Do your students often struggle with difficult novels and other challenging texts? Do you feel that you are doing more work teaching the novel than they are reading it? Building on twenty years of teaching language arts, Kelly Gallagher shows how students can be taught to successfully read a broad range of challenging and difficult texts with deeper levels of comprehension. In Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12 , he shares effective, classroom-tested strategies that enable your students to: Accept the challenge of reading difficult books and move beyond a "first draft" understanding Consciously monitor their comprehension as they read and employ effective "fix-it" strategies when comprehension starts to falter Use meaningful collaboration and metaphorical thinking to achieve deeper understanding of texts Reflect on the relevance the book holds for themselves and their peers by using critical thinking skills to analyze real-world issues Gallagher also provides guidance on effective lesson planning that incorporates strategies for deeper reading. Funny, poignant, and packed with practical ideas that work in real classrooms, Deeper Reading is a valuable resource for any teacher whose students need new tools to uncover the riches found in complex texts.

Advances in literacy require collaboration between all of a school's stakeholders. This book harnesses the latest research and takes into consideration CCSS to show how to make that collaboration a reality. Authentic literacy practice is crucial to preparing all students to be successful both in the workplace and college in the 21st century. Insisting that this literacy achievement will only happen when librarians, teachers, literacy coaches, and administrators work together in their schools, Collaborating for Real Literacy addresses the role of each instructional leader individually and examines the importance of the group collectively in bolstering the literacy of all students. Practical ways to support the teaching of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are infused throughout every chapter. In this second edition of the book, core chapters on scaffolding, literacy centers, family literacy, English-language learners, comprehension, assessment, writing, and discussion have been updated based on current research and CCSS. Each of these chapters now offers suggestions for literacy coaches. Also new are recommendations for grades K–5 and 6–12, demonstrating specific ways to apply instructional ideas to different age levels and providing materials that can be used for the instruction. Additionally, three new chapters have been added with real literacy instructional ideas for content area reading and Response to Intervention (support for struggling readers).

In schools, every day is "game day." Every day, teachers need the best resources and forms of support because students deserve the best we as educators can offer. An instructional playbook aims to serve as that kind of support: a tool that coaches can use to help teachers match specific learning goals with the right research-based instructional strategies. Coaches have enormous potential to help teachers learn and implement new teaching practices, but coaches will be effective only if they deeply understand the strategies they describe and their explanations are clear. The Instructional Playbook: The Missing Link for Translating Research into Practice addresses both issues head on and offers a simple and clear explanation of how to create a playbook uniquely designed to meet teachers' instructional needs. The idea of an instructional playbook has caught fire since Jim Knight described it in The Impact Cycle (2017). This book helps instructional coaches create playbooks that produce a common language about high-impact teaching strategies, deepen everyone's understanding of what instructional coaches do, and, most important, support teachers and students in classrooms. “em>A joint publication of ASCD and One Fine Bird Press.

In Literacy Leadership Teams: Collaborative Leadership for Improving and Sustaining Student Achievement, Pamela Craig, a veteran English teacher and a vice-president of the Florida Council of Teachers of English, focuses on practical ways for school leaders to establish school-based literacy leadership teams. She carefully outlines each step of the process so that readers will be able to create and sustain literacy leadership teams at their own schools. Craig provides insights and tools designed to bring teachers, administrators, and other members of the school community together to set and achieve goals for improving student achievement in literacy.

One 200-year-old folk tale, 30 teachers, and 1,000 students. Ride along with literacy guru David Booth as he takes the same story to a wide variety of classrooms, from kindergarten all the way through grade 12, and be amazed by the learning generated. David argues that "it takes two to read a book". He reasons that sharing responses and bouncing ideas off others guides students to deeper thinking, and challenges them to reconsider their views and increase their understanding. This intriguing book also shows teachers how to help students discover the world outside the text: the origins, connections, place, values, and the different perceptions that readers have. It illustrates ways to transpose that original text into other forms that let students look at the text with different eyes, to ponder what might have been, to challenge what they read, and to add their new learning to the construct of the world. Throughout the book, authentic student samples and actual transcripts present students experiencing the featured story in a multitude of ways -- from poems and retellings, to visuals and arts, to conversation and blogs -- that will "explode" your definitions of comprehension, response, and engagement, and have you looking at classroom literacy in a whole new way!

This volume informs the reader about new teachers in urban underserved schools and their development as teachers for social equity. The accounts of five novice teachers who grew up outside the communities in which they teach lead to chapters that contain advice for teacher educators, future and current teachers, and school leaders. These early career teachers learned much about bridging the cultural divide between themselves and their students, confronted and resolved big challenges that may immobilize some who set out to teach in these communities. They brought to their classrooms strong social justice orientations, including a moral imperative to make a difference in the world, an awareness of social and educational inequalities, and a strong sense of responsibility to positively influence the life trajectories of students in their charge. Their narratives offer insights on the dispositions and contexts that will help early career teachers survive and thrive and make a difference in their students’ lives.

