Editorial Reviews

Review

'What makes this book particularly worth while for me is the connective tissue, the thinking behind the thinking that shows the breadth of Harrison's scholarship. Any writer who can move swiftly and deftly from A. B. Lord and his theories of oral formulaic poetry to Wibbly Pig in a mere two paragraphs deserves the respect of us all!' - Literacy `There are several aspects of this book that will make it a stimulating and useful read for many teachers: the exposition of psychological research that demonstrates many of the processes underlying word reading and text comprehension; the focus on reading for meaning and reading behaviours; the inclusion of case studies, which demonstrate Colin Harrison's philosophy in practice' - Journal of Research in Reading
`It is a great text for literacy researchers, for education students in masters programmes, and for teachers wanting a more advanced knowledge and understanding of reading processes and what it means to develop reading comprehension. Colin Harrison provides strongly stated opinion that is well-grounded in an understanding of the literature and linked to political, educational and social contexts. A scholarly work in the truest sense! He is able to discuss and yet not get caught up in debates surrounding children's reading development, and he is not afraid to articulate his position based on the best evidence and experience'- Childforum, New Zealand
`Colin Harrison's knowledge of the research on reading processes and comprehension is encyclopaedic.... Compared to word-level factors, especially phonics, comprehension has been the poor relation in both research and teaching, so this book is just what is needed to redress the balance.... This is essential reading for all those committed to improving literacy attainment at all levels' - Professor Greg Brooks, University of Sheffield

Product Description

`There are several aspects of this book that will make it a stimulating and useful read for many teachers: the exposition of psychological research that demonstrates many of the processes underlying word reading and text comprehension; the focus on reading for meaning and reading behaviours; the inclusion of case studies, which demonstrate Colin Harrison's philosophy in practice' - Journal of Research in Reading `It is a great text for literacy researchers, for education students in masters programmes, and for teachers wanting a more advanced knowledge and understanding of reading processes and what it means to develop reading comprehension. Colin Harrison provides strongly stated opinion that is well-grounded in an understanding of the literature and linked to political, educational and social contexts. A scholarly work in the truest sense! He is able to discuss and yet not get caught up in debates surrounding children's reading development, and he is not afraid to articulate his position based on the best evidence and experience'- Childforum, New Zealand
`Colin Harrison's knowledge of the research on reading processes and comprehension is encyclopaedic.... Compared to word-level factors, especially phonics, comprehension has been the poor relation in both research and teaching, so this book is just what is needed to redress the balance.... This is essential reading for all those committed to improving literacy attainment at all levels' - Professor Greg Brooks, University of Sheffield
This book focuses on how to understand reading processes and what it means to develop reading comprehension. With a wide-ranging theoretical basis, the author makes new connections between work in critical theory, cognitive psychology and literacy.
Key features include:
} how and why we read
} evaluating response to reading
} a whole-school approach to developing reading.
This book is highly recommended to teachers, literacy coordinators and students and lecturers of masters and doctoral programmes with a reading or literacy focus.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 216 pages
  • Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd; 1 edition (January 31, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0761942505
  • ISBN-13: 978-0761942504
  • Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 0.7 inche

Review
Praise for the first edition:

'Ways of Reading is a valuable and immensely usable book ... More than fills a major gap.' – Literature & Language

'This is a clear and incisive introduction to [the] main issues in the critical study of literature.' – Robin Jarvis, University of the West of England, UK

Product Description
Ways of Reading is a well-established core textbook that provides the reader with the tools to analyze and interpret the meanings of literary and non-literary texts.
Six sections, split into self-contained units with their own activities and notes for further reading, cover:

techniques and problem-solving
language variation
attributing meaning
poetic uses of language
narrative
media texts.
This third edition has been redesigned and updated throughout with many fresh examples and exercises, updated further reading suggestions and new material on electronic sources and the Internet, language and power, and drama.

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge; 3 edition (December 19, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0415346339
  • ISBN-13: 978-0415346337
  • Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 1.1 inches


Review
"One of the chapters in this book reflects back on 'landmark research summaries' of progress in vocabulary teaching. The present volume is sure to become another classic landmark in the field. A wealth of important research is reviewed--or reported for the first time--in these pages. At a time when the necessity of vocabulary instruction in elementary schools is finally being recognized by state education departments, this book will provide needed support for establishing effective vocabulary curricula."--Andrew Biemiller, PhD, Toronto

"A significant contribution to the literacy field. The authors, all well-respected experts, examine the relationship between vocabulary acquisition and reading development from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and historical perspectives. Research on vocabulary development from the primary grades through secondary school is comprehensively reviewed, motivating the reader to consider how we can better attend to vocabulary instruction in the classroom. This book will be valuable as a resource and text for graduate-level students pursuing a degree in literacy or a related field."--Heather Kenyon Casey, PhD, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

