Content Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today's Diverse Classrooms / Edition 5

by Donna E. Alvermann

Overview

Now in its fifth edition, this well-respected best-seller equips preservice and inservice teachers to teach content area literacy. Lauded for its scope of topics and examples and its accessibility, Content Area Reading and Literacy addresses the needs of students from diverse language and cultural backgrounds. Trusted authorities in adolescent literacy Alvermann, Phelps, and Ridgeway provide classroom- and research-based teaching and learning strategies in all core areas, from English to math to social sciences, and highlight current trends in technology and multimedia.

New features to this edition include updated information on high-stakes assessments; state and federal initiatives affecting adolescent literacy, such as No Child Left Behind and the Striving Readers Initiative; and a look at reciprocal teaching. A new chapter on literacy coaches introduces readers to the need for specialists in the current era of high accountability, and Chapter 6 has a newly expanded section on problem-solving activities as a way of building background knowledge.

The text includes a variety of icons to help identify certain features, such as examples of writing, evidence-based research, and standards from different subject areas to help pre-service teachers connect content area literacy to meeting the standards in their disciplines. It emphasizes cognitive and sociocultural factors in relation to diagnostic assessments and instructional approaches, and it offers lesson and unit planning examples.

The Fifth Edition Builds on Past Strengths and Adds New Ones…

Student Centered. Culturally Diverse Students. Evidence-Based Standards.

Written by renowned authors Donna Alvermann,Steven Phelps, and Victoria Ridgeway, Content Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today's Diverse Classrooms includes superior coverage of addressing the literacy needs of English language learners and culturally diverse students and a timely focus on evidence-based practices and standards.

What Continues to Make This Book a Best Seller…

· Includes an important new chapter (Ch. 13) on literacy coaches, which introduces readers to the need for such specialists in the current era of high accountability. Emphasizes the reciprocal responsibilities of literacy coaches and regular content area teachers, and how best to make use of both kinds of teachers to increase adequate yearly progress (AYP).

· Adds a new feature called “Dispelling Myths and Policy Implications” enhances teachers’ knowledge base and helps make them more critical consumers of ideas and materials.

· Contains updated information on high-stakes assessments, explanation of reciprocal teaching, state and federal initiatives affecting adolescent literacy (including the Striving Readers Initiative, NCLB, and so on), new note-making strategies, writing-to-learn approaches, and descriptions of model school-wide literacy programs for adolescents and their relation to literacy coaching.

· Uses new opening vignettes drawn from the authors’ personal teaching experiences to connect to the main ideas in the chapter, personalizing the information for the reader.

 

Ringing Endorsements for Content Area Reading and Literacy:
“Chapter 14–“Teaching for Diversity.” This is an excellent chapter that certification students and other graduate students can use to understand more about the types of diversity categories that are present in instructional settings. This textbook is excellent for students.”
Lavernia F. Hutchison, University of Houston–Central Campus

“There are many strengths in this text. I particularly like the way it is laid out. I believe that helping the students to see the importance of content literacy from the very beginning is extremely important. Immediately following this topic the students then move directly into diversity, which includes understanding the meaning of language and culture. Both of these topics form the basis for the rest of the course. Overall, I believe that this book is an excellent text for teaching in the Content Area.”

Randy M. Wood, Baylor University

“The strengths of this text include the authors’ in-depth knowledge of the field of content area reading. Their chapter on assessing textbooks is invaluable for secondary teachers who don't understand the difficulty of some textbooks and the problems these texts can cause students. The chapter on multiculturalism and the ESL learners is a strength. The chapter on vocabulary is outstanding.”
Patricia J. Pollifrone, Gannon University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780205489381
Publisher:	Allyn & Bacon, Inc.
Publication date:	05/05/2006
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	462
Product dimensions:	7.56(w) x 9.48(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Preface

