Thanks to listserv member Kathy Renfrew, a Grade 5/6 Multiage
teacher in Peacham, Vermont, for preparing this annotated bibliography.
A further resource, prepared by Juli Kendall as part of our Reading Workshop
project, can be found here.
Note that some of the Stenhouse books mentioned here can be browsed in
their entirety on-line. Follow the links.
Harvey, S. (1998). Non-Fiction
Matters. Portland, ME: Stenhouse
Non-Fiction Matters offers teachers the tools to assist students
to explore nonfiction and to come to a more complete understanding of the
real world. Most of the reading adults do is non-fiction but the majority
of books found in classrooms is fiction. Non-Fiction Matters offers
practical suggestions for the teaching and understanding of this genre.
Chapter Seven, "Reading
Non-Fiction: Learning & Understanding (PDF file)," outlines
some of the methods teachers can use to promote non-fiction in their classrooms.
The chapter then elaborates on the research & the strategies that will
assist students in learning to read this genre. It discusses the conventions
on non-fiction and provides models for teaching these conventions to students.
Techniques for assisting students determine importance in a non-fiction
text are also highlighted.
Before this chapter ends. Harvey provides strategies & support for teachers
to use with struggling readers. The appendices & bibliographies provide
the classroom teacher with effective resources to implement the teaching
of non-fiction.
Sibberson, K. & Szymusiak, K. (2001). Beyond
Leveled Books. Portland, ME: Stenhouse
Beyond Leveled Books takes a close look at the things teachers do
to move transitional readers towards independence in reading. While text
levels can be a useful tool in moving toward this goal students can also
gain when teachers recognize & use the other supports that texts have
to offer. Some of these text supports are text layout, dialogue, and chapter
organization.
Chapter 5 focuses on grouping for instruction. There is a chart modeling
a typical classroom of students and their most critical needs. The authors
take this one step further and demonstrate possible instruction groups in
Table 5.1. These groups were developed from the individual needs of the
readers. This chapter shows where and how each students is placed in a group.
It also discusses what this means for whole group instruction. Read-alouds
are needed to teach strategies that the whole class needs. The intent is
for students to take the skills & strategies he/she learns in read aloud
and apply them to their guided and independent reading.
Beyond Leveled Books can easily be read, understood, and implemented
by classroom teachers.
Robb, L. (2000) Teaching
Reading in the Middle School. New York, NY: Scholastic
Teaching Reading in the Middle School provides a strategic approach to teaching
reading that improves comprehension and thinking. The fourth chapter in
the book " Discover What Students Know About Reading" identifies
four types of middle school readers struggling readers, reluctant reader
grade level readers, proficient read and the characteristics of each of
these types. In this chapter Robb puts forth strategies and supports to
assist the classroom teacher learn about their students as readers.
"What's Easy? What's Hard?" provides an opportunity for students
to reflect on themselves as readers. Before the students are asked to respond
to these questions, Robb models , with a think aloud, how she would go
about answering that question. On page 94-95 , she gives complete instructions
as well her personal example.
Using a Reading Strategy Checklist is another assessment tool Robb uses
to get to know her students as readers. the checklist page 102 is used three
times a year. The first time the checklist is used it is a baseline against
which students can measure their progress as they work to develop and sharpen
their reading strategies.
Teaching Reading in Middle School is a useful book for teachers.
The chapters are organized to help teachers implement the strategies they
would use them in a classroom.
In this book Robb recognizes and promotes the the idea that teachers must
provide their students with opportunities to engage in authentic reading.
Teachers must also provide a structure of reading strategies that students
can use while reading.
Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. (2002) Leveled
Books For Readers Grades 3-6. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman
Leveled Books for Readers is the perfect supplement to Guided
Reading and Writing. The work in this book builds on the research
and work that was done in the first book for these grade levels.
Leveled Books for Readers features more than 6,000 leveled titles
for grades 3-6, including fiction & non-fiction in many different genres.
Chapter 2, "Leveling Books and Understanding Why," is a crucial
chapter for classroom teachers who want to understand the reasoning behind
the leveling of works.
An important piece of information from this chapter is figure 2-3, a chart
titled "Change in Reading Over Time" (pages 16 &17). The chart
demonstrates a continuum from when a reader enters school through the end
of elementary school. It gives an detailed explanation of the characteristics
of emergent readers, early readers, transitional readers, self-extending
readers, and finally advanced readers. These characteristics are correlated
with grade level, basal level and text level.
This chapter provides a classroom teacher with a tool to guide readers to
"just right" books for independent reading and to provide teachers
with an approximate text levels for guided reading.
Hoyt, L. ( 1999). Revisit,
Reflect and Retell. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman
Comprehension is a critical issue for all students. It is an issue that
classes through all grade levels. In this book Hoyt focuses on thoughtful
reflection and retelling as key strategies to improve reader comprehension.
This book is broken into six chapters that contain many strategies and reproducibles
that contain excellent resources for teachers trying to improve the reading
comprehension of their students.
The essence of this book is that adult readers savor the story, sometimes
wishing it could go on forever. Sometimes they rush through the book, impatient
for the climax and resolution. When the story does end adult readers might
spend some time mulling over scenes they enjoyed or telling a friend about
it, but they would not be writing summaries or creating dioramas. Chapter
1 captures the essence of these adult practices, focusing on conversations
about books and Oral Retellings.
