Effective Literacy Instruction K-8: Implementing Best Practice [Paperback]

Finally, we want to show teachers how to use literacy to celebrate the diversity that increasingly defines our world. We demonstrate how to teach literacy in the context of our increasingly global and multicultural society by using a variety of resources: new works of children's literature that share important cultural perspectives; new teaching strategies that help children understand and value diversity; and the Internet, which enables students to communicate with others around the world and helps them discover alternative perspectives.

Here are just a few of the many changes we have made in this edition to meet the rapidly changing nature of literacy and the new expectations parents and children have for every teacher:

• Each chapter now focuses on a research-based, best practice principle common to nearly all state standards.
• Videos of effective classroom practice are now available for students to view over the Internet, showing them how to implement best practice instruction in their classroom.These include Internet Workshop, Internet Project, WebQuests, and Internet Inquiry.
• We have expanded our comprehensive coverage on how best to develop the foundations of early literacy, including the development of phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency.
• We have updated our comprehensive coverage of how best to integrate children's literature and writing into a balanced reading program.
• We provide a new listserv only for students and professors who are using this text, providing a common forum for conversations with the authors who wrote the book and for discussions among students at different institutions who explore the challenges, joys, and anxieties of becoming a teacher of reading.Our greatest concern in this edition was to craft the revision in a manner considerate of your needs. We include a number of special features to support this important work.
  Useful Teaching Ideas
  • Online videos of best practice instruction may be viewed over the Internet.
  • We describe more than 300 teaching ideas in the Practical Teaching Strategies feature boxes.
  • In a continuing feature, E-mail from the Classroom, literacy educators share stories and teaching ideas that really work.
  • A special feature, Celebrating Diversity, describes powerful strategies to use diversity to promote literacy and learning.
  • We show how to integrate the Internet in your classroom around Internet Workshop, Internet Project, WebQuests, and Internet Inquiry.
  • Samples of thematic units integrating children's literature, multicultural perspectives, and literature discussion groups are provided.
  • In each Comments from the Classroom feature, experienced teachers share stories of classroom teaching and learning.
  Developing Literacy Insights
  • Belief inventories in chapter 3 help readers identify their beliefs about literacy and learning.
  • We show how beliefs inform teaching decisions about what to teach and how to teach. Tables and discussion at the end of each chapter show these relationships for the topic of that chapter.
  • Model lessons demonstrate how teachers adapt instructional practices to meet individual needs in their classrooms. Alternative ways to teach the same lesson are also described.
  • A section in each chapter, Making Instructional Decisions, invites readers to apply their understanding of each chapter's contents.
  Supporting the Learning Process
  • Each chapter begins with a list of key concepts and chapter goals that help students organize concepts before reading.
  • Key terms are highlighted in the text and definitions appear in the margins to assist in the initial comprehension and later review.
  • Internet locations are highlighted to make it easier to locate important resources and explore the potential of this new literacy resource.
  Ancillary Resources
  • An instructor's guide includes summaries of each chapter; additional activities to complete individually or within cooperative groups; blackline masters for use with an overhead projector to facilitate class discussion; and an extensive set of examination questions and quizzes.
  • To enhance discussion and understanding, a videotape showing classroom examples of best practice instruction is also available. Segments from these videos are also available online.