"The leading researchers in this area have compiled an unparalleled volume on arguably the most pressing issue for researchers and practitioners--the complexity of vocabulary knowledge and its nuanced relationship with reading ability and academic achievement. This volume is certain to advance the field. Further, it will raise awareness of the need to generate knowledge about effective practices for bolstering the vocabulary levels and literacy rates of English language learners and native speakers alike."--Nonie K. Lesaux, PhD, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Product Description
Understanding a text requires more than the ability to read individual words: it depends greatly on vocabulary knowledge. This important book brings together leading literacy scholars to synthesize cutting-edge research on vocabulary development and its connections to reading comprehension. The volume also reviews an array of approaches to assessing vocabulary knowledge and helping diverse learners build their skills. Key topics include the relationship of vocabulary acquisition to phonological awareness and to morphological processing, the role of parents in supporting early language development, and considerations in teaching English language learners and children with reading disabilities.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 301 pages
  • Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (October 13, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1593853386
  • ISBN-13: 978-1593853389
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches



This resource is designed "to help educators develop coteaching strategies to ensure student achievement." The first two introductory chapters cover collaboration and reading instruction. The majority of the book offers collaborative teaching strategies and detailed lesson plans written for the emerging, advancing, or advanced reader. Boxed figures of relevant information are also included throughout. A helpful glossary, list of resources, and index conclude the work. All elementary teacher-librarians, regardless of years of experience, will find much useful information in this book, which is supplemented with material found on a page within the ALA Web site, including printable graphic organizers, bookmarks, charts, and rubrics. Glantz, Shelley
Product Description
Research shows that collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher-librarians improves overall effectiveness in increasing students reading comprehension. Standardized testing and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) add urgency to the issue.

Time-strapped educators wonder whether partnering with teacher-librarians will realistically improve students scores. Drawing on cutting edge research in instructional strategies, Moreillon, a veteran teacher-librarian, offers a clear, rigorous roadmap to the task of teaching reading comprehension in a proven collaborative process.

Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension is packed with practical applications to
# Streamline the co-teaching lesson-planning process
# Encourage collaboration with a flexible design and delivery framework
# Strengthen partnering techniques to improve reading comprehension
# Address three levels of literacy development
# Identify seven strategies that students use to read for meaning
# Connect with research-driven teaching practices that incorporate library programs
# Increase reading scores and lower the student-teacher ratios using proven collaborative approaches

The seven strategies for enhancing reading comprehension, each with graphic organizers and three sample lesson plans, include: providing background knowledge; visualizing; questioning; predicting; determining main ideas; utilizing fix-up strategies; and synthesizing.

In a national drive to improve test scores and build a nation of readers, these are proven teamwork tools to accomplish both goals.
About the Author
Judi Moreillon, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University in Denton. She teaches courses in school librarianship, including Librarians as Instructional Partners. During a 13-year career as a school librarian, she collaborated with classroom teachers, specialists, and principals to integrate literature, information literacy, and technology tools into the classroom curriculum.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 170 pages
  • Publisher: Amer Library Assn Editions (January 30, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9780838909294
  • ISBN-13: 978-0838909294
  • ASIN: 0838909299
  • Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches

How can teachers make sure that all students gain the reading skills they need to be successful in school and in life? In this book, Karen Tankersley describes the six foundational "threads" that students need to study in order to become effective readers: phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and higher-order processing.
For each area, the author explains how students acquire the reading skills they need and offers a series of skill-building strategies and activities that teachers can use in the classroom. Although reading is perhaps most intensely taught in the kindergarten and 1st-grade classrooms, Tankersley emphasizes that helping students become lifelong readers is a task for all teachers, including content-area teachers in middle and high schools.

The Threads of Reading addresses key questions about literacy, such as

- What makes a difference in reading achievement?

- How much reading time is enough?

- How can teachers use writing to build reading skills?

- How can teachers help students make meaning from their reading?

The strategies in the book address many situations, from individual instruction to small- or large-group instruction, from kindergarten to high school. Teachers will appreciate the multitude of activities provided, and administrators will learn to better evaluate the reading programs in place in their districts and schools. Grounded in both research and "teacher lore" from actual classrooms, this book is a solid guide to helping students become lifelong readers.

  • Paperback: 184 pages
  • Publisher: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve (December 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9780871207944
  • ISBN-13: 978-0871207944
  • ASIN: 087120794X





The Picture Word Inductive Method (PWIM) is a clever and useful practical model for teaching beginning reading and writing. In meeting students where they are, the PWIM uses students' own background knowledge to engage them in discussion and use of words in many ways. Students help the teacher identify objects, actions, and descriptions in an image, all the while learning to spell, write, and identify the written words for existing oral vocabulary. While initially intended for only young first and beginning readers (ideally second grade and below), there are definitely positive implications for possible constructive use in foreign language or English Language Learner classrooms. 


