Literacy practices have changed over the past several years to incorporate modes of representation much broader than language alone, in which the textual is also related to the visual, the audio, the spatial, etc. This book focuses on research and instructional practices necessary for integrating an expanded view of literacy in the classroom that…

The flipped classroom method, particularly when used with digital video, has recently attracted many supporters within the education field. Now more than ever, language arts educators can benefit tremendously from incorporating flipped classroom techniques into their curriculum. "Applying the Flipped Classroom Model to English Language Arts…

Many questions are on the minds of middle school teachers, principals, and curriculum leaders as they respond to a growing pressure to produce better educated students. Some of the questions are the following: Which language arts curriculum will sustain the interest of middle grades students? How can educators be certain the curriculum meets state…

This book explains how teachers can use practical classroom techniques for combining science and language literacy at different grade levels ranging from elementary to high school. The book defines "literacy in science" to include speaking, listening, and media analysis. In chapters devoted to each of these literacy skills, specific metacognitive…

Connecting art and language arts, this guide offers creative lessons for more than 140 favorite children's books, most of which have been published within the last 10 years. The lessons help teachers inspire students in grades K-5 to create art projects related to a book's story. In the first part of the book, the author explains more than 50 art…

Imagine a literacy-centered classroom where reading and writing are no longer viewed as school skills, but as life skills--a classroom where students voluntarily and spontaneously engage in discussions about their reading and writing. This book offers personal evidence of the workshop approach as it applies to a balanced language arts program for…

Viewing the English language arts standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association as a point of departure rather than a final destination, this book presents a number of ways to increase student ownership of learning. The book details a pedagogy that recognizes, respects, and builds from…

Why does one classroom hum with productivity and enthusiasm and the one next door sag under the weight of the work? To understand the invisible forces within a classroom of busy children, people must look beneath the surface to the relationships that shape behavior and determine daily patterns of teaching and learning. This book focuses on the web…

Drawing on 8 years of classroom-centered research, the Book Club program integrates instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Student-led discussion groups form the heart of the program, and they provide a real-world context for learning that motivates children and fosters the development of both academic and social skills. This…

Written for elementary school teachers who want to help their students delve into poetry, this book grows out of a comparison between gardening and writing poetry. Students at the alternative school founded by the book's author work and play on a plot of land near the school; inside, they work and play with words and imagery. Many examples of…

Intended to introduce students to the most dynamic aspects of language and to help them see the metaphors of poetry from a perspective beyond poetry, this book offers background information for class discussion on the pervasiveness of metaphors, giving examples of how metaphors underlie folk expressions, proverbs, riddles, cliches, and slang, and…

This practical guidebook aims to show preschool, kindergarten, and primary teachers how to refine their literacy evaluation practices through careful "kidwatching." By observing and recording children's literacy development, teachers also develop new understandings of the ways children think and learn. Ultimately, through kidwatching,…

Teachers can take advantage of the appeal and power of Caldecott Award literature to extend and promote learning across the curriculum. This book demonstrates how to use award-winning books as springboards to language arts learning in the library and classroom, and the expansion of student awareness and appreciation of illustration techniques. For…

This book uses art to stimulate content-area language development and writing skills. From A to Z, the 81 animal patterns in the book combine with 35 different activities to enhance the primary curriculum--each student gets a photocopy of the pattern, paper, scissors, and some materials to decorate the "critter." The book's activities…

A sensitive young girl, shocked and confused by the death of her cat, learns the roles that predator and prey play in the balance of nature. Through experiences at school with her teacher, at home with her father and her grandmother, and through her own journey in nature, the girl learns why some animals kill and eat other animals in order to…