Previous edition published: New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 2013, under title Accelerating literacy for diverse learners: strategies for the common core classrooms, K-8.

In her new book, nationally known professional development consultant and literacy expert Socorro Herrera and her colleagues provide a theoretical foundation for culturally responsive teaching that will accelerate literacy development for all students, and particularly for English language learners. Aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS), this volume incorporates current research and best practices for developing a classroom community that takes into account students' languages, cultures, and individual biographies. This resource provides proven-effective strategies, tools, and ideas that can be adapted and modified for any grade level and content area. This book features; a demonstration DVD showing the books strategies in action in real classrooms; classroom strategies that align with CCSS and Response to Intervention; guidance to help teachers use grouping configurations to build classroom community and maximize students assets; and a quick-glance overview and an in-depth exploration of each strategy that illustrates each step of implementation. 208 page book and 1-hour DVD

Research indicates that the culturally responsive teaching strategies outlined in this book accelerate literacy, language development, and academic growth for students in grades K–8, particularly for English language learners. Completely revised and updated, this bestselling resource speaks to the social-emotional needs of learners and helps teachers support each child’s development of a positive self-concept. The authors present best practices, aligned with reading and content standards, and tools for developing academic talk and instructional conversations in the classroom. Special emphasis is placed on using student culture and language as a means for promoting meaningful relationships among communities of learners. The text includes tips for using the strategies for parental involvement, gathering knowledge of the student's background, and promoting social-emotional learning. A companion website provides new video of the strategies being used in classrooms. "Accelerating Literacy for Diverse Learners provides teachers a powerful framework to guide their decisionmaking processes in support of their students’ sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic biographies. The book presents a varied set of strategies that actively engage students in communicating, displaying, sharing, analyzing, reflecting on, and using their own understandings to develop new understandings and gain access to a high-quality curriculum." —Ester J. de Jong, EdD, professor, University of Florida, and 2017-18 President of TESOL

Culturally responsive pedagogy, literacy, and English learner education expert Socorro Herrera has updated this bestseller to clarify, focus, and redefine concepts for the continued professional development of educators serving culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations. Teaching strategies and tools have been updated to reflect important new brain research and to keep pace with our nation’s ever-changing demographics and constant shift in expectations for K–12 students. Herrera has also revised the structure and format of the book to help educators find information quickly while working in highly complex and demanding environments. New for the Second Edition: Teaching strategies and tools based on the most current knowledge in the field. Authentic classroom artifacts that have been collected from teachers across the country. Glossary of key terms providing an auxiliary resource for current readers and for future applications of content in professional practice. Reorganized features with new icons providing a more user-friendly text for practitioner and classroom use. Updated excerpts from grade-level classroom teachers clarifying practice with CLD students and families. Additional planning and instructional aids available for free at www.tcpress.com. Grounded in the latest theory and with more user-friendly features, the Second Edition of Biography-Driven Culturally Responsive Teaching will help educators to reflect on their assumptions and perspectives, integrate best practices, and accelerate CLD students’ academic learning. “Socorro Herrera does a masterful job of mediating multicultural education theory and practice, specifically for culturally and linguistically diverse students, in Biography-Driven Culturally Responsive Teaching.” —From the Foreword by Geneva Gay, University of Washington, Seattle

Accelerating and Extending the Literacy of Diverse Students keeps alive the conviction that the growing diverse student body can become successful learners. By creating a culturally relevant classroom that is validating and affirming as it acknowledges the strengths of diverse students, culturally relevant teaching can empower students, motivating them to excel in the classroom and beyond. Each chapter provides sound strategies that can be used to transform teaching of diverse students, using technology, visual literacy, picture books, bibliotherapy, and explorations of where words come from leading to a deeper appreciation and use of words as students read and write. Realizing that teaching can be wearing and stressful, one chapter provides suggestions on how teachers can recharge and nurture their inner lives to be the happy teachers that can change the world.

