Literacy Reads I Love!

Recently, I compiled a list of literacy resources that I find to be some of the most valuable texts for a literacy leader. I grab these more frequently than any other books I have! Please peruse this list of texts to see if any might strike your fancy.

• Bridges, L. (Ed.). (2014.) Open a world of possibility: Real stories about the joy and power of reading. New York, NY: Scholastic.

This book is a compilation of personal stories by many authors, poets, and well-known literacy gurus about the ways in which reading has influenced their lives. These different stories discuss the joys of reading, how reading can transform lives, and the ways reading illuminates human nature or sparks our imagination or inspires us at just the right time. Much like the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this book inspires, motivates, and helps to keep a teacher going when the going gets tough. It is a must have for a quick read on those rough days.

           *Cullam, R. (2014). The writing thief: Using mentor texts to teach the craft of writing. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Culham’s text asks teachers to reevaluate the way they think about and teach writing in the classroom. She starts by listing the “dumb things” we do as instruction for writing and provides suggestions for more effective instruction. She then identifies the four things educators need to consider in the instruction of writing: Process, traits, workshops, and modes. As well, she discusses the reciprocal relationship between reading and writing and ways in which reading helps to produce more effective writing. The subsequent chapters focus on the various writing genres and traits and how teachers can use mentor texts to elicit writings from their students. Several years ago, I became interested in the idea of mentor texts. Out of the various texts I read, Culham’s book seems to be the more comprehensive and user-friendly of them all. She includes suggested mentor texts that are at a variety of levels – from picture books to chapter books to real world texts. Culham connects each mentor text with a discussion of the traits from the 6 traits of writing model making it very practical to incorporate into a classroom already using the 6 traits model.

         *Culham, R. (2003). 6 + 1 Traits of writing: The complete guide grades 3 and up: Everything you need to teach and assess student writing with this powerful model. New York, NY: Scholastic Professional Books.

This text presents the six writing traits commonly taught in schools today. These include: Ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Culham describes each of these traits in depths and presents both suggested activities and anchor papers for each one at varying grade levels. As well, she describes what should be considered when assessing student writing for the individual traits and provides rubrics for each trait. Culham adds an additional writing trait – presentation.

This was the first text I read when I became a specialized writing teacher. It was immensely helpful in training my brain and my eye for what I should be looking for in student writing. The model helps teachers to teach all aspects of writing and assess them equally instead of focusing purely on the easier to teach and assess conventions. The anchor papers at grade levels from 3^rd grade into high school are incredibly helpful as they give teachers a concrete model to examine and compare student writings to. The rubrics in the text are logical and organized. Dr. Culham also includes student friendly rubrics to make the expectations comprehensible for students. This text is the ultimate guide to this researched based writing model.

*Echevarria, J., Short, D. J., & Vogt, M. (2010). Making content comprehensible for elementary English learners: The SIOP model. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

With the increase of second language learners in our schools today, it is critical that all teachers be prepared to help these learners. The SIOP model is a research based protocol that makes learning accessible to these second language learners. I recommend this text as a way to begin your journey into how to adapt your lessons for these students. Not only does the text give detailed instruction, the sample lessons help to bring the information to life. I became increasingly aware of how the suggested adaptations for second language learners would benefit many of my students, regardless of their language background! This book provides everything one would need to begin implementation of the SIOP model in the classroom, including lesson plan templates, making this an excellent resource for all teachers.

*Fountas, I. C. & Pinnell G. S. (1996). Guided reading: Good first teaching 

for all children. Porthsmouth, NH: Heinemann,

Guided Reading is the original text written by Fountas and Pinnell that 

explains both the research by Marie Clay and the actual processes of using Balanced Literacy in the classroom. The text contains suggestions for creating 

a learning environment to is organized and conducive to the literacy framework. As well, it gives detail about using and taking running records and book leveling. For each reading level, there is a list of suggested behaviors and strategies a teacher would need to promote. This text also contains an appendix with a wealth of reproducible tools and forms for using the Guided Reading process in the classroom.I believe that this could easily be considered a sacred text for anyone who uses the Balanced Literacy model in their classroom or schools. 

