The Essentials


Book Description

This book answers the question what do early childhood educators need to understand to better address the linguistic, cognitive, and socioemotional needs of all DLLs in their classrooms?




Using the Language Experience Approach With English Language Learners


Book Description

"Nessel and Dixon show teachers how to effectively support English language development by using the Language Experience Approach." —David E. Freeman and Yvonne S. Freeman, Professors of Literacy, ESL, and Bilingual Education The University of Texas at Brownsville "Provides the tools teachers need to use this natural way of helping English Language Learners. The Language Experience Approach makes language and language arts accessible to the students in need of basic skills." —Roberta E. Dorr, Associate Professor of Education Trinity University, WA Support ELLs while meeting the goals of your literacy curriculum! English Language Learners (ELLs) enter the classroom with different levels of proficiency—and confidence—in English. The Language Experience Approach offers K–12 teachers an instructional framework and classroom strategies for meeting students at their level and helping them use their strengths as speakers and listeners to build reading and writing skills. Research-based and used successfully in practice, this method actively engages students by allowing them to construct their own texts and bring their personal experiences into the learning process. The authors: Offer detailed, step-by-step directions for using the Language Experience Approach in English language instruction Include examples of the kinds of texts that are generated by ELL students Describe activities teachers can use with those texts to refine and extend learners′ literacy skills Appropriate for teaching students at varying levels of English proficiency, Using the Language Experience Approach With English Language Learners is a valuable reference for teachers, literacy coaches, and reading specialists.




Spotlight on Young Children


Book Description

Offers practical ways to support young dual language learners and their families. Addresses communicating, using technology, pairing children, and more.




The Language of Learning


Book Description

Your essential guide for teaching core competencies that every child needs for developing into a highly engaged, self-motivated learner. The Language of Learning offers a practical approach to teaching essential communication skills: Listening and understanding; Thinking before speaking; Speaking clearly and concisely; Asking thoughtful questions; Giving high-quality answers; Backing up opinions with reasons and evidence; Agreeing thoughtfully; Disagreeing respectfully.




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.







Early Childhood Development


Book Description

Early Childhood Development: A Multicultural Perspective, 6/e addresses both typical and atypical child development from birth through age eight. This text highlights the diversity of child development, preparing professionals to meet the unique needs of children from a wide variety of backgrounds.




Academic Conversations


Book Description

Conversing with others has given insights to different perspectives, helped build ideas, and solve problems. Academic conversations push students to think and learn in lasting ways. Academic conversations are back-and-forth dialogues in which students focus on a topic and explore it by building, challenging, and negotiating relevant ideas. In Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk that Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings authors Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford address the challenges teachers face when trying to bring thoughtful, respectful, and focused conversations into the classroom. They identify five core communications skills needed to help students hold productive academic conversation across content areas: Elaborating and Clarifying Supporting Ideas with Evidence Building On and/or Challenging Ideas Paraphrasing Synthesizing This book shows teachers how to weave the cultivation of academic conversation skills and conversations into current teaching approaches. More specifically, it describes how to use conversations to build the following: Academic vocabulary and grammar Critical thinking skills such as persuasion, interpretation, consideration of multiple perspectives, evaluation, and application Literacy skills such as questioning, predicting, connecting to prior knowledge, and summarizing An academic classroom environment brimming with respect for others' ideas, equity of voice, engagement, and mutual support The ideas in this book stem from many hours of classroom practice, research, and video analysis across grade levels and content areas. Readers will find numerous practical activities for working on each conversation skill, crafting conversation-worthy tasks, and using conversations to teach and assess. Academic Conversations offers an in-depth approach to helping students develop into the future parents, teachers, and leaders who will collaborate to build a better world.




Language!


Book Description

Providing the opportunity to master the literacy skills needed to succeed in classroom instruction at their grade level and to learn the structure and function of the English language.




Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8


Book Description

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.