1 Content Literacy and the Reading Process

Assumptions Underlying Content Teaching

Subject Matter

Role of the Textbook

Active and Independent Readers

Fluent Readers

Fluency with Information Technology

What It Means to Be Literate

Literate Thinking

Content Literacy

The New Literacy Studies

The Reading Process

A Cognitive View

A Social Constructionist Perspective

The Role of Motivation

Summary

Suggested Readings

2 Language, Diversity, and Culture

Language as a Vehicle for Teaching and Learning Content

Seeing Language as Social Practice

Dealing with Gendered Language in the Classroom and the Text

Diversity in Language and Learning

Second-Language Acquisition and Learning

Dialect Differences

Struggling or Reluctant Readers

Gifted Learners

Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Classrooms

Today’s Youth Culture

CREDE’s Standards for Effective Pedagogy and Learning

Integrating Language, Culture, and Content

Culturally Responsive Professional Growth

Appreciating Diversity

Involving Parents and Community

Linking School and Home

Summary

Suggested Readings

3 Creating a Favorable Learning Environment

Affective Characteristics

Linking Content Literacy with Student’s Lives

Adaptive Instruction

Providing Choices

Forms of Grouping

Ability Grouping

Cooperative Learning

Cross-Age Tutoring

Discussion Groups

Reading and Writing Workshops

Creating Community with Technology and Multimedia

Technology

Multimedia

Assistive Technology

Conflict Resolution

What the Research Says

Strategies forManaging Conflict

Summary

Suggested Readings

4 Planning for Content Literacy

Instructional Decision Making

Content Objectives

Language and Literacy Objectives

Learning Materials

Student Capabilities and Needs

Evaluation and Assessment

Planning and Educational Technology

Teaching Resources on the Web

Planning Student Involvement with the Internet

Structured Frameworks for Content Literacy Lessons

Direct Instruction

The Instructional Framework

Reciprocal Teaching

Beyond the Daily Plan

School-Wide Programs

Interdisciplinary Teaching

Thematic Teaching

Unit Planning

Summary

Suggested Readings

5 Assessment of Students and Textbooks

Assessing Students

Tests and Testing: A Consumer Advisory

Types of Assessment

Learning about Students

Grades and Grading

Portfolio Assessment

Assessing Textbooks

Readability Formulas

Consumer Judgments

Summary

Suggested Readings

6 Preparing to Read

The Role of Prior Knowledge

Barriers to New Learning

The Teacher’s Task

Assessing and Building Prior Knowledge

The List-Group-Label Strategy

Graphic Organizers

Reading and Listening

Writing

Activating Prior Knowledge with Prereading Strategies

Anticipation Guides

Problem-Solving Activities

Problem-Based Learning

Designing WebQuests

K-W-L

Summary

Suggested Readings

7 Reading to Learn

Constructing Meaning with Text

Helping Students Comprehend

Teaching Students to be Strategic

Making Text Comprehensible

The Role of Fluency in Comprehension

Questions and Questioning

When to Ask

What to Ask

How to Ask

Comprehension Guides

Three-Level Guides

Selective Reading Guides

Interactive Reading Guides

Sensing and Responding to Text Structure

Common Text Structures

Teaching about Text Structures

Summary

Suggested Readings

8 Increasing Vocabulary and Conceptual Growth

Learning Words and Concepts

How Students Learn Vocabulary

Word-Learning Tasks

Levels of Word Knowledge

Readers’ Resources for Learning New Words

Teaching Vocabulary

Criteria for Selecting Vocabulary

Guidelines for Vocabulary Instruction

Strategies for Introducing and Teaching Vocabulary

Developing Students’ Independence

Using Context Clues

Using Familiar Word Parts

Using Dictionaries

Vocabulary Self-Collection

Intensive Approaches for Struggling Readers and English Language Learners

Reinforcing Vocabulary

Matching Activities, Puzzles, and Games

Categorizing Activities

Analogies

Concept Circles

Summary

Suggested Readings

9 Reflecting on Reading

Engaging Students through Discussion

Small-Group Discussions

Peer-Led Literature Circles

Guiding Student Reflection

Reaction Guides

Reading for Different Purposes

Discussion Webs

Intra-Act Procedure

Promoting Critical Literacy

Teaching Literacy for Critical Awareness

Incorporating Critical Media Literacy into the Curriculum

Summary

Suggested Readings

10 Writing across the Curriculum

What Content Teachers Need to Know about Writing

Writing and Reading

The Writing Process

Social Construction of Writing

Writing and the Computer

Writing Activities for Content Areas

Writing Assignments

Learning Logs and Journals

Other Informal Writing Activities

Reviewing and Summarizing

Guiding Student Writing

Writing to Inquire

Preparing for Student Inquiry

Collecting and Organizing Information

Writing a Report

Alternatives to the Traditional Research Report

Responding to Student Writing

Peer Responses

Teacher Conferences

Formal Evaluation

Summary

Suggested Readings

11 Studying and Study Strategies

Prerequisites for Effective Studying

Motivation

Teachers’ Expectations

Knowledge of the Criterion Task

Domain Knowledge

Accessing Information

Information Literacy and Library Skills

Web Site Evaluation

Preparing for Tests

Objective Tests

Subjective Tests

Role of Homework

Using Study Strategies

Task Awareness with SQ3R

Strategy Awareness

Performance Awareness

Note-Taking Strategies

Compare/Contrast Study Matrix

Internet Search Strategies

Summary

Suggested Readings

12 Developing Lifetime Readers: Literature in Content Area Classes

Benefits of Using Literature in Content Areas

Encouraging Responses to Literature

Integrating Literature into Content Areas

Uses of Literature in Content Areas

Fiction and Nonfiction for Content Areas

Developing Awareness of Diversity through Literature

Summary

Suggested Readings

13 Literacy Coaches: A Sign of the Times

Qualifications and Expectations

Refining the Process

Contextualizing the Literacy Coach’s Experience

Forging Partnerships with Teachers

What Literacy Coaches Need to Know about Scientifically

Based Reading Research

An Incomplete Knowledge Base

So What’s a Literacy Coach to Do?

Examples of Effective Literacy Coaching across the United States

Alabama Reading Initiative

Boston Public Schools

Reading Success Network

Summary

Suggested Readings

Appendix A Word Lover’s Booklist

Appendix B Read-Aloud Books for Content Areas

Appendix C Trade Books for Science, Math, and Social Studies

Appendix D Culturally Conscious Trade Books

Appendix E Standards for the Content Areas

References

Author Index

Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

Assuming that textbooks are necessary for learning content for middle and secondary school students, this text for teachers explores methods of understanding and teaching language comprehension. The authors treat reading, speaking, and writing holistically in their discussions of such topics as student and textbook assessment, favorable learning environment creation, the role of prior knowledge, how students learn, vocabulary and conceptual growth, effective study strategies, and other issues. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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