Designed for courses that focus on instructional reading methods for at-risk and culturally diverse student populations, this book assists preservice and inservice teachers in enriching the learning and reading skills of all children. It promotes the integration of phonics and literature-based process writing and reading instruction for a more balanced approach. The book helps all children engage in meaning-centered reading by showing teachers how to foster powerful decoding and comprehension strategies. Chapters include the following: (1) The Problem and Some Failed Solutions; (2) Reading and Writing Real "Things"; (3) Guiding Children's Reading/Thinking; (4) Guiding Children's Writing/Thinking; (5) Developing Decoding and Spelling Fluency; (6) Science and Social Studies Matter to Struggling Readers; (7) Extra Support for Students Who Need It Most; (8) A Day in a Literate Home Simulation Kindergarten; (9) A Day in a Four-Blocks Primary Classroom; (10) A Week in an Integrated Intermediate Classroom; and (11) Beyond the Classroom: Things Worth Fighting For. (Contains a 59-item list of further readings.) (RS)