The concept of "funds of knowledge" is based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. The claim in this book is that first-hand research experiences with families allow one to document this competence and knowledge, and that such engagement provides many possibilities for positive pedagogical actions. Drawing from both Vygotskian and neo-sociocultural perspectives in designing a methodology that views the everyday practices of language and action as constructing knowledge, the funds of knowledge approach facilitates a systematic and powerful way to represent communities in terms of the resources they possess and how to harness them for classroom teaching. This book accomplishes three objectives: It gives readers the basic methodology and techniques followed in the contributors' funds of knowledge research; it extends the boundaries of what these researchers have done; and it explores the applications to classroom practice that can result from teachers knowing the communities in which they work. In a time when national educational discourses focus on system reform and wholesale replicability across school sites, this book offers a counter-perspective stating that instruction must be linked to students' lives, and that details of effective pedagogy should be linked to local histories and community contexts. This approach should not be confused with parent participation programs, although that is often a fortuitous consequence of the work described. It is also not an attempt to teach parents "how to do school" although that could certainly be an outcome if the parents so desired. Instead, the funds of knowledge approach attempts to accomplish something that may be even more challenging: to alter the perceptions of working-class or poor communities by viewing their households primarily in terms of their strengths and resources, their defining pedagogical characteristics. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms is a critically important volume for all teachers and teachers-to-be, and for researchers and graduate students of language, culture, and education.

The instructional framework presented in this book is intended to help teachers provide all young children, but especially English-language learners, with rich, meaningful, and interactive literacy instruction. Referred to as LEALE, the instruction is grounded in the traditional Language Experience Approach (LEA). It has been expanded to encompass principles and practices of research-based early literacy instruction as understood and presented in current professional literature. The approach is presented in an attractive, easily understood style that invites both beginning and experienced teachers to engage their students in literacy.The LEALE instructional framework presented here grew out of the many happy hours that the author spent working with children and their teachers over the years. Included are pictures and examples of classroom materials (chart stories and journals) from children in Belize, Central America, and children in urban centres in Alberta, Canada.

Teaching English Language Learners: A Differentiated Approach to Language Development, 1/e Doug Fisher and Carol Rothenberg Are you looking for a methods book to facilitate literacy and academic development in your K-12 classroom? Building on a solid foundation in language acquisition and learning theory, this text will show you how to examine your own practice and design lessons that consider the individual needs of English language learners and accelerate their achievement. This text is designed to help your students develop proficiency in both everyday and academic English while developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. It also serves as a great guide for promoting high-level, high-quality, and high-expectation instruction with respect to language, literacy development, and academic achievement for all of your students. Features of this text: Constructed from a strong research base, each chapter highlights specific research topics to provide you with practical ideas in applying this research to your own practices. Accessing Prior Knowledge Activities allow you to engage your own background knowledge in visualizing, brainstorming, previewing, reflecting, and observing to help you get the most from each chapter. Spotlight on Instruction features visit classrooms of effective teachers of English language learners providing an authentic context as you learn. Application to Practice case studies build upon one another from chapter to chapter illustrating how to apply this growing wealth of strategies in your own classroom. Teacher Tools in the back of this book provide a collection of reproducibles for use in your classroom, including planning tools, writing assignments, and self reflection tools. Related Books from Merrill Education: Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners, Second Edition, Adrienne L. Herrell and Michael L. Jordan, ISBN: 0-13-098462-0 102 Content Strategies for English Language Learners: Teaching for Academic Success in Grades 3-12, Jodi Reiss, ISBN: 0-13-221819-4 "

Packed with lessons, sample texts, and strategies, this book helps teachers use ELL students' personal experiences to improve their oral language, reading comprehension, and writing skills.

7 Steps to Building a Language-Rich Interactive Classroom provides a seven step process that creates a language-rich interactive classroom environment in which all students can thrive. Topics include differentiating instruction for students at a variety of language proficiencies, keeping all students absolutely engaged, and creating powerful learning supports.

Bringing together theory, research, and practice to dismantle Anti-Black Linguistic Racism and white linguistic supremacy, this book provides ethnographic snapshots of how Black students navigate and negotiate their linguistic and racial identities across multiple contexts. By highlighting the counterstories of Black students, Baker-Bell demonstrates how traditional approaches to language education do not account for the emotional harm, internalized linguistic racism, or consequences these approaches have on Black students' sense of self and identity. This book presents Anti-Black Linguistic Racism as a framework that explicitly names and richly captures the linguistic violence, persecution, dehumanization, and marginalization Black Language-speakers endure when using their language in schools and in everyday life. To move toward Black linguistic liberation, Baker-Bell introduces a new way forward through Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy, a pedagogical approach that intentionally and unapologetically centers the linguistic, cultural, racial, intellectual, and self-confidence needs of Black students. This volume captures what Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy looks like in classrooms while simultaneously illustrating how theory, research, and practice can operate in tandem in pursuit of linguistic and racial justice. A crucial resource for educators, researchers, professors, and graduate students in language and literacy education, writing studies, sociology of education, sociolinguistics, and critical pedagogy, this book features a range of multimodal examples and practices through instructional maps, charts, artwork, and stories that reflect the urgent need for antiracist language pedagogies in our current social and political climate.