Interacting with Informational Text for Close and Critical Reading


Book Description

Comprehending complex informational text can be difficult for students. Use this book to help students simplify the process. Lessons will engage students and guide them to read a text critically in order to build comprehension. Lessons are also based on the Common Core State Standards and help move students purposefully through increasingly complex text. Strategies, including the Guided Highlighted Reading Framework, are provided for meaningful discussions on a variety of text structures.




Close Reading of Informational Texts


Book Description

This book has been replaced by Close Reading of Informational Sources, Second Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-3945-1.




Interacting with Informational Text for Close and Critical Reading


Book Description

Comprehending complex informational text can be difficult for students. Use this book to help students simplify the process. Lessons will engage students and guide them to read a text critically in order to build comprehension. Lessons are also based on the Common Core State Standards and help move students purposefully through increasingly complex text. Strategies, including the Guided Highlighted Reading Framework, are provided for meaningful discussions on a variety of text structures.




Informational Texts in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade-Three Classrooms


Book Description

This book presents a myriad of instructional techniques and critical literacy strategies while serving as a professional resource for inservice and preservice primary-grade teachers as they include informational texts in their classrooms. In each of the nine chapters, there is a particular topic that guides the focus of the chapter. These themes include: a rationale for incorporating informational texts in the primary-grade classroom; a discussion of the unique features of informational texts; the selection of high quality informational materials for primary readers; critical literacy; prereading, during reading, and post reading strategies; the writing of informational texts; and inquiry projects for the primary classroom. This book also contains a preface; an introduction; and an afterword, in which the controversy regarding the Common Core State Standards is discussed. Unique features of each chapter are specific standards reflecting the Common Core State Standards; strategies for all students to be successful with the Standards; transcriptions of lessons from primary-grade classrooms; examples of pupils’ work as they interact with informational materials; and a “Give It a Try” section, where a lesson plan or a pedagogical suggestion is presented for the reader to try out in his/her own classroom.




Text Complexity


Book Description

There is a big difference between assigning complex texts and teaching complex texts No matter what discipline you teach, learn how to use complexity as a dynamic, powerful tool for sliding the right text in front of your students’ at just the right time. Updates to this new edition include How-to’s for measuring countable features of any written work A rubric for analyzing the complexity of both literary and informational texts Classroom scenarios that show the difference between a healthy struggle and frustration The authors’ latest thinking on teacher modeling, close reading, scaffolded small group reading, and independent reading




Reading Reconsidered


Book Description

TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO READ WITH PRECISION AND INSIGHT The world we are preparing our students to succeed in is one bound together by words and phrases. Our students learn their literature, history, math, science, or art via a firm foundation of strong reading skills. When we teach students to read with precision, rigor, and insight, we are truly handing over the key to the kingdom. Of all the subjects we teach reading is first among equals. Grounded in advice from effective classrooms nationwide, enhanced with more than 40 video clips, Reading Reconsidered takes you into the trenches with actionable guidance from real-life educators and instructional champions. The authors address the anxiety-inducing world of Common Core State Standards, distilling from those standards four key ideas that help hone teaching practices both generally and in preparation for assessments. This 'Core of the Core' comprises the first half of the book and instructs educators on how to teach students to: read harder texts, 'closely read' texts rigorously and intentionally, read nonfiction more effectively, and write more effectively in direct response to texts. The second half of Reading Reconsidered reinforces these principles, coupling them with the 'fundamentals' of reading instruction—a host of techniques and subject specific tools to reconsider how teachers approach such essential topics as vocabulary, interactive reading, and student autonomy. Reading Reconsidered breaks an overly broad issue into clear, easy-to-implement approaches. Filled with practical tools, including: 44 video clips of exemplar teachers demonstrating the techniques and principles in their classrooms (note: for online access of this content, please visit my.teachlikeachampion.com) Recommended book lists Downloadable tips and templates on key topics like reading nonfiction, vocabulary instruction, and literary terms and definitions. Reading Reconsidered provides the framework necessary for teachers to ensure that students forge futures as lifelong readers.




The Knowledge Gap


Book Description

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.




Reading & Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades


Book Description

Increasingly, research supports the importance of teaching children to read and write informational text, but few resources show us how to do it well. This book fills that gap. The authors explain why it's important to weave informational text into the primary curriculum. From there, they provide a framework for organizing your time and space, and classroom-tested strategies for incorporating informational text into reading, writing, and the content areas. For use with Grades K-3.




Notice & Note


Book Description

"Examines the new emphasis on text-dependent questions, rigor, and text complexity, and what it means to be literate in the 21st century"--P. [4] of cover.




Reading Nonfiction


Book Description

"Nonfiction intrudes into our world and purports to tell the truth. To evaluate that truth, we need students to be sophisticated, skillful, and savvy readers. And that's why Kylene and Bob wrote Reading Nonfiction, a book that presents: 3 big questions that develop the stance needed for attentive reading; 5 signposts that help readers analyze and evaluate the author's craft; and 7 strategies that develop relevance and fix up confusions"--Back cover.