Offers a fresh perspective on how to implement childrens literature across the curriculum in ways that are both effective and purposeful. It invites multiple ways of engaging with literature that extend beyond the genre and elements approach and also addresses potential problems or issues that teachers may confront.

Perhaps no factor has a greater influence on children’s literacy learning than exposure to engaging, authentic, culturally relevant texts. This concise practitioner resource and course text helps K–8 teachers make informed choices about using children's literature in their classrooms, from selecting high-quality texts to planning instruction and promoting independent reading. The authors present relevant theories (such as reader response and culturally responsive pedagogy) and show how to apply them in practice. Key topics include teaching narrative and expository texts, tapping into students' individual interests, and conducting text-based writing activities and discussions. Every chapter features case examples, reflection questions, and learning activities for teachers; appendices list exemplary children’s literature.

Machine generated contents note: Foreword, Elfrieda H. Hiebert -- 1. Introduction: Beliefs about Children's Literature -- 2. What Is Purposeful Teaching with Literature? -- 3. What Matters When Teaching with Literature in the Classroom? -- 4. What Do Books Have to Offer? -- 5. How Can We Help Students Understand the Books They Read? -- 6. How Can We Encourage Students to Read Widely? -- 7. How Can We Incorporate Expository Text Purposefully? -- 8. How Can We Use Writing and Discussing to Make Sense of Reading? -- 9. How Can We Encourage Reading Beyond the Classroom? -- 10. How Do We Put It All Together? -- Appendix A. Books to Support Student Agency -- Appendix B. Books to Talk about Visioning with Students -- Appendix C. Books by Genre -- Appendix D. Book Awards -- Appendix E. Popular Series Books -- Appendix F. Book Club Choices -- Appendix G. Children's and Teen Choice Awards -- References -- Children's Literature -- Children's Literature by Appendix -- Index -- .

Inviting multiple ways of critically engaging with literature, this text offers a fresh perspective on how to integrate children’s literature into and across the curriculum in effective, purposeful ways. Structured around three "mantras" that build on each other—Enjoy; Dig deeply; Take action—the book is rich with real examples of teachers implementing critical pedagogy. The materials and practical strategies focus on issues that impact children’s lives, building from students’ personal experiences and cultural knowledge to using language to question the everyday world, analyze popular culture and media, understand how power relationships are socially constructed, and consider actions that can be taken to promote social justice. Written for teachers and teacher educators, each chapter opens with three elements that are closely linked: classroom vignettes showcasing the use of literature and inviting conversation; three key principles elaborating the main theme of the chapter and connecting theory with practice; and related research on the topics and their importance for curriculum. Other chapter features include key issues in implementation, suggestions for working with linguistically and culturally diverse students, alternative approaches to assessment, and suggestions for further reading. A companion website to enrich and extend the text includes an annotated bibliography of literature selections, suggested text sets, resources by chapter, and ideas for professional development. Changes in the Second Edition: Voices from the Field vignettes include examples from inspiring educators who use trade books to promote critical thinking and diversity Updated chapters include information on new technology and electronic resources New references in the principles sections and new resources for further study New children’s books added throughout the chapters as well as to the companion website

Big Ideas for Little Kids includes everything a teacher, a parent, or a college student needs to teach philosophy to elementary school children from picture books. Written in a clear and accessible style, the book explains why it is important to allow young children access to philosophy during primary-school education. Wartenberg also gives advice on how to construct a "learner-centered" classroom, in which children discuss philosophical issues with one another as they respond to open-ended questions by saying whether they agree or disagree with what others have said.

Using picture books as models is a powerful way to teach key expository and narrative target skills. Step-by-step directions and charts, with quality children's literature used as models, help you set up and manage effective 45-minute long writing workshops. Also includes extensive lists of other children's literature with their recommended Target Skill application.Teach brainstorming, focus, organization, elaboration, and writing conventions using literature as models. Primary and intermediate-level lessons for each of 20 models allow you to customize your writing workshops to the needs and abilities of your K-5 students.

2018 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award (Nonfiction) Finalist A timely indictment of the corporate takeover of education and the privatization—and profitability—of separate and unequal schools, published at a critical time in the dismantling of public education in America "An astounding look at America’s segregated school system, weaving together historical dynamics of race, class, and growing inequality into one concise and commanding story. Cutting School puts our schools at the center of the fight for a new commons." —Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough and This Changes Everything Public schools are among America’s greatest achievements in modern history, yet from the earliest days of tax-supported education—today a sector with an estimated budget of over half a billion dollars—there have been intractable tensions tied to race and poverty. Now, in an era characterized by levels of school segregation the country has not seen since the mid-twentieth century, cultural critic and American studies professor Noliwe Rooks provides a trenchant analysis of our separate and unequal schools and argues that profiting from our nation’s failure to provide a high-quality education to all children has become a very big business. Cutting School deftly traces the financing of segregated education in America, from reconstruction through Brown v. Board of Education up to the current controversies around school choice, teacher quality, the school-to-prison pipeline, and more, to elucidate the course we are on today: the wholesale privatization of our schools. Rooks’s incisive critique breaks down the fraught landscape of “segrenomics,” showing how experimental solutions to the so-called achievement gaps—including charters, vouchers, and cyber schools—rely on, profit from, and ultimately exacerbate disturbingly high levels of racial and economic segregation under the guise of providing equal opportunity. Rooks chronicles the making and unmaking of public education and the disastrous impact of funneling public dollars to private for-profit and nonprofit operations. As the infrastructure crumbles, a number of major U.S. cities are poised to permanently dismantle their public school systems—the very foundation of our multicultural democracy. Yet Rooks finds hope and promise in the inspired individuals and powerful movements fighting to save urban schools. A comprehensive, compelling account of what’s truly at stake in the relentless push to deregulate and privatize, Cutting School is a cri de coeur for all of us to resist educational apartheid in America.