Hoyt found in her research the importance of providing students the opportunity
to talk about what they are learning, ( Braunger and Lewis 1997). She also
found a strong connection between oral language and reading comprehension
(Clay 1972; Wilson & Cleveland 1985). Conversations help readers find
the meaning in the piece of the text. Through conversations readers can
compare their thoughts with the thought of someone else about the same text.
The teacher's challenge is creating an environment that supports community
conversation, as well as facilitating the conversations to keep them focused
on text, and helping students connect their knowledge.
To insure this happens, Hoyt provides thoughtful questions for students
to ask each other about books and about being a reader. The remainder of
this chapter provides teachers with strategies, instructions & reproducibles
to support the strategy.
Teaching Resources website.
Laura Candler, site owner (30 Oct. 2001)
This site was created and is kept updated by a Milken Award-winning teacher
from North Carolina. Once you are at this page, you can click on any of
the file drawers and have access to an array of resources in different subject
areas.
Click on "Literary Lesson" and the teacher will find a list of
resources having to do with literature circles. Click on literature role
sheets and the teacher will have access to reproducible sheets for literature
circles. These role sheets are based on the the roles found in Literature
Circles: Voice and Choice in the Student Centered Classroom by Harvey
Daniels.
Reading Lady website. Laura
Kump, site owner (2001)
This site was created by a first grade teacher in Staten Island, New York.
A literacy teacher stopping by this site finds himself/herself in a virtual
playground with multiple options. At Reading Lady, you can order
books, participate in the message board, join a literacy discussion group
or just download the free reproducibles.
To get straight to the reading strategies materials, click on the special
download icon on the navigation bar at the top of the page. That will bring
you to a choice of six different types of printable materials: reader theater,
comprehension strategies, six trait writing, 4 blocks, assessment and shareware.
After clicking on comprehension, you will be brought to where you can access
multiple resources for reading comprehension. If you click on Think Aloud,
for example, you will begin downloading a lesson plan for teaching a think
aloud. You can choose MSWord or PDF formats.
Reading Online website.
International Reading Association (2001)
Reading Online is a journal of K-12 practice and research published
by the International Reading Association. The site includes many articles,
invited contributions and book reviews. There is a link to book reviews.
On the main page site is the current issue, but you can read recent and
archived articles by clicking on the articles icon. For a sample, see
"Teaching
Vocabulary to Adolescents to Improve Comprehension." There
is an abstract for each article as well as the full text, with links to
resources and bibliography. This particular article includes sample vocabulary
intervention activities and games.
Reading Online is an informative website with multiple possibilities for
the classroom teacher and a constant flow of new information.
MiddleWeb's
Reading Workshop Project. John Norton, webmaster (2001)
This site is divided into 5 sections. The sections include how to become
part of the reading workshop project, downloads, a background paper, weekly
journals by a Reading Workshop teacher, and access to the daily conversation
around the project. The downloads include an independent reading rubric,
monthly curriculum maps, retelling rubrics, and more. These are just a some
the resources available here.
Fifth and sixth graders who have either been retained or are in danger of
being retained are the focus of this project, which is led by Juli Kendall,
a reading teacher/coach in Long Beach, CA. Her weekly journal entries describe
the work going on in her classroom and point teachers to many resources.
Mosaic: A Reading
Comprehension Strategies Listserve
moderated by Jan Geir & Ginger Weincek <>
The site and listserve began in the fall of 2001. It provides a database
of books that can be used to teach specific reading strategies, and features
an ongoing conversation inspired by books like Mosaic of Thought
and Strategies That Work. The site invites participation. If you
use a particular picture book to teach a strategy, you can and should document
it here. If you go to the site and click on "database" you can
choose from several growing categories, including schema, questioning, inferring,
synthesizing, determining importance, sonsory imagery, and fix-it up. Previous
conversation from the listserv is archived at the site, which will undoubtedly
grow in interest and usefulness as more teachers join in.
Ready to Print
Resources to Accompany Mosaic of Thought and Strategies That Work
Colleen Gallagher, site creator (2001)
The first thing you see when you visit this site is a summary of both of
the above-mentioned titles. There are print resources for many types of
connections. There is a link for text to self, text to text, and text to
world posters. Teachers can also access book titles to use for specific
reading strategies as well as a reading quilt activity for students to complete
during independent reading. There are many other resources.
And here's a related resource. At
this Madison, WI school district page, you'll find downloadable overheads
(PDF format) that break down the key elements of Mosaic of Thought
in enough detail to use in professional development workshops. An excellent,
free resource!
ALSO SEE:
Response Journals Revisited:
Maximizing Learning Through Reading, Writing,
Viewing, Discussing, and Thinking
Les Parsons
Pembroke/Stenhouse Publishers
(2001; 128 pp/paperback)
ISBN 1-55138-131-1
Literature Circles: Voice
and Choice in Book Clubs & Reading Groups
Harvey Daniels
Stenhouse Publishers
(2002; 272 pp/paper)
ISBN 1-57110-333-3
Reimagining
Reading, A Literacy Institute
Janet Allen
Stenhouse Publishers
(2002; CD or audiocassettes)
ISBN 1-57110-339-2