This book addresses critical issues related to pre-adolescent and adolescent literacy learners with a focus on closing the achievement gap. Despite efforts by educators and policymakers during the past several decades, certain groups of students--primarily African American students, English language learners, and students from low-income homes--continue to underperform on commonly used measures of academic achievement. Too often, teachers and administrators lack both proper preparation and good ideas to confront these issues.

This book examines the work of pioneers: teachers who have transformed their classrooms in an effort to broaden the literacy of their students, describing some of the most innovative examples of teaching and learning.

In this seminal work, the authors provide the first systematic exploration of the philosophical foundations and the historical development of qualitative inquiry. Thorough yet accessible, this volume is an indispensable tool for language and literacy researchers--novices and experts alike. Includes a broad introduction to prominent theorists and researchers, including Dell Hymes, Shirley Brice Heath, Courtney Cazden Ruth Behar, Norman Denzin, and Patti Lather.

This book describes and documents an exciting new approach to educating literacy teachers. The authors show how to help teachers develop their own critical literacy, while also preparing them to accelerate the literacy learning of struggling readers. The text takes readers inside a literacy lab in a high-poverty urban elementary school, reveals the instructional approach in action, and provides many excellent examples of critically responsive teaching. Featuring a synthesis of several fields of theory and research, the book: illustrates teacher preparation and development as personal and...

This pioneering book, by one of the founders of the media literacy field, provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of media literacy on the academic achievement of adolescents. It chronicles the practice of high school teachers who prepared their students to critically analyze all aspects of contemporary media culture. To do so, they developed an innovative curriculum that incorporates popular media, television, journalism, film, and new media into the required English curriculum. This book examines the processes they used to design and implement the new curriculum as well as the...

The Internet offers enormous possibilities for teachers who include discussion of media arts in their courses. However, without expert guidance, it is difficult for instructors to know how to use the Web most effectively. Here, at last, is the resource that teachers need.

This dynamic book examines how literacy learning can be expanded and redefined using the medium of spoken word poetry. Fisher introduces teaching practices for fostering peer support, generating new vocabulary, discussing issues of Standard American English, and using personal experiences as literary inspiration.

This innovative book moves beyond the day-to-day matters of coaching to a deeper examination of how literacy coaching can improve instructional practice. The authors offer research-based strategies that can be used to create the professional and dynamic relationships needed for successful teacherndash; coach collaborations. Readers will hear the voices of coaches as they analyze their own efforts to scaffold adult learning, guide collaborative inquiry, and support teacher reflection.

Multigenre research projects affirm students' home cultures while developing important academic skills. This book will guide teachers in assigning, scaffolding, and assessing multigenre research assignments, including how to choose a topic, pace the work, and keep writers on track to achieve specific goals.

Introduces readers to the most influential theories and models of reading and literacy, ranging from behaviourism and early information processing theories to social constructionist and critical theories. Readers are invited to explore detailed vignettes that offer a practice-based view of theories as they are brought to life in classrooms.