Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach / Edition 6

by Gail E. Tompkins

Overview

This title is also available packaged with the Enhanced Pearson eText. To order the Enhanced Pearson eText packaged with a bound book, use ISBN 0133388263.

Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach is a thoroughly applied text written to ensure that readers understand the current theories behind and the critical components of instruction for teaching reading and writing as complementary in the development of literacy. Readers are treated to a philosophical approach that not only balances the why, what, and how of teaching literacy but also offers practical pedagogy—teaching strategies and instructional procedures—that foster thoughtful teacher preparation and ensures alignment to the literacy goals teachers are responsible to teach. New text features model practices that support diverse populations, instruction driven by sound classroom assessment, and new literacy strategies that will help teachers transform literacy learning with digital devices. Integrating the best of what we know about teaching reading and writing, the Sixth Edition of this popular introductory text provides the balance teachers need to be successful in the classroom. The Enhanced Pearson eText features embedded video.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780132837798
Publisher:	Pearson
Publication date:	04/19/2013
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Gail E. Tompkins is Professor Emerita at California State University, Fresno. Currently, she works with teachers in their kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms and leads staff-development programs on reading and writing. Dr. Tompkins was inducted into the California Reading Association’s Reading Hall of Fame in recognition of her accomplishments in the field of reading, and she’s received the prestigious Provost’s award for Excellence in Teaching at California State University, Fresno. Dr. Tompkins is the author of six other books published by Pearson: Language Arts: Patterns of Practice, Language Arts Essentials, Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product, 50 Literacy Strategies, and two grade-specific versions of this text: Li teracy in the Early Grades: A Successful Start for PreK-4 Readers and Writers and Literacy in the Middle Grades: Teaching Reading and Writing to Fourth Through Eighth Graders. During the past three decades, Dr. Tompkins has also worked with kindergarten through college-level writing teachers at National Writing Project sites in California and Oklahoma.

Read an Excerpt

New reading methods texts pop up every year

Hope Madden UBETTDA 2 16 2004-12-10T19:24:00Z 2005-01-25T17:08:00Z 2005-01-25T17:08:00Z 5 1865 10635 Pearson Education 88 21 13060 9.4402 1599415718 Tompkins online [e-mail] Madden, Hope

{id: Tompkins preface}

What makes Literacy for the 21^st Century the most valuable and relevant literacy text on the market?

As I revise each edition, working with teachers in the field and with pre-service teachers at the university level, I realize more and more that both new and experienced teachers need the best information about how students learn, ideas to create an environment that engages and addresses the needs of all students, and a deep understanding of the literacy methods that best address those needs. I also recognize that teachers need the specific tools to take into the classroom. My goal is to provide all this in a text that speaks directly to new and experienced teachers, modeling effective teaching, and helping you envision yourself using these methods in your classroom.

I have found that the best approach to sharing this information with you is through an authentic vision of today's classroom, a balanced approach to literacy, and the best research-based and classroom-tested practice I can provide.

Authenticity

I regularly visit and work in the classrooms of some very talented teachers, many of whom have been my students, and I am very pleased to profile them in this text. These teachers face the same opportunities and challenges that you will. They, too, have to find ways to be creative and motivating while being accountable tostate and federal requirements.

The classrooms I visit reflect the diversity you'll find anywhere in America. Most of these students are English learners, and they bring background knowledge and cultural understandings that challenge teachers to ensure they prepare learning experiences that meet the literacy needs of all students.

Good teachers, like those who generously share their experiences with me for this text, strive to help struggling readers develop solid literacy strategies and skills. They work with students who are eagerly learning to read and write and others who are unmotivated and resistant. They work to make sure all their students have the foundational literacy knowledge they need to succeed in life, and help them develop a love of reading as well.

• Chapter opening vignettes and minilessons throughout chapters help you envision today's classrooms as these teachers share stories of successful literacy teaching with all their students, including English learners.

• Student work samples that appear throughout chapters model assessment and evaluation, helping you recognize the ways students develop as readers and writers.

•    Instructional Procedures: Scenes from the Compendium is a new DVD, free with each text, that shares video footage of talented teachers and their compelling classroom scenes. These clips take you right into their classrooms to watch them use grand conversations, guided reading, interactive writing, and other procedures discussed in the text.

•    Classroom footage showcases masterful teachers using instructional procedures from the compendium.

