Check out these books
What's
A Schwa Sound Anyway? by Sandra Wilde
Inside
the Classroom:Teaching Kindergarten and First Grade by Bobbi Fisher
Thinking
and Learning Together by Bobbi Fisher
In
The Middle-New Understanding About Reading and Learning by Nancie Atwell
Education
on the Edge of Possibility by Caine and Caine
Literacy
at the Crossroads by Regie Routman
Literature
Circles by Harvey Daniels
And
with a Light Touch by Carol Avery
What
a Writer Needs by Ralph Fletcher
The
Future of Whole Language
Spelling
in Use by Lester Laminack & Katie Wood
After
the End by Barry Lane
Learning
to Read in New Zealand
Inside
New Zealand Classrooms by Alan Cullen
Classrooms
That Work by Patricia Cunningham
Guided
Reading by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell
Words
Their Way - Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling , edited by
Donald Bear

Across the nation, legislators and policy makers are dictating the course of literacy education—all in the name of science." Unchallenged, this research has impacted just about every area of reading instruction. Now, just in time, nationally renowned educational psychologist Gerald Coles enters the discussion, offering the first comprehensive, clearly written critique of the so-called evidence.
This important book examines the studies of leading researchers who have testified in various hearings and promoted policy and legislation on behalf of skills-emphasis learning, especially those financed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). No other book has systematically and comprehensively analyzed this work. Coles not only identifies each claim, he analyzes the research that backs it up. Chief among them are that:
Contents:
1. Erecting the "Strong Consensus"
2. Creating "the Culprit"
3. The Foorman Study
4. "Research-Based" Training Programs
5. "Coming Soon! Coming Soon!"
6. "Brain Glitch"
7. A "Broad Heritability"
8. "The Simple Theory"
9. Magic Markers
10. Science and Children's Learning
Talking
About Books by Kathy Short & Kathryn PierceDespite the recent call
for systematic, intensive phonics instruction, phonemic awareness, and
decodeable texts, many educators continue to bring students and books together
in transforming ways. Talking About Books is being reissued because it
is clear that a focus on dialogue about books within a literate community
remains important to teachers.
Read
Reflect Retell by Linda HoytHow can we be certain that students are
making sense of print? What can we do to improve comprehension? Linda Hoyt,
a reading specialist and staff developer, is convinced that thoughtful
reflection and retelling are the keys. When readers reflect upon and retell
what they know about a text, they experience deeper levels of understanding
and increased communicative competency. This highly practical collection
of more than 130 strategies and 90 reproducibles is the perfect resource
for any teacher attempting to evoke high-quality responses to literature.
It provides a detailed look at why to respond to text, when to respond
to text, and how readers might be invited to respond in authentic ways.
All of the strategies are classroom tested, and the blackline masters offer
powerful incentives for creative interactions. Each chapter is loaded with
assessment tools for teachers, student self-reflection forms, observation
guides, and parent activities that are ready for immediate use. You and
your students will laugh together in Game Show, explore graphophonic understandings
through Alphaboxes and AlphaAntics, engage in inferential reasoning with
V.I.P., and stretch your understanding with Interactive Journals. Revisit,
Reflect, Retell is firmly grounded in constructivist reading theory, offering
support across a range of genres and learning styles. Teachers will find
it a valuable resource for creating meaningful and authentic learning experiences.
The book will be equally useful as a workshop manual, discussion starter
for teacher study groups, and support for staff developers.
Different Paths to Common Outcomes written by Marie ClayThis collection of readings is about all children and the early years of schooling. It brings together for educators and classroom teachers significant new, previously unpublished articles (Chapters 4, 10, and 14) as well as several of Dr. Clay's seminal papers. Here she reiterates for new teachers many of the concerns that lie at the heart of her work with young children - the sensitive observation of the constructive child, the challenges of early encounters with how we put language down in print (Concepts About Print), introducing storybooks to children, and how we can better adapt to diversity in our classrooms. Other emphases that emerge in her new articles call for changes in how teachers think about three things: literacy awareness as it develops before and after the transition to school, the power of writing for all children in early literacy encounters, and conversation as a tool for vastly improving teaching interactions. Marie Clay focuses on many reciprocal connections - how one kind of learning supports another - between oral language and reading, between writing and reading, between theory and practice. She believes that practice informs theory and theory informs practice in a circular and continuing set of relationships. Teachers who want to go beyond their present practice must get into the writings of those who challenge their expectations on how best to meet the needs of their very diverse children. Each chapter in this collection - from the glimpses of some fascinating children to some strong challenges to basic assumptions about literacy teaching - could provide a centerpiece for a workshop, the background reading for several group discussions, or an opportunity for practicing teachers to bring their experience face to face with a text that challenges. As Margaret Mooney writes in her foreword, "Marie Clay knows how to ask the niggling questions and to prompt and probe the uncomfortable issues. But readers of this collection will realize she is equally skilled in providing practical examples and well-researched, reasoned discussion for the road she chooses . . . This book is not a one-read-is-sufficient publication. It is a companion for frequent dipping and delving, thinking and questioning, challenging and confirming. We'll all find different paths to common outcomes."
