Learn the 5 steps that school leaders can take to improve student literacy in all content areas, with targeted interventions for students who are struggling the most.

Administrators will find a user-friendly, five-stage planning process with six essential rubrics for developing, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining a successful literacy initiative for Grades 4–12.

This book presents an evidence-based framework for understanding the literacy needs of adolescents. The premise is that educators and other critical stakeholders need to understand evidence-based principles in order to develop effective curriculum to meet the needs of diverse learners. Recommendations are provided for middle and secondary education, professional development, teacher education research and policy. At the center of the book are Eight Guiding Principles developed by the authors through a process that included an extensive review of research and policy literature in literacy and related fields, a comparison of National Standards documents, and visits to the classrooms of 28 middle and high school teachers across the United States. The Principles are broad enough to encompass a variety of contexts and student needs, yet specific enough to offer real support to those involved in program development or policy decisions. They provide an overarching structure that districts and teachers can use to develop site-specific curriculum that is both research-based and designed to meet the needs of the learners for whom they are responsible. Important Text Features: Organized to help readers understand empirically supported principles of practice that can be used to address literacy concerns in today's schools, each chapter that addresses one of the eight Principles follows a similar format: * The Principle is presented along with a brief explanation of the research base and a sample of national standards that support it. * One or more case examples spanning a wide variety of disciplines, grade levels, and local conditions - provide an in-depth look at the Principle in action. * A well-known adolescent literacy expert offers a response to each case example, giving readers an informed view of the importance of the Principle, how it is enacted in the cases, and examples of other work related to the Principle. Discussion questions are provided that can be used for individual reflection or group discussion. Principled Practices for Adolescent Literacy is intended as a text for pre-service and in-service upper-elementary, middle and high school literacy methods courses and graduate courses related to adolescent literacy, and as a resource for school district personnel, policymakers and parents.

A field-tested, classroom-based approach for developing the critical thinking, social-emotional, problem-solving, and discussion skills students need to be good citizens and effective changemakers. We often hear that a key purpose of schooling is to prepare students for informed and active citizenship. But what does this look like in practice? How do teachers pursue this goal amid other pressing priorities, including student mastery of both academic content and social-emotional competencies? Students Taking Action Together, based on a program of the same name developed at Rutgers University, clarifies that the way to prepare young people for life in a democracy is by intentionally rehearsing democratic behaviors in the classroom. This field-tested program ("STAT" for short) is built on five research-backed teaching strategies that work with existing social studies, English language arts, and history curriculum in the upper-elementary, middle, and high school levels. Incorporating these strategies into your lessons is a way to meet students' natural desire to be heard with skill-building that empowers them to * Adhere to norms of civil conversation, even when topics are controversial and emotions are high; * Speak confidently and listen actively; * Engage in respectful debate aimed at understanding issues rather than winning points; * Target communication to different audiences, needs, and contexts; and * Examine problems from many sides, considering potential solutions, drawing up action plans, and evaluating these plans' effectiveness against historical examples. In addition to vignettes that show the five STAT strategies in action, you'll find practical teaching tips and sample STAT lesson plans. For school leaders, there is a road map for schoolwide STAT implementation and guidance on communicating the program's value to stakeholders. Are you ready to help students understand complex content, confront pressing social issues, and engage with the structures of power to advocate for change? This book is for you.

A highly regarded teacher resource and widely adopted text, this book is grounded in current knowledge about literacy teaching and learning in grades PreK–8. The field's leading authorities present accessible recommendations for best practices that can be tailored to fit specific classroom circumstances and student populations. Provided are strategies for helping all students succeed—including struggling readers and English language learners—and for teaching each of the major components of literacy. The book also addresses ways to organize instruction and innovative uses of technology. Chapters include concrete examples, Engagement Activities, and resources for further learning. New to This Edition *Incorporates the latest research findings and instructional practices. *Chapters on motivation, content-area teaching, new literacies, and family literacy. *Addresses timely topics such as response to intervention, the new common core standards, English language learning, and policy issues.