•    Notes throughout chapters connect DVD clips with chapter content and Compendium procedures.

•    Activities on the Companion Website help new teachers deepen and apply their understanding of the DVD's instructional procedures.

Balance

This new edition strengthens and clarifies the importance of balancing literacy instruction, integrating essential skill development, strategy instruction, literature study, and authentic reading and writing experiences.

You will understand literacy instruction in terms of four foundational instructional approaches: basal reading programs, literature focus units, literature circles, and reading and writing workshop. Through these approaches, I provide you with strategies and skills within the context of authentic reading and writing experiences. You will find in these pages the principles, skills, strategies, and examples of literature that will empower you to get up to speed quickly.

• Components of a Balanced Literacy Program features in every chapter show how the chapter's topic relates to the 10 components of a balanced literacy program. For example, how does teaching comprehension relate to strategy instruction, fluency, content-area reading, and writing? It's important that you understand how each chapter's topic impacts and supports the entire literacy program, and this feature gives you that information.

Organization

The four parts of the text are organized to build your background knowledge piece by piece, always integrating what you've just learned with new information being covered. I want you to see how a solid literacy program incorporates theory and research into teaching and assessment methods, and how they drive your instructional decisions.

 

• Part 1: What Is a Balanced and Comprehensive Approach to Literacy Instruction? sets the stage for the methods and application to follow. The 8 principles of effective reading instruction outlined in Chapter 1 provide a strong, easily understood foundation for the entire book. You'll learn about how children learn, how to create a community of learners, how to organize instruction, implement assessment, and how to balance literacy instruction. You will also learn four theories supporting a balanced literacy approach. Chapter 2 builds on this foundation, focusing on the reading and writing processes, and readying you to learn how to work with your students.

 

• Part 2: How Do Children Learn to Read and Write? consists of seven chapters that will help you implement a truly balanced approach to working with young readers and writers, covering phonics instruction, developing fluency and comprehension, and addressing assessment in a developmentally appropriate way.

• Part 3: How Do Teachers Organize Literacy Instruction? applies the foundational concepts you learned in Parts 1 and 2, focusing on day to day classroom instruction. What does balanced literacy instruction look like in terms of basals, literature focus units, literature circles, reading and writing workshop, and content area literacy?

 

•    Part 4: Compendium of Instructional Procedures completes the text with a bank of classroom proven instructional procedures that will engage and motivate your students in reading and writing. The DVD that accompanies this text illustrates several of these procedures.

Classroom Practice

My primary goal in this text is to show you how to teach reading and writing effectively, how to create a classroom climate where literacy flourishes, and how to empower the diverse array of students that will populate your classrooms and help them function competently as literate adults in the twenty-first century.

Although there are many other useful ideas and strategies that can accomplish the goal of producing literate students, I have deliberately and painstakingly chosen research based, classroom tested ideas - the best of the best - as the focus of this textbook. With these in hand, you will be prepared to hit the ground running as you confidently implement effective methods. If you know how to be effective from the first day, you will have the confidence necessary to add to your bag of tricks as your experience guides your practice.

• Nurturing English Learners features demonstrate how literacy elements, including cueing systems, basals, background knowledge, assessment, and phonemic awareness, must be redirected and aligned to meet the needs of English learners.

• Scaffolding Struggling Readers features provide pivotal information on topics such as fluency, revising, the difficulty of vowels, vocabulary in content area texts, and comprehension to help students who struggle make real progress in developing literacy competency.

• Minilessons offer clear, concise skill and strategy instruction, ready for you to take right into your classrooms!

• Assessment Resources model classroom assessment to help you integrate assessment before, during, and after literacy instruction.

•    Part 4's Compendium of Instructional Procedures is composed of dozens of clearly articulated instructional methods will become an invaluable professional resource and ready classroom reference.

Integrating Media and the Standards

Today's school environment is one driven by state and federal mandates, and by standards. You will need a handy reference to the national IRA/NCTE Standards for Reading Professionals, as well as access to your own state's standards. You will also need to find ways to integrate these standards into your own teaching. On my Companion Website you will find the quick reference and teaching tools you need.

• An NCTE/IRA Standards matrix will pinpoint chapter by chapter standards coverage.

• A complete correlation of NCTE/IRA Standards and chapter content will help you conceptualize a standards-driven literacy classroom.

