For Your Bookshelf: Considering the Teaching of Reading
Date: December 2008
Summary: Too many books, too little time! Writing project teachers review recent and classic publications in reading and adolescent literacy that you might consider for your bookshelf.
Book Review: Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature K–6, by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli
December 2008
Lisa Light
Mentor Texts, written by two writing project teacher-consultants, offers explicit ideas, clear models, and inspiration for teaching writing to students in kindergarten through middle school.
Book Review: Literature Is Back! Using the Best Books for Teaching Readers and Writers Across Genres, By Carol J. Fuhler and Maria P. Walthe
December 2008
Lisa Light
Lisa Light, co-director at Jacksonville State University Writing Project, describes Literature Is Back! as a lifeline to primary/intermediate and middle school teachers, with lists of books and practical research-supported ideas for using children's literature to teach key literacy skills and strategies.
Book Review: Three Books Frame Content Area Literacy in Discussion of 21st Century Literacies
October 2008
Ken Martin
Three books on content area literacy instruction aim to help teachers think about the literacy demands of all content areas while framing their arguments in a larger discussion of 21st century literacies.
Book Review: Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap Grades 4-12, edited by Dorothy S. Strickland and Donna E. Alvermann
February 2007
Harriet Williams
Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap Grades 4–12 surveys the issues and the research on the achievement gap between white students and students of color, and reports on a number of ways that have been developed to address it.
Book Review: Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading, by Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman
February 2007
Charlie Troughton
Subjects Matter shows content-area teachers how to motivate students to read by creating supportive environments, calling on students' natural interests, and using authentic, real-world texts.
Book Review: Lifers: Learning from At-Risk Adolescent Readers, by Pamela Mueller
The Quarterly, 2005
Emily Noble
This book describes the experience—in their own words—of several at-risk students who have been struggling with reading for years. Noble describes Mueller's model for a reading workshop for ninth grade students.
Book Review: "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys": Literacy in the Lives of Young Men, by Michael Smith and Jeffrey Wilhelm
The Quarterly, 2004
Bob Sizoo
"Reading Don't Fix No Chevys" examines how to engage boys in school literacy.
Book Review: Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension, by Jeffrey Wilhelm
The Quarterly, 2004
Pamela Fong
Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension challenges teachers to consider untraditional ways to support student comprehension and engage otherwise unmotivated students into becoming independent learners.
Book Review: School's Out! by Glynda Hull and Katherine Schultz
The Quarterly, 2003
Monie Hayes
Each of this book's chapters answers, or seeks to answer, Paulo Friere's call for transformative literacy—the idea of reading and writing to become more fully human and to people a culture that is more humane.
Book Review: The Reading/Writing Connection, by Carol Booth Olson
The Quarterly, 2003
Harry Noden
The Reading/Writing Connection describes important theoretical concepts and then takes you beyond the theory and into the classroom, sharing a wealth of tested practices that excellent teachers have found successful.
Book Review: Strategic Reading, by Jeff Wilhelm, Tanya Baker, and Julie Dube
The Quarterly, 2002
Marean Jordan
The authors describe how they applied the theoretical orientation of Lev Vygotsky and George Hillocks to their teaching of secondary English and illustrate how their students have developed into more engaged and independent readers, writers, thinkers, and citizens as a result.
Book Review: Reading Reminders, by Jim Burke
The Quarterly, 2001
Jane Braunger
Jim Burke has collected 100 reminders of tips, techniques, and tools to help teachers successfully teach reading in their high school classrooms.
Book Review: Teaching Reading in the Middle School, by Laura Robb
The Quarterly, 2001
Suzanne Cherry
Teaching Reading in Middle School is an easy-to-read, solidly grounded book, and—most importantly—it is practical for classroom teachers.
Book Review: Reading for Understanding, by Schoenbach, Greenleaf, Cziko, and Hurwitz
The Quarterly, 2000
Bob Fecho
Reading for Understanding is a straightforward, yet nuanced account of what the authors call a reading apprenticeship approach.
Book Review: Mosaic of Thought, by Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmerman
The Quarterly, 2000
Sheryl Lain
The authors show us reading workshops with real students where even the littlest ones are taught how to read for the love of it.
Book Review: If Not Now: Developmental Readers in the College Classroom, by Jeanne Henry
The Quarterly, 1996
Barbara Bass
The author, a successful teacher of developmental readers, takes you through her process step by step in a humorous, natural style.
Book Review: The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions, by Jeff McQuillan
The Quarterly, 1998
Jan Isenhour
In this survey of 275 literacy studies, the author explodes myths and examines such literacy questions as What does it take to learn how to read? and What is the relationship between sound and reading?