This book provides classroom-tested methods for engaging struggling middle grade readers--even those who appear to have given up--and fostering their success. The emphasis is on constructing respectful, encouraging learning environments that incorporate students' diverse literacies, cultural interests, and prior knowledge and skills into…

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…

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…

This book provides an inside look at an extraordinary teacher, Linda Rief--specifically, how she converses with students and promotes their conversations among one another. The book offers insights into Linda's teaching that even she had not seen. It presents an inside look at Linda Rief in action as she establishes goals, teaches, triumphs, and…

The assessment model described in this guide was initially developed by a team of fifth-grade teachers who wrote objectives of integrating social studies and language arts. It helps the teacher guide students to create a task-specific rubric that they use to evaluate their own and peers' work. Teachers review the student evaluations, determine the…

This book explores the subject of metaphor, using the imagery of cartography to set a course. It explores the creative aspects of thinking and learning through literature, writing, and word play, drawing connections between English and other content areas. Theory and practical applications meet in the book, linking activities and resources to…

Detailing a collaboration between an elementary school teacher and a middle school teacher, this book is about making connections--connections that make learning meaningful for students and teachers. The book describes how the teachers worked to bridge the gap between content area subjects and the gap in their understanding of each other's…

This handbook (the last in a series of six) suggests many classroom activities that are interrelated with all the other areas of the language arts, particularly reading and writing, and that encourage the use of the library media center, mass media, textbooks, and audiovisual aids. The activities are designed to help pupils gain new insights into…

As theories about identity have shifted over time to viewing it as a multidimensional and ever-evolving process created by social and cultural settings, conceptions of literacy and implications for classroom practices have shifted as well. This book presents studies of students in Grades 3 to 6 at three different United States school sites located…

This book is about meeting the needs of all students--especially those in the intermediate grades with mild to moderate disabilities who need special education services--by teaching them in inclusive, general education classrooms where literacy is a personal, academic, and social event in which children are immersed all day. The book tells about…

This guide, designed for use in upper elementary and junior high classrooms focuses on literary works by authors Cynthia Voigt, Elizabeth George Spear, Katherine Paterson, and Marguerite Henry, as a means of developing map skills and exploring the roads, towns, homes, landscapes, and eras of the authors. The geographic setting of each story is…

This book helps middle school teachers and curriculum planners organize integrated units of study on the world and weather, for grades 5-9. Intended to generate interest in science, build scientific knowledge, and help students make the transition from fiction to expository text, the book offers a variety of projects that connect popular fiction…

This book provides activities for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers and librarians to use in the spare moments that can be transformed into educational experiences. The activities range from individual paper-and-pencil games, to partner activities, to whole-class ideas, and combinations thereof. The activities are arranged by subject (i.e.,…

Intended for teachers of grades 4-8, this book provides tools and resources to help students fall in love with literature. The book contains reproducible glossaries containing over 200 literary, genre, book content, and book construction terms, along with removable flashcards, to make reviewing language arts essentials easy, enjoyable, and fun.…

Based on the belief that language should be the central focus for study in the reading and language arts classroom, this collection presents 10 diverse viewpoints on language study in the middle school and secondary school. The collection is divided into the following areas: studying language through literature and the arts, using writing and…