• Online lessons keyed to the NCTE/IRA Standards will give you classroom tools. Link from these lessons to your own state's standards to adapt the lessons to meet both the national standards and the standards designed for your own state, and save your new lessons to your hard drive or on disk through the Online Portfolio. By the end of the class you will have compiled a wonderful bank of standards specific lessons to use with your own students.

Supplements

Companion Website: This robust online support system offers many rich and meaningful ways to deepen and expand the information presented to you in the text.

• IRA/NCTE Standards Integration, delivered through chapter correlations as well as adaptable lessons that can be saved to your hard drive or disk through the online portfolio, providing students with lessons to take right into their own classroom that align with both national and state standards.

• Praxis practice questions help prepare pre-service teachers for the Praxis 2 exam. Link to Literacy for the 21^st Century's Ready for Rica website to cater your practice specifically to California's teacher examination and California's standards.

• Self-Assessments help users gauge their understanding of text concepts.

• Field Activities help contextualize chapter content in a classroom setting.

• Web Links provide useful connections to all standards and many other invaluable online literacy sources.

• Chapter Objectives provide a useful advanced organizer for each chapter's online companion.

Electronic Instructor's Manual: This useful tool for instructors, available online at www.prenhall.com with an instructor's access code, provides rich instructional support, including:

• A test bank including multiple choice and essay tests. Also available as a TestGen.

• Power points specifically designed for each chapter

• A Media Guide with suggestions for making the most of the text's accompanying DVD Instructional Procedures: Scenes from the Compendium

• Chapter by chapter materials, including Chapter objectives, suggested readings, discussion questions, and in class activities.

Videos: Free to adopters, these videos can add depth to classroom concept coverage and promote discussion and analysis in class.

• A VHS version of Instructional Procedures: Scenes from the Compendium is available upon request to professors whose classroom environment makes viewing footage from a VHS more convenient than watching as a class from the DVD.

• Guidelines for Reading Comprehension Instruction (ISBN 0-13-031405-6) contains footage of Gail Tompkins providing guidance for pre-service and in-service literacy teachers.

• Literacy Library: Video A (ISBN 0-13-042087-5) provides a collection of classroom segments where teachers and students are engaged in developing literacy lessons. Individual lessons include: reciprocal circles, inquiry methods for language and literacy, retelling, higher order thinking skills, letters and sound relationships, and reading for word problems.

• Literacy Library: Video B (ISBN 0-13-112395-5) provides clear guidance for practicing guided reading with students.

CD ROM's: Several CD's are available to package with this new edition of Literacy for the 21^st Century. Users can examine, re-examine, and manipulate genuine classroom footage to develop a deep and lasting understanding of highlighted instructional approaches and the ways they are effectively carried out in classrooms.

•    Writing Workshop (ISBN 0-13-117590-4). Experience the effective instruction that takes place in classroom communities by analyzing video footage of master teachers who integrate minilessons and strategy and skill development in the use of writing workshops. 

•    Literature Circles (ISBN 0-13-061167-0). Examine footage of a master teacher in an 8^th grade literacy classroom. You will have the opportunity to observe the classroom footage, hear from the teachers and students involved, and consider the research behind the teachers' decisions.

•    Primary Grades Literacy Study a master teacher's approach to a K-3 integrated unit on insects.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Becoming an Effective Teacher of Reading

PRINCIPLE 1: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS UNDERSTAND HOW STUDENTS LEARN

Behaviorism

Constructivism

Sociolinguistics

Information Processing

PRINCIPLE 2: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS SUPPORT STUDENTS’ USE OF THE CUEING SYSTEMS

The Phonological System

The Syntactic System

The Semantic System

The Pragmatic System

PRINCIPLE 3: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS CREATE A COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS

Characteristics of a Classroom Community

How to Create a Classroom Culture

PRINCIPLE 4: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS ADOPT A BALANCED APPROACH TO INSTRUCTION

Common Core State Standards

PRINCIPLE 5: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS SCAFFOLD STUDENTS’ READING AND WRITING

Modeled Reading and Writing

Shared Reading and Writing

Interactive Reading and Writing

Guided Reading and Writing

Independent Reading and Writing

PRINCIPLE 6: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS ORGANIZE FOR INSTRUCTION

Basal Reading Programs

Literature Focus Units

Literature Circles

Reading and Writing Workshop

Nurturing English Learners

PRINCIPLE 7: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS DIFFERENTIATE INSTRUCTION

