Practical Assessments For Literature Based Reading Classrooms

Discusses various assessment tools applicable to grades K-6, including self-evaluation, reading-response notebooks, and portfolio creation.

This book, along with its companion volume Assessing Reading 2: Changing Practice in Classrooms, was originally conceived as the major outcome from an international seminar on reading assessment held in England. It focuses particularly on theoretical and methodological issues, though with a clear series of links to practices in assessment, especially state and national approaches to classroom-based assessment in the USA, the UK and in Australia, at both primary and secondary levels. Chapters offer new perspectives on the theories that underlie the development and interpretation of reading assessments, national assessments and classroom-based assessment, challenging readers to think in different ways.

This practical, teacher-friendly book provides indispensable guidance for implementing research-based reading instruction that is responsive to students' diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Structured around the “big five” core topics of an effective reading program—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—the book explains tried-and-true teaching strategies for fostering all students' achievement. Key topics include engaging diverse students in classroom discussion, involving families in learning, and assessing and teaching new literacies. Numerous classroom examples demonstrate a wide range of easy-to-implement lesson ideas and activities for students at different grade levels, including struggling learners. Issues specific to English language learners are woven throughout the chapters.

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Literature-Based Reading Activities: Engaging Students with Literary and Informational Text is the ideal resource for pre-service and in-service teachers looking for practical help and exciting classroom activities for ensuring all students have successful interactions with literature. Brief and inexpensive, it is widely appreciated for its numerous activities, unique discussions of the theoretical and research bases supporting all of the activities, and the variety of grade levels and genres covered. The activities are useful with a wide range of texts, and the guidelines show readers how to be effective decision makers as they plan literature instruction for the culturally, linguistically, and academically diverse K–8 students in today’s classrooms. This new edition includes: Updated information about sharing literature in the context of today’s classrooms. New activities for supporting students’ interactions with literature. Numerous new examples of children’s literature, many of them recent award winners. Updated discussions of research on recent studies and major reports. A new feature, Take Five! (or Take Ten!). Ideas and suggestions for using literature in the content areas. 11 new activities for expanding teachers’ repertoires for engaging students with literature, Increased attention to using technology to support students’ interactions with and responses to literature, More than 80 new examples of exceptional literature, A list of websites of recommended literature, including positive, authentic examples of literature for diverse populations.

This second book focuses directly on the classroom, on the challenges individual teachers face in classroom-based assessment, and how these challenges have been and are being met in a range of international contexts.

With many students falling behind their peers, struggling to decode and draw inferential meanings from text, Teaching with Intent 2 describes a highly effective approach to teaching language and literacy that's anchored in storytelling. Parkin and Harper developed their version of this literature-based program over years of professional practice in the classroom with marginalised students. It involves a sequence of pedagogic strategies that allow teachers to carefully build their students' knowledge about text, language, reading and writing - thoroughly explained in this book, with practical guidance to help you apply the ideas successfully in your own classroom.

Teaching Literature-Based Instructional Units: From Planning to Assessment provides an accessible roadmap to planning, designing, and implementing literature-based instructional units for the English Language arts (ELA) classroom. Understanding that unit plans are the building blocks of the ELA curriculum, Hansen and Vásquez outline the theoretical foundations and approaches behind teaching ELA and offer a framework to help readers make sound decisions about their content pedagogy. In so doing, this text offers research-based and straightforward guidance on planning instruction around key literary texts. Placing literature at the center of the ELA curriculum, the approaches in this book not only support students’ reading, writing, listening, speaking, and digital media skills, but will also motivate and inspire them. Part 1 addresses how to choose unit themes and texts, discusses the importance of having a rationale for choices made, and examines the practical, philosophical, and historical approaches to teaching literature. Part 2 provides step-by-step instructions for designing literature-based units of instruction by using backwards design. The text focuses on assessment before moving into how to scaffold and sequence lessons to meet learning objectives, and concludes with consideration given to teaching ELA in virtual environments. The wealth of activities, strategies, exercises, examples, and templates in this book make this text essential reading for instructors and pre-service teachers in ELA pedagogical methods courses and for practicing teachers of literature instruction.

For Reading Methods classes. Are You Prepared to Teach Reading? will help students prepare for state certification examinations on reading instruction and self-regulate their own learning about teaching reading. The concise prep book will be useful for all teacher candidates who want to self-assess their fundamental knowledge of reading instruction, adequately prepare for their own state reading certification exams, or assess their core knowledge of literacy instruction if they are engaged in alternative certification programs. Brief reviews of the components of reading instruction followed by case studies and thoughtful, diverse multicultural classroom scenarios allow readers to assess themselves with multiple choice decision-making questions, asking what readers know about reading practice.