The Case For Late Intervention The Case for Late Intervention: Once A Good Reader Always A Good Reader written by Stephen D. Krashen and Jeff McQuillan. The current trend in literacy education is early intervention. This is based on the assumption that once a child is behind, he or she will always be behind. There is, however, no evidence that there is a critical period for learning how to read and there is strong evidence that we can learn to read anytime. Once a poor reader, always a poor reader should be replaced with once a good reader, always a good reader. Published by Language Education Associates © 1996 ISBN 0-9652808-0-2 soft cover booklet 7" x 5" 19 pagesprice: $3.00
In The Company of Children by Joanne Hindley. In schools of every description, teachers are working to turn their classrooms into reading-writing workshops. TheyÌre filling bookcases with the best of childrens literature, and students are tucking writersÌ notebooks into their bulging backpacks. This new look calls for meaningful change in teaching practice, but many questions about implementing literacy workshops remain. In this clear and practical book, Joanne Hindley takes a hard look at how to make every minute count and offers specific suggestions for creating rigorous, efficient, and successful reading and writing workshops. Grounding her story in the lives of her third graders, Joanne tackles difficult issues and offers thoughtful direction and ideas you will appreciate: How to manage a productive workshop setting in a crowded classroom. How to launch writerÌs notebooks with your students. How the study of one genre can help you manage the reading/ writing workshop. Where to get ideas for mini-lessons for the reading/writing workshop. Guidelines to help you improve your conferring with individual readers and writers. How to assess student progress in a process-oriented classroom. In the Company of Children is a treasure trove of fresh ideas and strategies that teachers-inservice and preservice-will draw on and adapt for their own classrooms. Contents Introduction 1. Supportive Settings and Caring Communities Part One: The Writing Workshop 2. The WriterÌs Notebook: Not Just for Kids 3. Mini-Lessons: A Time for Rigorous Whole-Class Instruction 4. Lifting the Quality of Student Writing 5. Conferring Toward Published Writing 6. The Power of Picture Books: A Whole-Class Genre Study 7. The Potential of Notebooks for Younger Writers Part Two: The Reading Workshop 8. The Reading Workshop: What It Looks Like and Why 9. Mini-Lessons: Taking Our Cues from Children 10. Learning from Our Conferring and Record-Keeping 11. Responding to Literature: Getting Beyond I Liked the Book 12. Inviting Students and Parents in on Assessment Epilogue: Telling Our Stories / Appendixes / Bibliographies
Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
A child may be a great decoder, but that's only one step toward becoming
a fluent reader. Reading implies thinking and understanding, and teachers
can help children develop strategies for comprehension. Children need to
know how to make connections and ask questions, how to visualize and infer,
how to extract important ideas and to synthesize information if they are
to become fluent readers. Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis show how teachers
can model these strategies by thinking aloud and coding the text, lifting
text onto the overhead and reasoning through it in class discussions, and
bringing in their own books to model how adults use these strategies. All
the while teachers give students long blocks of time to practice these
strategies independently in their own reading.
Full of practical suggestions to help students think when they read,
Strategies
That Work gives teachers:
Contents
List of Strategy Lessons / Foreword by Donald Graves / Acknowledgments
/ Part I The Foundation of Meaning 1. Strategic Thinking 2. Strategic Reading
3. Strategy Instruction and Practice 4. Teaching with Short Text 5. Book
Selection Part II Strategy Lessons and More 6. Making Connections: A Bridge
from the New to the Known 7. Questioning: The Strategy That Propels Readers
Forward 8. Visualizing and Inferring: Strategies That Enhance Understanding
9. Determining Importance in Text: The Nonfiction Connection 10. Synthesizing
Information: The Evolution of Thought 11. Strategy Instruction in Context:
Three Classroom Portraits 12. Assessing Comprehension: How Do We Know?
Part III Resources That Support Strategy Instruction Appendix A Great Books
and Author Sets to Launch Strategy Instruction and Practice / Appendix
B Great Books for Teaching Content in History, Social Studies, Science,
Music, Art, and Literacy / Appendix C Adult Text Sets / Appendix D Magazines
and Newspapers for Kids and Young Adults / Appendix E Professional Journals
for Selection of Children's Books / Appendix F Response Options for Each
Strategy / Appendix G Assessment Interview with Fourth Graders / Bibliography
This easy-to-read text will guide K-3 teachers as they develop a
reading and writing program for all their students. An apprenticeship approach
to literacy emphasizes the role of the teacher in providing demonstrations,
engaging children, monitoring their understanding, providing timely support
and, ultimately, withdrawing that support as the child gains independence.
Drawing on authentic classroom examples - student writing samples,
class schedules, photographs, and rich transcriptions of teaching and learning
interactions - the authors illustrate instruction that is aimed at children's
learning zones. As children become more competent readers and writers,
the instructional interactions are adjusted to accommodate their higher-level
learning.
Here is a wealth of in-depth information, specific strategies, and
organizational formats in literacy areas such as:
Contents
Introduction 1. The Right to Literacy 2. A Cognitive Apprenticeship
Approach to Literacy 3. Learning to Read 4. Guided Reading 5. Assisted
Writing 6. Independent Writing 7. Developing Phonetic Skills 8. Establishing
Routines and Organizing the Classroom 9. A Day with Angela and Her First
Graders 10. Supplementary Literacy Lessons with Carla 11. Working Together
/ Appendix / References / Index