PRINCIPLE 8: EFFECTIVE TEACHERS LINK INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

Classroom Assessment Tools

High-Stakes Tests

Accountability Check! Teaching Reading and Writing

References

Chapter 2: The Reading and Writing Processes

Vignette: The Reading Process in Action

THE READING PROCESS

Stage 1: Prereading

Stage 2: Reading

Stage 3: Responding

Stage 4: Exploring

Stage 5: Applying

THE WRITING PROCESS

Stage 1: Prewriting

Stage 2: Drafting

Stage 3: Revising

Stage 4: Editing

Stage 5: Publishing

The Writer’s Craft

READING AND WRITING ARE RECIPROCAL PROCESSES

Comparing the Two Processes

Classroom Connections

Literacy Strategies

Accountability Check! Teaching the Reading and Writing Processes

References

Chapter 3: Assessing Literacy Development

Vignette: Second-Quarter Assessments

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

Step 1: Planning for Assessment

Step 2: Monitoring Students’ Progress

Step 3: Evaluating Students’ Learning

Step 4: Reflecting

DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

Determining Students’ Reading Levels

Diagnosing Students’ Strengths and Weaknesses

Nurturing English Learners

HIGH-STAKES TESTING

Problems With High-Stakes Testing

Preparing for Standardized Tests

Nurturing English Learners

The Politics of High-Stakes Testing

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

Collecting Work in Portfolios

Involving Students in Self-Assessment

Showcasing Students’ Portfolios

Accountability Check! Assessing Students’ Literacy Development

References

Chapter 4: The Youngest Readers and Writers

Vignette: K–3 Students’ Literacy Development

FOSTERING AN INTEREST IN LITERACY

Concepts About Print

Concepts About Words

Concepts About the Alphabet

Assessing Children’s Concepts About Written Language

HOW CHILDREN DEVELOP AS READERS AND WRITERS

Stage 1: Emergent Reading and Writing

Stage 2: Beginning Reading and Writing

Stage 3: Fluent Reading and Writing

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES

Morning Message

Shared Reading

Language Experience Approach

Interactive Writing

Manuscript Handwriting

Writing Centers

Accountability Check! Supporting the Youngest Readers and Writers

References

Chapter 5: Cracking the Alphabetic Code

Vignette: First Grade Phonics Instruction

PHONEMIC AWARENESS

Phonemic Awareness Strategies

Teaching Phonemic Awareness

Nurturing English Learners

Assessing Children’s Phonemic Awareness

Why Is Phonemic Awareness Important?

PHONICS

Phonics Concepts

Teaching Phonics

Assessing Students’ Phonics Knowledge

What’s the Role of Phonics in a Balanced Literacy Program?

SPELLING

Stages of Spelling Development

Nurturing English Learners

Teaching Spelling

Weekly Spelling Tests

Assessing Students’ Spelling

What’s the Controversy About Spelling Instruction?

Accountability Check! Assisting Students in Cracking the Alphabetic Code

References

Chapter 6: Developing Fluent Readers and Writers

Vignette: High-Frequency Words

READING FLUENCY

Automatic Reading

Reading Speed

Prosody

Assessing Reading Fluency

WRITING FLUENCY

Automatic Writing

Writing Speed

Writer’s Voice

Assessing Writing Fluency

Nurturing English Learners

DYSFLUENT STUDENTS

Older Dysfluent Readers

Older Dysfluent Writers

Obstacles to Fluency

Accountability Check! Developing Fluent Readers and Writers

References

Chapter 7: Expanding Academic Vocabulary

Vignette: The Word Wizards Club

ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

Three Tiers of Words

Nurturing English Learners

Levels of Word Knowledge

Word Consciousness

WORD-STUDY CONCEPTS

Multiple Meanings of Words

Synonyms: Words With Similar Meanings

Antonyms: Words That Mean the Opposite

Homonyms: Words That Confuse

Root Words and Affixes

Etymologies: Word Histories

Figurative Meanings

TEACHING STUDENTS TO UNLOCK WORD MEANINGS

Word Walls

Explicit Instruction

Word-Study Activities

Word-Learning Strategies

Incidental Word Learning

Assessing Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Accountability Check! Expanding Students’ Academic Vocabulary

References

Chapter 8: Promoting Comprehension: Reader Factors

Vignette: Comprehension Strategies

WHAT IS COMPREHENSION?

