Books in Literacy, Language, series

This book introduces a variety of inclusive strategies for teaching language and literacy in kindergarten through 2nd grade. Readers are invited into classrooms where racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse children’s experiences, unique strengths, and expertise are supported and valued. Chapters focus on oral language, reading, and writing development and include diverse possibilities for culturally relevant and inclusive teaching. Featured teaching strategies foster academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness―leading students to read their worlds and question educational and societal inequities. Early childhood teachers will find this book invaluable as they consider effective ways to teach diverse children. The hands-on examples and strategies portrayed will help educators expand their thinking and repertoires regarding what is possible―and needed―in the language and literacy education curriculum. Unique in its focus on equitable, fully inclusive, and culturally relevant language and literacy teaching, this important book will help K–2 teachers (re)think and (re)conceptualize their own practices.Book Features: Showcases culturally relevant and inclusive ways of teaching reading and writing in the early childhood classroom. Uses vivid classroom examples to show how teachers and students build on diversities as strengths, fostering educational success. Includes the voices of teachers who employ theoretically informed and equitable language and literacy teaching practices in their own K–2 classrooms.

Bridging Literacy and Equity synthesizes the essential research and practice of social equity literacy teaching in one succinct, user-friendly volume. Chapters identify six key dimensions of social equity teaching that can help teachers see their students’ potential and create conditions that will support their literacy development. Serving students well depends on understanding relationships between race, class, culture, and literacy; the complexity and significance of culture; and the culturally situated nature of literacy. It also requires knowledge of culturally responsive practices, such as collaborating with and learning from caregivers, using cultural referents, enacting critical and transformative literacy practices, and seeing the capacities of English language learners and children who speak African American Language. Each chapter includes a “Reflection and Inquiry” section, with exercises to help readers relate chapter concepts and issues to their own teaching practices.

In their new collaboration, Celia Genishi and Anne Haas Dyson celebrate the genius of young children who are learning language and literacy in our diverse times. Despite burgeoning sociocultural diversity, many early childhood classrooms (pre-K to grade 2) offer a one-size-fits-all curriculum in which learning is too often assessed by standardized tests. In contrast, Genishi and Dyson proclaim diversity as the new norm. They feature stories of children whose language learning is impossible to standardize and teachers who do not follow scripts. These master teachers observe, informally assess, respond to, and grow with their students―some of whom are rapid language learners and some of whom become speakers, readers, and writers at “child speed.” Much of this learning, regardless of tempo, is found within the language-rich contexts of play. Chapters focus on children’s ways of communicating through varied modes, including the use of nonverbal expression; languages such as Spanish, English, and the variant of English known as African American Language; and multiple media. Throughout the text there is a resistance to labels such as “at risk” and a much-needed advocacy for child-sensible practices in a world where diversity is indeed the “new norm.”

Rooted in examples from their own and others’ classrooms, the authors offer discipline-specific practices for implementing antiracist literature instruction in White-dominant schools. Each chapter explores a key dimension of antiracist literature teaching and learning, including designing literature-based units that emphasize racial literacy, selecting literature that highlights voices of color, analyzing Whiteness in canonical literature, examining texts through a critical race lens, managing challenges of race talk, and designing formative assessments for racial literacy and identity growth. Book Features: Specific classroom scenarios and transcripts of race-related challenges that teachers will recognize to help situate suggested strategies. Sample racial literacy objectives, questions, and assessments to guide unit instruction. A literature-based unit that addresses societal racism in A Raisin in the Sun. Assignments for exploring Whiteness in the teaching of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Questions teachers can use to examine To Kill a Mockingbird through a critical race lens. Techniques for managing difficult moments in whole group discussions. Collaborative glossary and exploratory essay assignments to build understanding of race-based concepts and racial identity development.

This extensively revised and expanded edition of the bestselling text and teaching resource incorporates the newest research in vocabulary learning and instruction into a complete and balanced program for all K–12 students, from those who struggle in school to those who excel. Literacy expert Michael Graves presents a four-pronged vocabulary program that he has developed and honed for over 30 years. The program has the following four components: Frequent, Varied, and Extensive Language Experiences; Teaching Individual Words; Teaching Word Learning Strategies; and Fostering Word Consciousness. The text includes theory, research-based strategies, vocabulary interventions, classroom examples, advice for working with English learners, discussion of next-generation standards, and more. The Vocabulary Book, Second Edition will appeal to reading and subject-area teachers, teacher educators, and school, district, and state leaders. New for the Second Edition: Instructional approaches developed and classroom-tested since the release of the first edition. A chapter specifically on teaching vocabulary to English learners. A chapter specifically on selecting vocabulary words to teach. Curricular and instructional elements designed to meet and exceed Common Core State Standards. An emphasis on vocabulary as a vital resource for all students in our increasingly diverse society.

The think-aloud approach to classroom writing assessment is designed to expand teachers’ perspectives on adolescent students as writers and help them integrate instruction and assessment in a timely way. Emphasizing learning over evaluation, it is especially well-suited to revealing students' strengths and helping them overcome common challenges to writing such as writer’s block or misunderstanding of the writing task. Through classroom examples, Sarah Beck describes how to implement the think-aloud method and shows how this method is flexible and adaptable to any writing assignment and classroom context. The book also discusses the significance of the method in relation to best practices in formative assessment, including how to plan think-aloud sessions with students to gain the most useful information. Teachers required to use rubrics or other standardized assessment tools can incorporate the more individualized think-aloud approach into their practice without sacrificing the rigor and consistency more regulated approaches require.Book Features:Introduces a new method of writing assessment that is more effective and flexible for differentiating instruction than assessments based on rubrics.Emphasizes equity for all learners, including English learners and students with specific learning challenges.Offers recommendations and guidelines based on research-based best practices in all aspects of writing: process, instruction, assessment, and development. Designed to be used by individual teachers as well as teachers working collaboratively to develop their pedagogical content knowledge for teaching writing.

Karen Gallas provides us with a window into children’s thinking about the world, enabling us to see how students build complex theories, identify important questions, and begin to enter the world of science, all within the naturalistic setting of the classroom.As the title suggests, this book treats classroom science as a particular type of discourse, with its own set of language and thinking practices. Gallas describes the content, structure, and practice of her child-centered approach, explains how the teacher’s role in Science Talks develops and changes over time, and discusses how the use of Science Talks could transform science instruction as a whole. The full transcripts of two such talks included in the appendix, in addition to many smaller quoted interchanges throughout the text, will fascinate readers.