Scaffolding Literacy Instruction

Grades K-4 Helping emerging readers and writers reach their full potential requires a delicate balance between teacher assistance and student independence. WithScaffolding Literacy Instructionyou can create that balance for every member of your classroom, gradually shifting the responsibility for learning to your students and creating confident learners in the process. Editors Adrian Rodgers and Emily Rodgers frameScaffolding Literacy Instruction, first giving you a valuable overview of guided instruction-the theory and scholarship behind it as well as its instructional goals-and then, in the final essay, anticipating its challenges and offering usable-on-Monday-morning tips for implementation. In between, wide-ranging essays from ten experts in the field, including Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas, offer straight talk and well-researched ideas that scaffold lessons and strategies in support of: phonics instruction word solving partner reading working with special needs students building student identity. As Rodgers and Rodgers write, "All scaffolding is teaching, but not all teaching is scaffolding." So whether you are a preservice teacher studying scaffolding in the literacy classroom, a novice looking for step-by-step ways to support students, or a veteran who wants to consider other case studies to see what might apply to your instructional setting,Scaffolding Literacy Instructionwill help you do it and help you do it better.

Scaffolding Literacy describes an alternative approach to literacy teaching in primary schools based on the principles of explicit teaching regarding how authors use words to convey meaning. The book provides a detailed description of the scaffolding literacy teaching sequence and related strategies developed at the University of Canberra (Australia) over two decades. It explains why the scaffolding literacy approach enables learners to understand the reading, language studies, and writing tasks assigned to them in schools better.

Scaffolding Literacy

The bestselling Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning helped tens of thousands of mainstream elementary teachers ensure that their English language learners became full members of the school community with the language and content skills they needed for success. In the highly anticipated Second Edition, Pauline Gibbons updates her classic text with a multitude of practical ideas for the classroom, supported by the latest research in the field of ELL/ESL. With clear directions and classroom tested strategies for supporting students' academic progress, Gibbons shows how the teaching of language can be integrated seamlessly with the teaching of content, and how academic achievement can be boosted without sacrificing our own vision of education to the dictates of knee-jerk accountability. Rich examples of classroom discourse illustrate exactly how the scaffolding process works, while activities to facilitate conversation and higher-level thinking put the latest research on second language learning into action.

Scaffolding: teaching & learning in language & literacy education.

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

Explicit instruction is systematic, direct, engaging, and success oriented--and has been shown to promote achievement for all students. This highly practical and accessible resource gives special and general education teachers the tools to implement explicit instruction in any grade level or content area. The authors are leading experts who provide clear guidelines for identifying key concepts, skills, and routines to teach; designing and delivering effective lessons; and giving students opportunities to practice and master new material. Sample lesson plans, lively examples, and reproducible checklists and teacher worksheets enhance the utility of the volume. Purchasers can also download and print the reproducible materials for repeated use. Video clips demonstrating the approach in real classrooms are available at the authors' website: www.explicitinstruction.org. See also related DVDs from Anita Archer: Golden Principles of Explicit Instruction; Active Participation: Getting Them All Engaged, Elementary Level; and Active Participation: Getting Them All Engaged, Secondary Level