Reader and Text Factors

Text Complexity

Prerequisites for Comprehension

Comprehension Strategies

Comprehension Skills

TEACHING ABOUT READER FACTORS

Explicit Comprehension Instruction

Developing Comprehension Through Reading

Nurturing English Learners

Assessing Comprehension

MOTIVATION

The Teacher’s Role

Students’ Role

How to Engage Students

Assessing Motivation

Comparing Capable and Less Capable Readers and Writers

Accountability Check! Facilitating Students’ Comprehension of Reader Factors

References

Chapter 9: Promoting Comprehension: Text Factors

Vignette: Reading and Writing About Frogs

TEXT FACTORS OF STORIES

Formats of Stories

Narrative Genres

Elements of Story Structure

Narrative Devices

Looking at the Text Factors in a Story

TEXT FACTORS OF NONFICTION BOOKS

Nonfiction Genres

Expository Text Structures

Nonfiction Features

Looking at the Text Factors in a Nonfiction Book

TEXT FACTORS OF POETRY

Formats of Poetry Books

Poetic Forms

Poetic Devices

Looking at the Text Factors in a Book of Poetry

TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT TEXT FACTORS

Minilessons

Comprehension Strategies

Reading and Writing Activities

Assessing Students’ Knowledge of Text Factors

Accountability Check! Facilitating Students’ Comprehension of Text Factors

References

Chapter 10: Organizing for Instruction

Vignette: A Yearlong Author Study

TEACHING WITH BASAL READING PROGRAMS

Components of Basal Reading Programs

Materials Included in Basal Reading Programs

Managing a Basal Reading Program

TEACHING WITH LITERATURE FOCUS UNITS

Steps in Developing a Unit

Units Featuring a Picture Book

Units Featuring a Novel

Units Featuring a Genre

Units Featuring an Author

Managing Literature Focus Units

ORCHESTRATING LITERATURE CIRCLES

Key Features of Literature Circles

Implementing Literature Circles

Using Literature Circles With Young Children

Managing Literature Circles

IMPLEMENTING READING AND WRITING WORKSHOP

Reading Workshop

Writing Workshop

Managing a Workshop Classroom

Accountability Check! Organizing for Instruction

References

Chapter 11: Differentiating for Success

Vignette: Classroom Interventions

WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE INSTRUCTION

Grouping for Instruction

Guided Reading

Text Sets

Tiered Activities

Literacy Centers

Differentiated Projects

STRUGGLING READERS AND WRITERS

Struggling Readers

Struggling Writers

Working With Struggling Students

Interventions

Accountability Check! Differentiating Literacy Instruction

References

Chapter 12: Reading and Writing in the Content Areas

Vignette: Multigenre Projects

CONNECTING READING AND WRITING

Reading Trade Books

Writing as a Learning Tool

Writing to Demonstrate Learning

CONTENT-AREA TEXTBOOKS

Features of Content-Area Textbooks

Making Content-Area Textbooks More Comprehensible

Learning How to Study

Why Aren’t Content-Area Textbooks Enough?

THEMATIC UNITS

How to Develop a Thematic Unit

Nurturing English Learners

A First Grade Unit on Trees

A Fourth Grade Unit on Desert Ecosystems

A Sixth Grade Unit on Ancient Egypt

Accountability Check! Using Reading and Writing in the Content Areas

References

Compendium of Instructional Procedures

Anticipation Guides

Book Talks

Choral Reading

Clap and Chant

Cloze Procedure

Collaborative Books

Double-Entry Journals

Exclusion Brainstorming

Grand Conversations

Guided Reading

Hot Seat

Interactive Read-Alouds

Interactive Writing

K-W-L Charts

Language Experience Approach

Learning Logs

Making Words

Minilessons

Open-Mind Portraits

Possible Sentences

Prereading Plans

Question-Answer-Relationships

Questioning the Author

Quickwriting

RAFT

Readers Theatre

Reading Logs

Reciprocal Teaching

Revising Groups

Rubrics

Running Records

Semantic Feature Analysis

Shared Reading

Sketch-to-Stretch

Story Boards

Story Retelling

Studying Spelling Words

Sustained Silent Reading

Tea Party

Think-Alouds

Word Ladders

Word Sorts

Word Walls

Preface

PREFACE:

Preface

Facing the Challenge: How Do Today's Teachers Chart a Course to Create Competent, Literate Citizens for Tomorrow?

