This practical and engaging book will help you learn how to teach literature with an inquiry-based approach. Inquiry-based literature instruction is an effective method to facilitate student engagement, motivation, and understanding in middle and high school English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Easy-to-implement and adaptable for many types of texts, this method encourages students to make authentic connections between texts, their lives, and real-world issues. In this classroom-ready resource, Ruday and Caprino walk through this instructional approach to demonstrate how using essential questions and a variety of texts will engage students in thought-provoking inquiry and promote meaningful learning. This book features: Three inquiry-based units applicable for middle and high school ELA and English classrooms. A range of models of what inquiry-based literature instruction looks like in practice. A chapter on culturally responsive teaching and supporting English Language Learners (ELLs). Guides, templates, and resource lists to help you plan your own inquiry-based literature teaching. Throughout the book Ruday and Caprino share a wealth of insights and resources to support you when putting inquiry-based instruction into practice.

In this practical and accessible book, you’ll learn how to create equitable and meaningful assessments in your instruction through an inquiry-based approach. Ruday and Caprino reimagine what asset-based literacy assessments can be and what they look like in practice by understanding that effective, asset-based literacy assessments must center on students: they must incorporate students’ unique perspectives, ideas, and experiences in meaningful and relevant ways. Instead of using assessments that focus on identifying what students don’t know, the practices presented in this book provide authentic opportunities for students to use what they do know to demonstrate their knowledge of important literacy concepts. The book is organized into three easy-to-use parts that cover: Key concepts of asset-based assessment Specific ways that these practices can be put into action Putting it all together in your own education context. A great resource for busy teachers, this book features a guide for teachers to use during professional development book studies and ready-to-implement templates when applying the assessment practices described in the book.

In this book, grammar expert Sean Ruday shows you how to apply the principles of inquiry-based learning to improve your grammar instruction. Grammar often gets relegated to worksheets or rote tasks, but with this volume you’ll find a wealth of strategies and tools for making grammar instruction engaging and meaningful. Designed for middle- and high-school ELA teachers, this book covers all aspects of grammar instruction through an asset-based approach and includes many methods, ideas, and takeaways for instruction. Featuring real-world examples of student work and a sample lesson plan, this is an essential resource for teachers who wish to enliven instruction and teach grammar effectively.

This resource covers reading and writing practices, science standards, and sample lessons to help educators successfully integrate literacy and science instruction in any classroom.

Multimodal composition is a meaningful and critical way for students to tell their stories, make good arguments, and share their expertise in today’s world. In this helpful resource, writer, teacher, and best-selling author Angela Stockman illustrates the importance of making writing a multimodal endeavor in 6-12 workshops by providing peeks into the classrooms she teaches within. Chapters address what multimodal composition is, how to situate it in a writing workshop that is responsive to the unique needs of writers, how to handle curriculum design and assessment, and how to plan instruction. The appendices offer tangible tools and resources that will help you implement and sustain this work in your own classroom. Ideal for teachers of grades 6-12, literacy coaches, and curriculum leaders, this book will help you and your students reimagine what a workshop can be when the writers within it produce far more than written words.

Grammar Toolkit Lesson Plans for Middle School: Mentor Text-Based Grammar Lessons for the Middle School English Classroom contains detailed grammar lesson plans for teachers in grades six, seven, and eight. The lesson plans in this book incorporate the research-based best practices of grammar instruction. They present grammatical concepts in the context of effective writing through the use of mentor texts. These mentor text examples, which students read from a writer’s perspective, deepen students’ metacognition of the importance of these concepts and help them see the elements of grammar as tools for strong writing that authors use strategically to make their work as strong as possible. The thorough plans in this book are designed to help teachers put the best practices of grammar instruction into action in their teaching in concrete, practitioner-oriented ways that are informed by key research findings on the teaching of grammar. The ideas, examples, and instructional suggestions in this book will give teachers the necessary resources to incorporate mentor-text-based grammar lessons that develop students’ metacognition of the tools of effective grammar and communication.

In this book, you’ll find a wealth of mini lessons designed to improve the quality of students’ writing. Each lesson uses a key mentor text and spotlights one of the 6 + 1 Writing Traits to allow students to focus on the essential aspects of good writing – content, organization, word choice, voice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. Inviting and practical, the lessons are concise and follow a consistent model for easy implementation. With seven lessons per chapter, each includes step-by-step guidance, open-ended prompts, and suggestions for additional suitable mentor texts. The chapters are organized by genre – including fiction, informational texts, and poetry – and feature graphic novels and graphic informational mentor texts to inspire and engage students. Aligned with the Common Core State Standards, this resource is essential for any K-8 or pre-service teacher who wants to instill in their students the skills to become independent, confident writers.

Teaching in remote, distance, and hybrid environments can be overwhelming and confusing and poses many challenges for novice and veteran teachers alike. This book guides teachers through the best practices of English language arts (ELA) instruction and helps them reflect on ways to apply those practices in remote learning and envision future instruction that draws from the most useful aspects of educational innovations. Understanding that remote teaching looks different in each subject, Ruday and Cassidy identify methods specifically designed for middle and high school ELA classrooms. Designed for use in remote, hybrid, and hyflex environments with synchronous or asynchronous learning, this resource gives teachers a toolbox of research-backed recommendations, ideas, examples, and practices for teaching in unpredictable and new environments. Ruday and Cassidy address essential topics, including writing, grammar, and reading instruction; assessment; differentiation; culturally relevant teaching; family engagement and communication; technology; professional self-care; and more. Teachers will come away with ready-to-implement strategies and insights for high-quality instruction that can be adapted to any kind of remote learning environment.

This practical guide introduces "Teacher Talk," an easy-to-use tool for teachers to help improve elementary students’ vocabulary. When students are exposed to extensive vocabularies, they are better prepared to build their receptive and productive language and succeed academically. Through many inviting examples and real-world guidance, Rowe and Haase explain how to be reflective and intentional about the language you use and how to use elevated or substitutionary language to model different registers of speech for elementary students. The various "Teacher Talk" strategies in this book cover key topics, including disciplinary vocabulary, modelling academic discourse, addressing state and national standards, and meeting individual student needs across grades K–6. With many charts, activities, and tools that are ready for use, this book equips teachers with many methods for bolstering students’ academic language in the classroom and beyond.

Teaching grammar can be overwhelming and is often an overlooked part of effective instruction, especially for young learners. The Early Elementary Grammar Toolkit to the rescue! This comprehensive guide makes grammar instruction in the K–2 classroom fun and meaningful. You will learn how to: Teach grammar in a practical and applicable way by presenting each grammar rule as a useful writing tool for students. Use mentor texts—excerpts from great literature—to help students understand grammar in action. Promote metacognition along the way so that students become responsible for their own learning. Implement innovative instructional strategies and tools aligned with national and state standards. Throughout the book, you’ll find step-by-step recommendations for teaching grammatical concepts to young learners, including the use of punctuation, capitalization, parts of speech, and more. With standards-based resources and activities for grades K–2, the book includes tips addressing teaching for each of these grades, classroom snapshots that show you the tools in action, flowcharts, infographics, and specific instructional recommendations to engage students.