In this fully revised and expanded third edition of the bestselling Reciprocal Teaching at Work, Lori D. Oczkus provides both tried-and-true and fresh solutions for teaching reading comprehension. Reciprocal teaching is a scaffolded discussion technique that builds on the Fab Four strategies that good readers use to understand text: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. With a focus on these four evidence-based and classroom-tested strategies, Oczkus presents new ways to use reciprocal teaching to improve students' comprehension while actively engaging them in learning and encouraging independence. Appealing to students and teachers alike, reciprocal teaching encompasses social aspects of teaching and learning with modeling, think-alouds, and discussion. This helpful guide is packed with fresh material, including * More than 40 new and updated step-by-step lessons and minilessons that reflect current thinking and best practice. * Dozens of rich suggestions for diving into informational texts. * Updated research and relevant results that show the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching. * Creative and targeted tips that capitalize on the specific benefits of whole-class settings, guided reading groups, and literature circles. * Ideas for differentiating instruction for struggling readers and English language learners. * New and newly designed support materials, including reproducibles, posters, bookmarks, and a lesson planning menu. With a wealth of ideas to get you started—and keep you going—this is the all-inclusive resource you need to help students become active, engaged, and independent readers who truly comprehend what they read. Reviews and Testimonials "Literacy coach and author Lori Oczkus knows how to take the best of what works from long-established research and showcase it to make teaching and learning more effective, engaging, and enjoyable. In her latest edition of Reciprocal Teaching at Work, she demonstrates how to scaffold instruction so that all K–12 students can benefit from reciprocal teaching techniques, what she calls the "Fab Four"—predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing—in whole-group, guided reading, and book club settings, for both fiction and informational texts. In clearly delineated lessons and minilessons, Lori deftly shares how to support students' learning, including English language learners and students who struggle, so they can successfully apply and monitor those four discussion strategies—as well as troubleshoot problems—to yield significant progress in their reading comprehension. Filled with great practical ideas, this gem of a book is a must-have for all literacy educators!" —Regie Routman, author of Read, Write, Lead; Literacy Essentials, and Reading Essentials "Reciprocal teaching works to push students into deeper learning. There are decades of research on the impact of this instructional approach, and this book shows you how to implement and refine the practice such that all students succeed." —Doug Fisher, author of Checking for Understanding and Visible Learning for Literacy "One of the great instructional research discoveries of the past three decades has been the efficacy of reciprocal teaching for improving student learning and reading comprehension. More than anyone, Lori Oczkus has explored practical ways for making reciprocal teaching an integral part of nearly any classroom setting. This current work by Lori represents the epitome of her work in translating reciprocal teaching research into practice. Readers will find this immensely readable book filled with strategies that can be easily implemented and that will improve student learning. If you are interested in improving your students' reading achievement, you need to read this book!" —Timothy Rasinski, author of The Fluent Reader and Close Reading with Paired Texts "In this new edition of Reciprocal Teaching at Work, Lori Oczkus offers new thinking while reinforcing the best practices that make her ideas timeless. Through these engaging lessons and smart instructional moves, you will empower your students to build the confidence and competence they need to become strong, independent readers." —Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer "On every page of this book, in every activity and plan, the voice of a gifted and empowering teacher inspires the reader. In a major revision of her classic work, Lori Oczkus engages the immediacy and demands of today's classrooms with the most robust constellation of strategies for teaching comprehension. She compellingly demonstrates how the "Fab Four" are engaged across the grades, and she powerfully scaffolds, supports, and reassures teachers in their efforts to incorporate reciprocal teaching across a broad communication, textual, and digital terrain." —Shane Templeton, Foundation Professor Emeritus of Literacy Studies University of Nevada, Reno, NV

"This book brings new focus to the rich history of ideas and strategies shown to improve student learning, helping educators at all levels see not only the value of using proven strategies, but the importance of integrating those strategies into purposeful improvement efforts." —Thomas R. Guskey, Distinguished Service Professor Georgetown College "This is a book of action. The author calls for leaders in school communities to be bold, courageous, committed, and aggressive in the actions required to achieve desired increases in student learning." —Charles Patterson, Educational Consultant Former President, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Dramatically raise student achievement by engaging educators in collaborative curriculum design and professional development! Teachers, teacher leaders, principals, and staff developers can build a collaborative culture and improve staff and student performance with this content-focused, step-by-step model that ties curriculum design to teacher growth. Kay Psencik provides a powerful process whereby teachers work together in teams to examine standards, gain a deep understanding of content, create curriculum maps, and design common formative assessments. Professional development leaders can inspire and challenge teachers to: Confront assumptions about learning and professional development Clarify and establish complex standards Embed conversations about the curriculum into daily work With hands-on tools, templates, and resources, readers can help teachers become more skilled in their instruction, create a school-based curriculum that is tied to standards, and accelerate the learning of both students and staff.

Proven methods for teaching reading comprehension to all students The Literacy Cookbook is filled with classroom-tested techniques for teaching reading comprehension to even the most hard-to-reach students. The book offers a review of approaches that are targeted for teaching reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. The book also includes information on how to connect reading, writing, and test prep. Contains accessible and easy-to-adopt recipes for strengthening comprehension, reading, writing, and oral fluency. Terrific resources are ready for download on the companion website. The materials in this book are aligned with the English Language Arts Common Core Standards The website includes an ELA Common Core Tracking Sheet, a handy resource when writing or evaluating curriculum.

It is important for school librarians to consider the expertise of classroom teachers, the position of school administrators, and the beliefs and values of the community at large. Striking the balance between collaboration and leadership is a key to successful implementation of an effective library program.