Helping children become literate is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers today. As some teachers and researchers tout and defend one approach after another, parents are frightened that the new instructional methods aren't getting the job done. The media fuels the controversy with reports lamenting failing test scores and criticism that many schools are failing to produce literate citizens who can function competently.

I have written this textbook to blaze a pathway toward implementing a thoughtful, balanced approach to teaching reading and writing, a pathway that incorporates the most effective teaching approaches and strategies.

The second edition of Literacy for the Twenty-First Century: A Balanced Approach builds on the research-based approaches to literacy instruction outlined in the first edition, the most popular new reading methods textbook in a decade.

Why Is This Reader-Friendly Textbook a Best-Seller? Here's What Professors and Their Students Tell Us:

• This comprehensive text presents several sound approaches to literacy instruction and guides teachers toward best practice in teaching skills as well as and strategies.
• It functions equally well as a core text for traditional introduction to reading methods courses and for the newer literacy "block" courses.
• The ten principles of effective reading instruction outlined in Chapter 1 provide a strong, easily understood foundation for the entire book.
• The textiswritten with preservice teachers in mind; however, those teachers pressed into service in accelerated credential programs will find the book invaluable as a resource to get up and running quickly.
• The easily accessible Compendium of Instructional Procedures at the back of the book offers 38 clearly articulated instructional methods, an invaluable resource and quick reference.
• The text includes many lively descriptions of how real teachers teach reading and writing effectively, through vignettes opening each chapter and colorful part opening sections that present visual reinforcement of each major approach to teaching literacy.
• The Review section at the end of each chapter includes a chart that contrasts effective and ineffective instructional practices related to the chapter topic.

What Is New in the Second Edition?

1. Increased coverage of comprehension: an entire chapter is devoted to the most recent research on facilitating students' comprehension. This chapter details how to help students understand and make meaning from text, once they have learned to decode it.
2. Still more on comprehension: check out the video free to adopters of this text in which the author herself presents her analysis of field-tested ideas to improve students' comprehension.
3. More ways to use technology effectively as a resource. Not only are there more Technology Links features, but there are many website addresses provided throughout the text. These addresses are accompanied by brief annotations so readers can assess their usefulness.
4. More ways to use technology effectively as a teaching tool. The Companion Website for the second edition (www.prenhall.com/tompkins) offers opportunities for self-assessment; analysis, synthesis, and application of concepts; updated web addresses; and special information for teachers required to pass state tests in teaching reading in order to obtain credentials.
5. Much more on assessment tools, including ideas for alternative assessment.
6. Suggestions for the creative use of traditional basal readers, including the "guided reading" approach.
7. A new full-color opener for Part III, featuring a middle school content-area unit on medieval life.

What Is the Purpose o f This Textbook?

My goal in this text is to show beginning teachers how to teach reading and writing effectively, how to create a classroom climate where literacy flourishes, and how to empower the diverse array of students in today's classrooms to function competently as literate adults in the twenty-first century. To that end, I have based the text on four contemporary theories of literacy learning: constructivist, interactive, socio-linguistic, and reader response theories.

Readers will learn how to implement a reading program with skills and strategies taught in context using a whole-part-whole organizational approach. The approach I take can, I believe, best be described as "balanced." Literature provides the major focus for reading instruction and for integrating the language arts. You will learn how to teach vital skills and useful strategies within the context of authentic reading and writing experiences. I have carefully selected the principles, skills, strategies, and examples of literature that will empower the beginning teacher to get up to speed quickly. In creating this textbook, I used knowledge I gleaned from a host of teachers who have been students in my beginning reading course over the years, and I also sifted through the array of practices and procedures proven effective in today's classrooms and with today's diverse student populations. Although there are many other useful ideas and strategies that can accomplish the goal of producing literate students, I have deliberately and painstakingly chosen research-based, classroom-tested ideas—the best of the best—as the focus of this textbook.

It is widely recognized that today's teachers need as many approaches and strategies in their repertoire as possible. However, I have carefully culled out a critical path for beginning teachers to follow. Why? Because it is important for beginning teachers of reading and writing to learn a few things well at the outset so that they are prepared to hit the ground running as they confidently implement effective methods. If you know how to be effective from the first day, you will have the confidence necessary to add to your bag of tricks as your experience guides you.