*Marzano, R. J. (2007). The art and science of teaching: A comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Written by the famed Robert Marzano, this text combines much of the information from many of his previous works about the pedagogy of classroom instruction. From this information, Marzano created 10 questions for effective instruction. Goals, progress, engagement, procedures, and effective relationships with students are just a few of the topics covered in the book. This text discusses each of these questions in detail and provides “Action Steps” for implementation. As well, each chapter is supported with thorough research. Chapters are also filled with examples from various grade levels and content areas to make the planning framework relevant to all teachers.

*        McGregor, T. (2007). Comprehension connections: Bridges to strategic reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

This text, written by literacy coach Tanny McGregor from Cincinnati, Ohio, focuses on the process of thinking and reading. The author uses concrete objects and visual demonstrations to create lessons for improving student reading comprehension. Among the topics are metacognition, inferencing, visualizing, finding the main idea, questioning, synthesizing, and schema. As well, the text gives suggestions on incorporating music, art, and movement to introduce and further knowledge of each strategy. In my own classroom, I have used this book for many years. The use of concrete objects to help students relate and understand abstract concepts is beneficial for so many: from the youngest children to even the young adult population. As our school focus continues to turn towards comprehension and depth of thinking, this easy to use resource provides quick and simple suggestions for promoting these thought processes in the classroom.

*Payne, R. K. (1996) A framework for understanding poverty. Highlands, TX: aha! Process, Inc.

This resource address a problem that plagues schools across the world – poverty. Almost every school has students that fall below the poverty line, and Dr. Ruby Payne’s text opens the readers eye to the reality of what life is like for these students. The text discusses the various resources one can both have access to or be deficient in. The reader obtains a more solid understanding of the hidden rules of social classes, the differences in language usage, generational poverty, and support systems. The book goes on to examine how each of these impact classroom learning and gives suggestions for classroom teachers in dealing with students of poverty.

*Richardson, J. (2009). The next step in guided reading: Focused assessments and targeted lessons for helping every student become a better reader. New York, NY: Scholastic.

This text is a continuation on the ideas of Guided Reading from Fountas and Pinnell. Jan Richardson addresses some of the most common concerns of teachers implementing balanced literacy such as time management, implementation, and suggestions of what to do in literacy stations. Later chapters are then organized as pre-emergent readers, early guided reading, transitional guided reading, and fluent guided reading so that it addresses the needs of readers grades K-8. Suggested daily lessons are provided within each area. An appendix contains blank lesson plans, recording sheets, and reproducible data forms. With this text, teachers will be well prepared to use guided reading in any classroom.

*Seidlitz, J., & Kenfield, K. (2011). 38 Great academic language builders: Activities for math, science, social studies, language arts…and just about everything else. San Clemente, CA: Seidlitz Education.

Though small, the information presented in this book is mighty! This text correlates with the domains teachers are asked to assess during TELPAS, so using these strategies is an effective way to address these domains in the classroom. As well, the step by step directions make the strategies quick and easy to implement without having to scan through pages and pages of text. It is a gem in the tool box of any teacher looking to increase the academic vocabulary of their students without a great deal of extra preparation.

*Stone, B. & Pitler, H. (2012). A handbook for classroom instruction that works.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

This text uses research from Marzano and others create nine strategies that the authors believe increase student achievement. These include practices such as setting objectives, providing feedback, reinforcing effort, using cooperative learning, questioning, using graphic organizers, summarizing, note taking, and finding similarities and differences. Each chapter gives teachers time to reflect on their current practices and then guides them through a growth plan to help them incorporate the new strategies into their classrooms. The reading is light, but the process of self-assessment and change are informative. The text helps teachers to not only read the why and how of the strategies but edges them into change by creating an individualized plan of action. While the rubrics, checklists, and self-questionnaires seem overwhelming at first, this text is very user-friendly and prevents the “That won’t work for me” ideology that sometimes occurs when learning new strategies.

*Tate, M. L. (2010). Worksheets don’t grow dendrites: 20 Instructional strategies that engage the brain.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

This text is one of my favorites in that it is not only rooted in research, but it is incredibly practical. Many of Tate’s strategies are easy to implement and require only minimal preparation. For teachers, this is critical! In my own experiences, I turned to a low rigor worksheet when I was overwhelmed with other tasks. By making this resources so user friendly, teachers are more likely to implement these strategies and students are more likely to reap the rewards. As well, is Tate provides suggestions for using the strategies across content areas. This feature helps readers to get a well-rounded view of each strategy. 

And yes... that is me with Dr. MARCIA TATE!!!!