Adolescent Literacy in the Era of the Common Core provides school leaders, teachers, and others with strategies and best practices for advancing adolescent literacy in the classroom. Exceptionally clear and accessible, the book addresses a full range of topics in this vitally important field, including disciplinary literacy; vocabulary instruction; classroom discussion; motivation and engagement related to digital literacy; the use of multiple texts; and writing to learn. This book presents “usable knowledge” of the highest order and of immediate value to school leaders and teachers. It will be required reading for all educators concerned with promoting and furthering adolescent literacy today.

Thorough and accessible, this professional resource and text shows how the latest research in adolescent literacy can be translated into effective practice in middle and high school classrooms. Leading authorities discuss findings on the adolescent learner, addressing such essential topics as comprehension, content-area literacy, differentiated instruction, gender differences in literacy learning, and English language learners. With a focus on evidence-based methods, coverage ranges from techniques for building digital literacy and comprehension skills to strategies for flexible grouping and writing instruction. Ideal for courses in adolescent literacy, each chapter includes guiding questions, discussion questions, and classroom examples.

"Quite simply, I would love to have had Adolescent Literacy and Differentiated Instruction as a secondary language arts teacher.... The book makes me itch to go back to my secondary classroom to see how I could use contemporary technologies as vehicles for differentiation." Carol Ann Tomlinson As a secondary teacher, Adolescent Literacy and Differentiated Instruction shows you how to effectively respond to the growing crisis in adolescent literacy. It's the first book that shows how to base lessons on students' strengths and target back-up instruction to their needs so they can improve in literacy, master content, and meet the demands of higher-level learning. In Adolescent Literacy and Differentiated Instruction, Barbara King-Shaver and Alyce Hunter summon the latest research and share effective, essential differentiation practices. With more than 30 replicable models and practical ideas for managing differentiated classrooms, King-Shaver and Hunter help you: assess students' individual needs, interests, and learning styles turn assessment into doable plans for targeted instruction implement dynamic differentiation strategies such as stations, flexible grouping, choice, and anchor activities. Drawing on NCTE's guidelines for promoting adolescent literacy, King-Shaver and Hunter offer suggestions for teaching not only reading, writing, listening, and speaking but also viewing multimedia texts and engaging with digital literacy. Read Adolescent Literacy and Differentiated Instruction, use its study guide with colleagues, and discover that with adolescent literacy, the best way to make a difference is by embracing difference.

Brain Based Teaching With Adolescent Learning in Mind addresses adolescent learning and its implications and applications for curriculum design and research-based instruction. Glenda Crawford connects new research to the larger picture of students' social, emotional, and intellectual needs and points to productive ways to help adolescents learn and succeed.This resource acknowledges the wide range of differences that new century adolescents bring to classrooms. The author offers lesson examples that easily differentiate for very individual brains of students who have varying cultural backgrounds, levels of English language proficiency, background experiences and prior knowledge, and individual abilities and interests. Readers will find key concepts related to adolescent learning, including metacognition, motivation, social cognition, and self-regulation. Educators will learn about linking instruction to relevant issues and reality-based problems, and about student-directed inquiry, interpretation, debate and analysis, technological access, cooperative learning and global collaboration. Standards-based content examples and scenarios focus on the elements of relevance, active learning, content depth, collaboration, inquiry, challenge, student ownership, ongoing assessment, and guided reflection. The Adolescent-Centered Teaching (ACT) Models in each chapter illustrate this framework, with emphasis on: Essential content understandings Strategies for inquiry Adolescent motivation and challenge through intriguing and authentic events, problems and questions Teachers serving as active facilitator as students become progressively self-directed Metacognitive development and assessment, during which adolescents are involved in evaluation, reflection, and the transfer of learning to comparable and extended experiences Technology connectionsMultiple examples illustrate these interacting social, affective, and cognitive dimensions of an environment that is conducive to adolescent learning. This handbook also provides strategies for promoting transfer of learning to new contexts and more practical ideas for putting brain-based, adolescent-centered teaching into practice.