So, could it be argued that there are many more principles for effective teaching of reading and writing than the ten I outline in Chapter 1? Sure. But I am certain that the ten principles I present there will be memorable, useful, helpful, and effective. Does this textbook cover every permutation of every practice option? No. But I am sure that the 38 procedures outlined in detail in the Compendium at the back of the text constitute a memorable, useful, helpful, and effective critical mass of practice options on which you can build.

This textbook is neither an encyclopedia of reading methods nor a comprehensive history of reading. Rather, it is intended as a practical application of knowledge obtained from these encyclopedias and histories and, more important, from the experiences of hundreds of teachers across the country. Not only is the focus on practical application—the reason professors will adopt this book—but that focus is also the reason beginning teachers will keep this book.

How Is This Textbook Organized?

This book is organized into four sections. The three chapters in the first section address the question "What is a balanced approach to literacy instruction?" Chapter 1 sets out ten basic instructional principles on which to build balanced literacy instruction. These ten principles describe how effective teachers teach reading and writing. Chapter 2 explains the reading and writing processes that teachers use to teach reading and writing, no matter whether teachers are teaching literature focus units, literature circles, reading and writing workshop, or content area units. Chapter 3 describes both traditional and authentic assessment procedures.

Part II examines the question "How do children learn to read and write?" Chapter 4 is devoted to the special needs of emergent readers and writers (kindergartners and first graders). The basics of the alphabetic principle-phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling—are explained in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 explains word recognition and word identification and how students become fluent readers.

Answering the question "How do readers and writers construct meaning?" is the focus of Chapters 7 and through 9. Chapter 7 is devoted to vocabulary and how students refine their understanding of the meanings of words. Chapter 8 focuses on comprehension—the five comprehension processes, the metacognitive strategies that capable readers use, and comprehension activities during each stage of the reading process. Chapter 9 presents information about the structure of stories, informational books, and poetry. Students use their knowledge of the structure of texts in comprehending what they read.

The five chapters in Part IV answer the question "How do teachers organize literacy instruction?" Chapters on literature focus units, literature circles, reading and writing workshop, basal reading textbooks, and content area units show teachers how to set up their instructional programs based on the reading and writing processes described in Chapter 2.

What Are the Special Features?

I have included nine special features to increase the effectiveness of the text and to address the most current resources in the field of literacy.

Principles of Effective Reading Instruction. I set out a list of ten principles of effective reading instruction in Chapter 1, and these principles provide the foundation for the entire textbook. Near the end of each chapter (except Chapter 1), the Review section includes a feature in which I contrast effective and ineffective instructional practices related to the chapter topic. Instructors and students alike will find these features very interesting.

Vignettes. Starting with Chapter 2, I begin each chapter with a vignette in which you will see how a real teacher teaches the topic addressed in the chapter. These vignettes are rich and detailed, with chapter-opener photos, dialogue, student writing samples, and illustrations. Readers will be drawn into the story of literacy instruction in a real classroom as they build background and activate prior knowledge about the chapter's topic. Throughout the chapter, I refer readers to the vignette so that they can apply the concepts they are reading about and make connections to the world of practice.

Website Addresses. Annotated Internet website addresses are listed as margin notes in each chapter. These websites are suggested as resources that readers might use to extend their learning and read the most up-to-date information about guided reading, interactive writing, fluency, comprehension, literature circles, and other literacy topics. Instructors and students are also encouraged to visit Merrill/Prentice Hall's Companion Website at edition www.prenhall.com/tompkins.

Technology Links. Readers will learn about innovative uses of technology in teaching reading and writing through the Technology Links. Among the topics I present in these special features are screen reading using captioned text on television to develop reading fluency, electronic dialoguing to write back and forth to a reading buddy to respond to literature, videotape portfolios to document student learning, and interactive electronic books on CD-ROM to teach high-frequency words and phonics skills.

Chapter on the Reading and Writing Processes. In Chapter 2 I describe the reading and writing processes. These two processes provide the foundation for the chapters on how to organize the instructional programs, literature focus units (Chapter 10), literature circles (Chapter 11), reading and writing workshop (Chapter 12), basal reading textbooks (Chapter 13), and thematic units (Chapter 14).

Chapter on Breaking the Code. Chapter 5 focuses on the phonological system: phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling. Phonics is a controversial topic in reading, and the position I take in this chapter is that phonics and related topics are part of a balanced literacy program and are best taught in the context of real literature using a whole-part-whole approach.

