This book explores the crucial role of text selection, close reading, task construction, classroom discussion, and collaboration in aligning instruction with the CCSS (Common Core State Standards).

Reading for pleasure urgently requires a higher profile to raise attainment and increase children’s engagement as self-motivated and socially interactive readers. Building Communities of Engaged Readers highlights the concept of ‘Reading Teachers’ who are not only knowledgeable about texts for children, but are aware of their own reading identities and prepared to share their enthusiasm and understanding of what being a reader means. Sharing the processes of reading with young readers is an innovative approach to developing new generations of readers. Examining the interplay between the ‘will and the skill’ to read, the book distinctively details a reading for pleasure pedagogy and demonstrates that reader engagement is strongly influenced by relationships between children, teachers, families and communities. Importantly it provides compelling evidence that reciprocal reading communities in school encompass: a shared concept of what it means to be a reader in the 21st century; considerable teacher and child knowledge of children’s literature and other texts; pedagogic practices which acknowledge and develop diverse reader identities; spontaneous ‘inside-text talk’ on the part of all members; a shift in the focus of control and new social spaces that encourage choice and children’s rights as readers. Written by experts in the literacy field and illustrated throughout with examples from the project schools, it is essential reading for all those concerned with improving young people’s enjoyment of and attainment in reading.

This book connects SLA theory and practice in ways that are relevant and accessible to students, researchers and practitioners.

This volume examines how oral and written language function in school learning , and how oral texts can be successfully inter-connected to the written texts that are used on a daily basis in schools. Rather than argue for the prominence of one over the other, the goal is to help the reader gain a rich understanding of how both might work together to create a new discourse that ultimately creates new knowledge. Talking Texts: Provides historical background for the study of talk and text Presents examples of children’s and adolescents’ natural conversations as analyzed by linguists Addresses talk as it interfaces with domains of knowledge taught in schools to show how talk is related to and may be influenced by the structure, language, and activities of a specific discipline. Bringing together seminal lines of research to create a cohesive picture of discourse issues germane to classrooms and other learning settings, this volume is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students, classroom teachers, and curriculum specialists across the fields of discourse studies, literacy and English education, composition studies, language development, sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.

This book is written for all university and college teachers interested in experimenting with discussion methods in their classrooms. Discussion as a Way of Teaching is a book full of ideas, techniques, and usable suggestions on: * How to prepare students and teachers to participate in discussion * How to get discussions started * How to keep discussions going * How to ensure that teachers' and students' voices are kept in some sort of balance It considers the influence of factors of race, class and gender on discussion groups and argues that teachers need to intervene to prevent patterns of inequity present in the wider society automatically reproducing themselves inside the discussion-based classroom. It also grounds the evaluation of discussions in the multiple subjectivities of students' perceptions. An invaluable and helpful resource for university and college teachers who use, or are thinking of using, discussion approaches.

`This is a very fine introduction to the tradition and practice of categorisation analysis, a method for analysing language derived from the work of Harvey Sacks. Georgia Lepper conveys with great effectiveness and simplicity the basic principles of this method, and enables the reader to apply it in practice. Through a series of practical exercises and worked examples, the reader is taken through the necessary steps to achieve full independence in practice of this important analytic method. A great deal of practical wisdom and experience has gone into this book, and it will undoubtedly be of great assistance to students and researchers seeking to apply this still innovative approach to qualitative data analysis′ - Clive Seale, Goldsmiths College, University of London `A stunning introduction to categorization analysis! Georgia Lepper is a master teacher and her book a major achievement. Sensibly organized, amply illustrated, and deftly instructive, this remarkably clear text is a pedagogical milestone in the area′ - Jaber F Gubrium, University of Florida This is the first practical book on how to apply Harvey Sacks′ `membership categorization analysis′ technique, an increasingly influential method for conversation analysis. Categorization analysis is a method for the study of situated social action and offers a complementary method to the traditional sequential analysis used in the study of naturally occurring talk and text. The author provides an understanding of the concepts through an analysis of data samples and a series of exercises. Later chapters discuss the application to a variety of disciplines. Examples used to illustrate the approach include, talk, text and images, narratives, stories and organizational settings. The practice of research is further elucidated in the use of an extended case study and the topics of reliability, validity and ethics are also covered. Additional features include suggested further readings at the end of each chapter and a glossary of terms. The book will be invaluable to students and beginning researchers in the disciplines of linguistics, sociology and anthropology, and other main users of conversational and narrative analysis methods, in cultural studies, ethnography, organization studies, discursive psychology and psychotherapy, who are seeking empirical methods for the study of the phenomena of everyday interaction. This book can be used as a companion volume to Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide also published in the Introducing Qualitative Methods series.

Educator and technology consultant Monica Burns shares strategies, tools, and insights that all teachers can use to effectively incorporate technology in the classroom.