In schools across the country and world, students enter classrooms with rich diversity in backgrounds, identities, and experiences. They speak hundreds of different languages, come from countries around the world, espouse nuanced cultural and gender identities, and have an array of abilities and interests. But texts in school and classroom…

This manuscript describes the need elementary teachers have to analyze beginning and complex texts for teaching affordances and obstacles when teaching reading foundational skills and core ELA standards. A Guide to Analyze Texts for Elementary Students (GATES) is provided and described. Two teacher cases discuss how real teachers have used the…

In this practitioner-based teaching tip, the authors provide pragmatic tips to teachers regarding the integration of global education and literacy instruction. Through the pairing of the Sustainable Development Goals and carefully selected trade books, teachers are provided with a framework that can help them get started transforming their…

This article provides a critical literacy approach to reading picture books that represent individuals with disabilities. It details close reading with a critical literacy stance as a scaffolded method for teachers to support students' increased access to conversations about disability. A sample lesson plan and three prompting guides are provided…

Learning how to choose and use diverse literature for students to read and as an inspiration for their writing has never been more important, as more than 50% of today's students in U.S. classrooms do not identify as white. This teaching tip explores the importance of finding high-quality diverse literature for all learners and how to use these…

This article discusses the importance of making available in classrooms a range of children's literature offering authentic and meaningful representations of characters with disabilities. The focus is not only on reading inclusive literature with typically developing students but also on the importance of making inclusive literature available to…

This Teaching Tip describes how one second-grade teacher used whole-class repeated reading (WCRR) to promote social interaction and develop reading confidence with English learners (ELs). The authors share a brief review of professional literature on the challenges of ELs and the benefits of repeated reading and WCRR. The authors also provide…

Given the increasing diversity in U.S. schools and the impact of texts that reflect students' identities and experiences in the world, it has become imperative for teachers to be able to effectively integrate culturally relevant texts. In this article, the authors show how to do this using five steps to guide the process. First, teachers need to…

This article highlights considerations for teachers when selecting and using e-books and e-book applications (apps) with beginning readers during guided and independent reading. A framework for examining e-books and e-book apps is suggested, and several apps and related digital features are described. The article also includes an overview of…

Five teacher educators discuss children's literature addressing Earth's changing climate. They present tools for evaluating the quality of resources likely to help teachers and students stimulate conceptual and emotional development rather than anxiety or oversimplification. An annotated selection of current books along with a checklist to…

Standard 10 of the Common Core State Standards attends to students' capacity with complex text. This standard distinguishes the Common Core State Standards from previous standards documents. This article describes a process--the Text Complexity Multi-Index (TCMI)--that supports teachers in studying texts to support their students in…

Teachers often have no preparation for handling the questions and conversations that arise in the classroom when discussing literature having adoption or foster care themes. Instead of relying on personal experiences or stereotypes portrayed through the media, teachers are advised to understand the developmental tasks of children from families…

The author explores how the use of joke books can promote fluency in young readers. One young girl's fluency improved measurably, and her engagement and motivation to read the particular kind of text involved played a significant role. (Contains 2 tables.)

In this paper, we discuss a creative role-play approach to the use of think-alouds focused on exploring multiple perspectives. The teaching idea presented here draws on transformative and critical theory in education and research-based practices. It encourages children to see the world through the eyes of diverse fictional characters or, in the…

The children's literature market has experienced enormous growth in recent years, providing teachers with an abundance of resources with which to teach reading. High-quality informational texts abound. Yet, teachers often are uncertain about how to select appropriate informational texts to use with younger readers when including them in…