Chapter on Fluency. In Chapter 6 I explain that students in the primary grades need to develop strong word recognition skills so that they can automatically, read hundreds and hundreds of words in order to become fluent readers. That is, they can read quickly and with expression by the time they are third graders. Students also need to develop word identification tools, including phonemic and morphological analysis, so that they can decode unfamiliar words as they are reading.

Chapter on Comprehension. Chapter 8 delves into five comprehension processes and how teachers teach and assess each process. I set out 12 strategies that readers and writers use and explain the difference between strategies and skills. To emphasize the importance of helping children become strategic readers, I compare more-capable readers will less-capable readers and writers and conclude that more capable students have both more skills and more strategies, but what really separates the two groups is that more-capable readers are more strategic.

Compendium of Instructional Procedures. For your ready reference, the Compendium at the back of the book provides a comprehensive review of 38 instructional procedures used in literature-based reading classrooms, with step-by-step directions and student samples. The procedures are highlighted when they are mentioned in the text to cue readers to consult the Compendium for more detailed information.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many people helped and encouraged me during the development of this text. My heartfelt thanks go to each of them. First, I want to thank my students at California State University, Fresno, who taught me while I taught them, and the teacher-consultants in the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project, who shared their expertise with me. Their insightful questions challenged and broadened my thinking.

Thanks, too, go to the teachers who welcomed me into their classrooms, showed me how they used literature in innovative ways, and allowed me to learn from them and their students. In particular, I want to express my appreciation to the teachers and students who appear in the vignettes: Eileen Boland, Tenaya Middle School, Fresno, CA; Jessica Bradshaw, Rocky Hill Elementary School, Exeter, CA: Roberta Dillon, Armona Elementary School, Armona, CA: Whitney Donnelly, Williams Ranch School, Penn Valley, CA; Laurie Goodman, Parkview Middle School, Armona, CA; Judy Hoddy, Hennessey School, Grass Valley, CA; Sally Mast, Thomas Elementary School, Fresno, CA; Kristi Ohashi, Terry Elementary School, Selma, CA; Jill Peterson, Mickey Cox Elementary School, Clovis, CA; Judy Roberts, Lincoln Elementary School, Madera, CA; Camilla Simmons, Charles Wright School, Merced, CA, and Darcy Williams, Aynesworth Elementary School, Fresno, CA. Thanks, too, to Sonja Wiens, Leavenworth Elementary School, Fresno, CA; Kimberly Clark, Aynesworth Elementary School, Fresno, CA; Lisa Coronado and Wendy Magill, Lincoln Elementary School, Madera, CA; Bob Dickinson, Williams Ranch School, Penn Valley, CA; Judith Salzberg and Mr. Lee, Charles Wright School, Merced, CA; Kim Ransdell, Armona Elementary School, Armona, CA, and their students also appeared in photos in the book. I also want to acknowledge Jenny Reno and the teachers and students at Western Hills Elementary School, Lawton, OK, and Carol Ochs, Jackson Elementary School, Norman, OK, who have been a part of each of the books I have written. I want also to thank the reviewers of my manuscript for their comments and insights: Judy A. Abbott, West Virginia University; Joanne E. Bernstein, Brooklyn College; Jean M. Casey, California State University, Long Beach; Carolyn L. Piazza, Florida State University; Thomas C. Potter, California State University, Northridge; Cheryl Rosaen, Michigan State University; and Sharyn Walker, Bowling Green State University.

Finally, I am indebted to Jeff Johnston and his team at Merrill/Prentice Hall in Columbus, Ohio, who produce so many high-quality publications. I am honored to be a Merrill author. Linda Scharp McElhiney continues to be the guiding force behind my work. I want to express my appreciation to Mary Irvin, who supervised the production of this book, and to Jonathan Lawrence, who has again dealt so expertly with production details and copyediting.

Editorial Reviews

"Our university has been using Literacy for the 21^st Century since 2001. Students purchase this text during their sophomore year. When they return to our university after graduation to earn a master’s degree and reading specialist certification, most still have their copies of Literacy for the 21^st Century and they report that they use it often in their classroom teaching." - Helen Hoffner, Ed.D., Holy Family University

"...an excellent resource to use for reviewing language arts content as well as introducing pedagogy. It is easily accessible to students and contains current, relevant information that is well supported by theory and research in the field." - Angela Madden, Eastern Kentucky University

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