This popular resource has transformed classrooms for thousands of teachers by providing how-to guidance for success with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. It illustrates how to use strategies that recognize and leverage all the cultural and linguistic assets that students bring to their learning. This new edition situates biography-driven instruction at the intersection of culturally responsive teaching, culturally sustaining pedagogies, and antiracist education. Herrera provides updated vignettes and student work artifacts to reflect the diversity of learners in today's historically and culturally situated spaces. Teaching strategies, tools, and interactional processes provide practical, proven ways to restructure classrooms for relational equity. Increased attention on each learner's biopsychosocial history will help educators to cultivate classroom ecologies that nurture and challenge CLD learners to reach their potentials. With lesson planning and strategy templates, tips for grouping students, teacher reflections, assessment aids, a classroom observation tool, and more features to foster classroom and schoolwide change, this edition shows teachers and administrators how to take the next steps toward critical consciousness and authentic relationships that will accelerate content learning and foster more extensive use and development of language. Book Features: Lesson planning guide that can be used with any curriculum. Strategy tools and templates to foster engaged learning. Voices of CLD families that highlight benefits of asset-driven practices. Journaling process for critical reflection on assumptions and perspectives. Book study discussion guide to scaffold collaboration and goal setting. Classroom observation tool for coaching, mentoring, and self-assessment.

"Focusing on inclusive practices for working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities and their families, this book examines decision-making processes for placement, access, instruction, assessment, and evaluation. It offers a framework for creating learning opportunities grounded in the principles of IDEA and the personal and academic biography of learners"--

“It’s a new day! We’ve learned language acquisition in school isn’t linear and rote but rather dynamic, meaningful, and collaborative. Multilingual learners thrive through the production of oral and written language.” —Dr. Nancy Akhavan Are you ready to teach multilingual learners with instruction that reflects current English Language Development (ELD) standards? Language acquisition expert Dr. Nancy Akhavan provides a flexible resource that delivers what students need most, experiences that teach language skills through intellectually engaging texts, tasks, and lively communication with peers. This dynamic curriculum offers five units based on a writing performance task that aligns to commonly taught genres and key reading skills. The research-backed instructional framework maximizes students’ participation through a series of listening, speaking, and writing activities. Book Review 1: "Nancy Akhavan has brought together a set of carefully designed lessons that address the specific language-acquisition needs of English Language Learners. Each 30 minute lesson is designed to help multilingual learners acquire English through content, which supports lesson planning and delivery. Dr. Akhavan’s work ensures success by demystifying the process of teaching and learning." Cinnamon Scheufele Executive Director, Curriculum and Instruction Lindsay Unified School District, Lindsay, CA Book Review 2: "As a teacher educator, this curriculum is exactly what I wished I had to give my early career teachers - who needed structure, scaffolding, and support in fine-tuning their instruction. The unit design - with the foundations, pave the way, lead the way, and assess - serve as the foundation upon which each lesson rests. The lessons are laser focused to standards and learning outcomes, and the assessment perfectly aligns. I enthusiastically support this curriculum, which has the potential to promote significant changes in the literacy trajectories for students and districts." Molly Ness VP, Academic Content Learning Ally

“It’s a new day! We’ve learned language acquisition in school isn’t linear and rote, but rather, dynamic, meaningful, and collaborative. Multilingual learners thrive through the production of oral and written language.” —Dr. Nancy Akhavan Are you ready to teach multilingual learners with instruction that reflects current English Language Development (ELD) standards? Language acquisition expert Dr. Nancy Akhavan provides a flexible resource that delivers what students need most—experiences that teach language skills through intellectually engaging texts, tasks, and lively communication with peers. This dynamic curriculum offers five units based on a writing performance task that aligns to commonly taught genres and key reading skills. The research-backed instructional framework maximizes students’ participation through a series of listening, speaking, and writing activities. Book Review 1: "Nancy Akhavan has brought together a set of carefully designed lessons that address the specific language-acquisition needs of English Language Learners. Each 30 minute lesson is designed to help multilingual learners acquire English through content, which supports lesson planning and delivery. Dr. Akhavan’s work ensures success by demystifying the process of teaching and learning." Cinnamon Scheufele Executive Director, Curriculum and Instruction Lindsay Unified School District, Lindsay, CA Book Review 2: "As a teacher educator, this curriculum is exactly what I wished I had to give my early career teachers - who needed structure, scaffolding, and support in fine-tuning their instruction. The unit design - with the foundations, pave the way, lead the way, and assess - serve as the foundation upon which each lesson rests. The lessons are laser focused to standards and learning outcomes, and the assessment perfectly aligns. I enthusiastically support this curriculum, which has the potential to promote significant changes in the literacy trajectories for students and districts." Molly Ness VP, Academic Content Learning Ally