning, it is understood that computer-enhanced environments provide a variety of ways to reach a wide range of learners who have differing backgrounds, ages, learning needs, and expectations. Integrating technology into teaching assumes greater importance to improve the learning experience. Optimizing Higher Education Learning Through Activities and Assessments is a collection of innovative research that explores the link between effective course design and student engagement and optimizes learning and assessments in technology-enhanced environments and among diverse student populations. Its focus is on providing an understanding of the essential link between practices for effective “activities” and strategies for effective “assessments,” as well as providing examples of course designs aligned with assessments, positioning college educators both as leaders and followers in the cycle of lifelong learning. While highlighting a broad range of topics including collaborative teaching, active learning, and flipped classroom methods, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrators, researchers, academicians, and students.




Developing Strategic Young Writers Through Genre Instruction


Book Description

"Chapter 1 contains a definition and explanation of genre-based strategy instruction with self-regulation for kindergarten through grade 2. In Chapter 2, we discuss writing purposes and the writing process, and we provide explanations about how to make connections between reading and writing under the larger umbrella concept of genre. In Chapter 3, we explain the strategy for teaching strategies, which is the instructional blueprint for using this book and for the development of additional genre-based lessons. Chapters 4 to 6 are instructional chapters and include the lessons and resources for responses to reading, opinion writing, procedural writing, and story writing. Chapter 7 includes guidelines for sentence writing and application of oral language in grammar instruction"--




Bringing Math Students Into the Formative Assessment Equation


Book Description

Make formative assessment work for you—and your math students! Finally, formative assessment that adds up! Bringing Math Students Into the Formative Assessment Equation is the ultimate resource for helping teachers implement formative assessment in the middle school mathematics classroom. And it’s much more than that. With this research-based, teacher-tested guide, you won’t just learn effective teaching strategies—you’ll turn your students into self-regulated learners. They’ll monitor and assess their own progress—and communicate to you about it! Features include: A clear and manageable six-aspect instructional model Detailed strategies for helping students own their successes Real-life examples from middle school mathematics teachers Useful resources and a companion website to help you implement formative assessment in your classroom Formative assessment isn’t just for teachers anymore. With the help of this essential resource, you’ll work together with your students toward a common goal of math success. "This book is outstanding. I would recommend it to any math educator. The depth of research integrated into practice is extensive and, as a result, it is the most practical book I have come across related to formative assessment and mathematics The self-regulation aspects, as well as the ownership and involvement emphasized in the book, went beyond the traditional cognitive strategies endorsed in most books." Marc Simmons, Principal Ilwaco Middle School, Ocean Beach School District, Long Beach, WA "The ideas in this book are brought to life with examples of teachers and students in the classroom. The teacher voices, comments, and quotes lend credibility and are a big component of the book’s strengths as well as the visuals and graphics." Rita Tellez, Math Coordinator Ysleta Independent School District, El Paso, TX




Critical Literacy


Book Description

"This is an excellent text. I particularly liked how the authors share examples of critical literacy throughout the book, especially with digital and multimedia texts." —Peter McDermott, The Sage Colleges "Through realistic discussion of how text shapes us and is shaped by us, Critical Literacy provides pre- and in-service teachers with concrete ways to engage in critical literacy practices with children from elementary through high school." —Cheryl A. Kreutter, St. John Fisher College ...a unique, practical critical literacy text with concrete examples and theoretical tools for pre- and in-service teachers Authors Lisa Patel Stevens and Thomas W. Bean explore the historical and political foundations of critical literacy and present a comprehensive examination of its uses for K-12 classroom practice. Key Features: Focuses on the nexus of critical literacy theory and practice through real classroom examples, vignettes, and conversations among teachers and teacher educators Illustrates how critical literacy practices are enacted in the classroom at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Offers step-by-step teaching strategies for implementing critical literacy in K-12 classrooms at different paces, depending on existing curriculum Intended Audience: This is an excellent supplemental text for a variety of advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in education departments on how to teach reading and writing. This text will also appeal to instructors and students exploring issues of representation, linguistics, and critical deconstruction.




Creating Critical Classrooms


Book Description

This popular text articulates a powerful theory of critical literacy—in all its complexity. Critical literacy practices encourage students to use language to question the everyday world, interrogate the relationship between language and power, analyze popular culture and media, understand how power relationships are socially constructed, and consider actions that can be taken to promote social justice. By providing both a model for critical literacy instruction and many examples of how critical practices can be enacted in daily school life in elementary and middle school classrooms, Creating Critical Classrooms meets a huge need for a practical, theoretically based text on this topic. Pedagogical features in each chapter • Teacher-researcher Vignette • Theories that Inform Practice • Critical Literacy Chart • Thought Piece • Invitations for Disruption • Lingering Questions New in the Second Edition • End-of-chapter "Voices from the Field" • More upper elementary-grade examples • New text sets drawn from "Classroom Resources" • Streamlined, restructured, revised, and updated throughout • Expanded Companion Website now includes annotated Classroom Resources; Text Sets; Resources by Chapter; Invitations for Students; Literacy Strategies; Additional Resources