Reading with Writing in Mind: A Guide for Middle and High School Educators

by Nancy Charron, Marilyn Fenton, Margaret Harris

Overview

Good writing begins with good reading. This book is written on the premise that students must embrace reading as a part of the full process of good writing. It may be used by classroom teachers (Grades 6-12) individually or collectively as members of a professional learning community, by pre-service teachers in a literacy course, or by other educators working to support literacy in the classroom. Interdisciplinary discussions relate to all types or genres of reading and writing.

This book offers practical lessons and ideas for teaching and motivating all learners using Universal Design for Learning principles. Formatting provides additional ideas for challenged students, including students with special needs, accelerated learners, and English Language Learners, and is aligned with Common Core State Standards for content subjects as well as for language arts. It takes ideas that were formerly reserved for the upper echelon of students in English language arts and reformulates teaching approaches to reach students across the learning spectrum and in all disciplines. All teachers need to be involved in raising the literacy bar, and this book provides activities and strategies for use in the classroom that can promote success for all learners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475840049
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/30/2017
Pages:	140
Product dimensions:	6.35(w) x 9.55(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Dr. Nancy Charron has worked in different capacities at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels with jobs encompassing being a general education teacher, a special education teacher, a literacy specialist, and a principal designee. She is currently working as an Associate Professor at Southern New Hampshire University.

Dr. Marilyn Fenton, an associate professor at Southern New Hampshire University, has taught writing, children’s and young adult literature, and methods courses for prospective English teachers, grades 5-12. She previously taught English in high school and then served as a school district’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction. She is presently involved in working with doctoral students in the Educational Leadership Program at Southern New Hampshire University.

Dr. Margaret Harris taught graduate courses in Content Literacy on Secondary Level and Social Studies Methods at Southern New Hampshire University. Prior to university teaching, she was Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for four years and a social studies teacher on the high school level for 27 years. Dr. Harris has recently retired from Southern New Hampshire University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Reading to Improve Student Writing
Activity 1.1: Take Time to Notice—Looking and Learning
Activity 1.2: Take Time to Notice—An Artist’s Choices
Activity 1.3: Take Time to Notice—Comparison of Two Works of Art
Activity 1.4: Noticing the Writer’s Choices—Reading Poems
Activity 1.5: Noticing the Writer’s Choices—Reading Fiction
Activity 1.6: Noticing the Writer’s Choices—Reading Nonfiction
Activity 1.7: Determining Connotation vs. Denotation—Taking the Temperature of Words
Activity 1.8: Identifying Three Kinds of Questions
Activity 1.9: Using the I-Search Paper
Chapter 2: Reading and Writing in the Content Areas
Activity 2.1: Using the SOAPSTone Strategy
Activity 2.2: Role-playing
Activity 2.3: Using Primary Documents
Activity 2.4: Using Letters, Diaries, and Other Primary Sources
Activity 2.5: Applying the Concept of Essential Questions in Content Areas
Activity 2.6: Implementing Socratic Seminars
Activity 2.7: Reviewing the Textbook
Activity 2.8: Journaling
Activity 2.9: Authentic Content Area Writing
Chapter 3: Developing Focus and Logic through the Essay
Activity 3.1: How Meaning is Constructed in E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake”
Activity 3.2: Form Supports Meaning
Activity 3.3: Conversion of a Narrative to an Essay
Activity 3.4: Finding Significance in Literature
Activity 3.5: Brainstorming in Response to Essential Questions
Chapter 4: Reading for Persuasive Writing: The Argument
Activity 4.1: Checklist for Close-Reading
Activity 4.2: The Face-Off
Activity 4.3: The Scaffolded Oral Presentation
Activity 4.4: A Panel Discussion
Activity 4.5: Staging the Trial
Activity 4.6: Defending Preference
Chapter 5: Learning to Write by Reading Poetry
Activity 5.1: Less is More
Activity 5.2: “Found” Poetry
Activity 5.3: From Prose to Poetry
Activity 5.4: Playing with Meter
Activity 5.5: Learning from e.e. cummings
Activity 5.6: Poems Using Metaphor
Activity 5.7: Letter Poem
Activity 5.8: History and Poetry
Activity 5.9: Songs as Poetry
Activity 5:10: Inference
Chapter 6: Providing Literacy Access to All Students
Chapter 7: Reading and Reflecting on One’s Own Writing
Chapter 8: Closing the Literacy Loop
References
About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

This wonderful book—rich in both ideas and practices—addresses the core problem in American education: how to set (and reach) high standards for a broad range of students. While focused on writing, this book recognizes and illuminates the essential interconnections of multiple literacies and the essential value of student diversity. Written be insightful and creative teachers, the book is not just about writing, it is a book that elevates what teaching should, and can, be.

David Rose

The instructional strategies in this thoughtful and engaging book support the reading/writing connection and remind us that in order to become confident and competent readers and writers, students need to write frequently and think critically across the content areas.

Carol Booth Olson

The authors of Reading with Writing in Mind have written a book that will help teachers and students understand the importance of academic literacy across all content areas. However, they don’t stop by simply telling us about the importance of literacy—they show us how to achieve that goal. Reading, writing, and critical thinking are woven together and framed by instructional support tools: strategy lessons, instructional design, help for students who need extra support, and assessments. As an added bonus, the book is filled with a wide variety of texts and links to give teachers an opportunity to find ways to apply these tools in their own classrooms.

Janet Allen

This book reminds us that building students' literacy skills can and must be done by educators in every discipline. By including many specific strategies and real classroom examples, Charron, Fenton, and Harris provide all teachers with resources needed to integrate the teaching of literacy in any content area.

Susan Szachowicz

This text is an immensely useful and enlivening overview of techniques and tools that teachers in all content areas will find useful in doing their disciplinary work. The unique contribution of this book is the promotion of wide-awake reading in service of developing competent and reflective writers of all kinds of texts. The approach starts with the foregrounding of purpose, and is highly motivating and assistive in ways that will transform teacher practice—but even more importantly—that will transform student attitudes, engagement, and achievement.

Jeffrey D. Wilhelm