This seminal collection brings together the multiple perspectives of whole language educators over the course of the past thirty-five years. The essays illustrate the complex ways in which whole language teachers have been and continue to be political activists through their interactions with students; the teachers' beliefs about teaching, learning, and curriculum; their commitment to critical thinking and social justice; their collaborative engagements with other teachers; their role as leaders of change in schools and communities; and, finally, their activism in society. Although many believe that we are living in a climate where the term «whole language» is considered taboo, the contributors to this book demonstrate hopefulness for the future of whole language: as Yetta and Ken Goodman write in the concluding chapter, «whole language is alive and well.»

That education should instill and nurture democracy is an American truism. Yet organizations such as the Business Roundtable, together with conservative philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Walmart’s owners, the Waltons, have been turning public schools into corporate mills. Their top-down programs, such as Common Core State Standards, track, judge, and homogenize the minds of millions of American students from kindergarten through high school. But corporate funders would not be able to implement this educational control without the de facto partnership of government at all levels, channeling public moneys into privatization initiatives, school closings, and high-stakes testing that discourages independent thinking. Educational Justice offers hope that there’s still time to take on corporatized schools and achieve democratic justice in the classroom. Forcefully written by educator and journalist Howard Ryan, with contributing authors, the book opens with four chapters that discuss theories on teacher unionism, social justice pedagogy, and corporate school reform. These chapters are balanced with four case-study chapters documenting exemplary teaching and school-site organizing practices in the field. Reports from various educational fronts include innovative union strategies against charter school expansion, as well as teaching visions drawn from the vibrant “whole language” movement. Bold, informative, clearly reasoned, this book is an education in itself—a democratic one at that.

This newly revised Thirtieth Anniversary edition provides a robust scholarly introduction to the history of writing instruction in the West from Ancient Greece to the present-day United States. It preserves the legacy of writing instruction from antiquity to contemporary times with a unique focus on the material, educational, and institutional context of the Western rhetorical tradition. Its longitudinal approach enables students to track the recurrence over time of not only specific teaching methods, but also major issues such as social purpose, writing as power, the effect of technologies, orthography, the rise of vernaculars, writing as a force for democratization, and the roles of women in rhetoric and writing instruction. Each chapter provides pedagogical tools including a Glossary of Key Terms and a Bibliography for Further Study. In this edition, expanded coverage of twenty-first-century issues includes Writing Across the Curriculum pedagogy, pedagogy for multilingual writers, and social media. A Short History of Writing Instruction is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate courses in writing studies, rhetoric and composition, and the history of education.

This book offers a detailed examination of reflective practice in teacher education. In the current educational context, where reflective practice has been mandated in professional standards for teachers in many countries, it analyses research-based evidence for the power of reflective practice to shape better educational outcomes. The book presents multiple theoretical and practical views of this often taken-for-granted practice, so that readers are challenged to consider how factors such as gender and race shape understandings of reflective practice. Documenting approaches that enhance learning, the contributions discuss reflective practice across the globe, with a focus on pre-service, in-service and university teachers. At a time when there is pressure to measure teachers’ work through standardised tests, the book highlights the professional thinking that is integral to teaching and demonstrates ways it can be encouraged in beginning teachers. Aimed at the international community of teacher educators in schools and universities, it also includes a critical examination of methodological issues in analysing and evaluating reflective practice and showcases the kind of reflective practice that empowers teachers and pre-service teachers to make a difference to students.

Despite growing evidence that all students will benefit from engaging and challenging instruction, many struggling students continue to experience a circumscribed curriculum that emphasizes low-level skills. Featuring contributions from emerging and well-known researchers, this important volume is about the enactment of high-expectation curricula in everyday practice. Chapters document specific classroom strategies that make a difference in the learning of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and cultural and linguistic minority communities. While the book focuses on language and literacy instruction, key chapters on math and science also demonstrate high-expectation teaching across the curriculum. Book Features: A broad framework for creating high-expectation curricula in underperforming K12 schools, clear illustrations of what alternative literacy practices look like, powerful examples of rich math and science instruction, research-based strategies for second language learners, students with disabilities, and struggling readers, an incisive critique of the deficit-driven curricula that dominates in underachieving schools and classrooms.

This book focuses on the writing process in the self-study of teaching and teacher education practices. It addresses writing as an area in which teacher educators can develop their skills and represents how to write in ways that are compatible with self-study's orientations towards the inquiry, both personal and on practice. The book examines effective self-study writing with chapters written by experienced self-study practitioners. In addition to considering elements of writing as a method for the self-study of practice, it delves into the cognitive processes of real writers making explicit their writing practices. Practical suggestions are connected to the lived experiences of self-study practitioners making sense of their field through the process of writing. This book will be of interest to doctoral and novice self-study writers, and experienced authors seeking to develop their practice. It demonstrates that writing as a method of inquiry in self-study and beyond can be learned, modeled and taught.

This esteemed reference work and professional resource, now substantially revised, integrates classic and cutting-edge research on how children and adolescents make meaning from text. The comprehension tasks and challenges facing students at different grade levels are explored, with attention to multiple text types and reading purposes. Preeminent researchers offer a range of perspectives--cognitive, neuroscientific, sociocultural, pedagogical, and technological--on key aspects of comprehension. Effective approaches to assessment, instruction, and intervention are reviewed. The volume also addresses issues in teaching specific populations, including struggling readers and English language learners. New to This Edition *A decade's worth of significant research advances are reflected in 10 entirely new chapters. *Revised throughout to incorporate new studies and timely topics: the expanding role of technology, changing school populations, the Common Core standards, international research, and more. *Chapters on graphic, scientific, and multiple digital texts. *Chapters on fluency, professional learning, and literacy coaching.