PWIM uses engaging images and illustrations to link to students' prior knowledge. From there, instructors are able to develop extensive sight word lists, phonics grouping and development lessons, as well as more advanced writing techniques, such as descriptive writing, creating titles, or simple sentences or paragraphs. Categorization and word sorting are common activities associated with this literacy method. Students identify commonalities between words, while discovering the "code" that is the English language. The PWIM is an inquiry-based language arts teaching method which, when used properly, can increase student success in the classroom in numerous ways. While initially seen as teaching only reading, the PWIM is an interactive, interdisciplinary model by which students can feel engaged, empowered, and become growing and developing readers, writers, and thinkers.




Comprehensive, up to date, and highly practical, this volume discusses factors that affect struggling readers in grades 7-12 and provides research-based strategies for improving their reading and writing skills. Chapters from leading authorities examine why some adolescents have trouble achieving reading proficiency, describe schoolwide policies and programs that support literacy, and suggest age-appropriate classroom practices for promoting reading success. The book shows how literacy skills and strategies can be incorporated into instruction in all areas of the curriculum. Essential topics include assessment; building core competencies, such as fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary; and working with struggling adolescent English language learners.





Teaching the Brain to Read

Posted by aditamarezki On 2:43 PM 0 comments

Teaching the Brain to Read: Strategies for Improving Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension is a great resource of integrated information. Both brain research and reading research have been a source of great debate, and both with a potential for developing a template for learning to read and teaching how to learn to read. Dr. Willis has undertaken an extremely difficult task presenting both brain and reading research and translating the findings in a manner that would be invaluable for all educators and parents. 


Dr. Willis' book is unique in that it presents big ideas and strategies to promote children's "reading brains" integrates a fine linguistic grain and emphasizes the wonderful capacities of children. The knowledge gained from this book is well worth the read. 


Dr Willis is to be commanded for presenting the research data in a manner that is responsible and clear on the limits of what is known and what might be inferred from the findings. What we know about cognitive functions must at some point be compatible with neuroscience findings. Dr. Willis has demonstrated the compatibility of neuroscience research with strategies to promote successful reading. 




Dr. Jules Zimmer 
Dean Emeritus, University of California Graduate School of Education





This book and its companion volume (Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking) were the core texts of two courses I took for my MA Applied Linguistics. The central tenet of the books is that EFL/ESL classroom learning should consist of equal amounts of the "four strands" of language learning - meaningful input, meaningful output, fluency, and direct attention to language items. 


Compared with the other required texts I read while completing my MA, this book is highly pedagogically relevant (ie: some of the suggestions appear to be actually useful for classroom teachers). 


The book contains a lot of suggestions for teachers in terms of tasks and activities. It gives a brief description of the research that underpins the suggestions and also suggests further reading material that might prove useful for writing essays and assignments at university level. 


Having said that, I have found that I've used very few of the suggestions in my job as an EFL teacher at a South Korean elementary school. The reason is that the book focuses on specific tasks and activities, rather than explaining how to develop lesson plans that incorporate those tasks/activities. In other words, the book has a narrow focus.



Best Practice for Teaching Reading

Posted by aditamarezki On 2:22 PM 0 comments




"Very logical and easy to follow. Teachers can easily incorporate these ideas in their teaching."
—Susan Bailey, Middle School Reading Specialist
Mequon-Thiensville School District, WI


Enrich your reading instruction with classroom-proven strategies from the nation's best teachers!


Following the successful format of the companion volumes for teaching writing, mathematics, science, and social studies, Best Practices for Teaching Reading presents firsthand accounts of teachers' most successful instructional strategies and lessons for teaching reading. Randi Stone brings readers into the classrooms of award-winning teachers who share their outstanding strategies for reaching elementary, middle, and high school learners with diverse learning styles and abilities.


With 40 classroom-tested strategies, the book provides practical guidance for building students' decoding and vocabulary skills while developing their comprehension and motivation for reading. This collection of best practices presents ways to help students:


  • Get excited about reading
  • Make connections to different texts
  • Become effective writers as well as readers
  • Use literacy skills across the curriculum

Veteran and new teachers alike will find an abundance of fresh ideas to teach reading while helping students build confidence, increase academic achievement, and develop critical thinking skills.




Product Details
Pub. Date: October 2008
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Sales Rank: 853,301
ISBN-13: 9781412924597
ISBN: 1412924596
Edition Description: New Edition

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