Expressive writing is life-based writing that focuses on authentic expression of lived experience, with resultant insight, growth and skill-building. Research shows that expressive writing can help in the development of emotional intelligence, better choice-making, and healthy coping skills. In this remarkable collection, 11 experts from education and community service join to offer compelling guidance on applied practice. You'll discover *a model for a poetry group for youth at risk; *how to help students develop inner resources through metaphor; *a "photovoice" project to help at-risk students stay in school; *how storytelling develops emotional intelligence in primary school children; *a method that helps teachers become more confident writers; *how expressive writing can help teachers manage stress and avoid burn-out; *expressive writing as change agent for communities; *the benefits and limitations of writing programs in prisons and jails; *hip-hop as "the pen of the people"; *finding a writing group; writing with others; *the ethics and standards of practice for expressive writing in the classroom and community; *guidance for all levels of learners: Primary, teens, college-age, adult; professional development, personal growth. Whether you are a teacher, a counselor, a facilitator, or a writer you'll find this volume an invaluable and innovative resource for expressive writing in the classroom and in the community.

Every child needs to learn to read, write and spell. With Letterland it is simply an enjoyable journey of discovery. This new edition of the Letterland Teacher's Guide encompasses the fun of learning with Letterland friends, whilst ensuring that the core criteria of an effective, systematic, phonics programme are fully met.

Practice reading comprehension with this activity sticker book, perfect for learning at home! Let's Do Comprehension 5-6 supports the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and is ideal for boosting English literacy skills at home. The workbook contains a variety of stimulating fiction and non-fiction texts, accompanied by comprehension questions of varying difficulty and over 100 colourful stickers to encourage and reward children. This comprehension practice book includes: - Tips and clues from Alice the Alligator to support children - Extra challenges in Brodie's Brain Boosters to stretch and challenge - Answers at the back of the book - Exciting, colourful illustrations and stickers For more in the popular Let's Do series by Andrew Brodie, see: Let's Do Handwriting, Let's Do Spelling, Let's Do Punctuation, Let's Do Grammar, Let's Do Times Tables, Let's Do Mental Maths, Let's Do Addition and Subtraction and Let's Do Arithmetic

Practice reading comprehension with this activity sticker book, perfect for learning at home! Let's Do Comprehension 7-8 supports the National Curriculum for Key Stage 2 and is ideal for boosting English literacy skills at home. The workbook contains a variety of stimulating fiction and non-fiction texts, accompanied by comprehension questions of varying difficulty and over 100 colourful stickers to encourage and reward children. This comprehension practice book includes: - Tips and clues from Alice the Alligator to support children - Extra challenges in Brodie's Brain Boosters to stretch and challenge - Answers at the back of the book - Exciting, colourful illustrations and stickers For more in the popular Let's Do series by Andrew Brodie, see: Let's Do Handwriting, Let's Do Spelling, Let's Do Punctuation, Let's Do Grammar, Let's Do Times Tables, Let's Do Mental Maths, Let's Do Addition and Subtraction and Let's Do Arithmetic

Nelson Comprehension provides a simple and effective course for the teaching of key comprehension skills. Units cover all genres of texts - including fiction, poetry, playscripts, instructions and biography - with plenty of practice, repetition and assessment built in. Differentiated questions and resource sheets as well as assessment materials help ensure that all children are on track. This Pupil Book offers 20 engaging illlustrated texts with accompanying differentiated questions which test the whole range of comprehension skills, including literal, inferential and deductive.

This book brings together contributions from different scholarly contexts that address a diverse range of focused topics, as well as empirical and conceptual perspectives, on research with international studies. Some chapters focus on technical aspects, exploring opportunities for drawing causal inferences from the data, and investigating biases originating in distributional scale properties. Others are of a more conceptual nature, addressing changes in the relevance of socio-economic indicators across time and countries, examining the exposure of mother-tongue and English instruction on performance and investigating the effects of test construction on gender difference. The discussion takes a much-needed meta-perspective on the usefulness of international large-scale assessments for educational research and allows reflection upon possibilities and opportunities for their improvement. This book was originally published as a special issue of Assessment in Education.

Words consist of units of meaning, called morphemes. These morphemes have a striking effect on spelling which has been largely neglected until now. For example, nouns that end in "-ian" are words which refer to people, and so when this ending is attached to "magic" we can tell that the resulting word means someone who produces magic. Knowledge of this rule, therefore, helps us with spelling: it tells us that this word is spelled as "magician" and not as "magicion."
This new book by Terezinha Nunes and Peter Bryant and their colleagues shows how important and necessary it is for children to find out about morphemes when they are learning to read and to spell. The book concentrates on how to teach children about the morphemic structure of words and on the beneficial effects of this teaching for children's spelling and for the breadth of their vocabulary. It reports the results of several studies in the laboratory and in school classrooms of the effects of teaching children about a wide variety of morphemes. These projects showed that school children enjoy learning about morphemes and that this learning improves their spelling and their vocabulary as well. The book, therefore, suggests new directions in the teaching of literacy. It should be read by everyone concerned with helping children to learn to read and to write.

With reports from several studies showing the benefits of teaching young children about morphemes, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned with helping children to read and write.

By breaking words down into chunks of meaning that can be analyzed as complete units rather than as strings of individual letters, children are better able to make sense of the often contradictory spelling and reading rules of English. As a result, their enjoyment of learning about words increases, and their literacy skills improve. Written by leading researchers for trainee teachers, practising teachers and interested parents, this highly accessible and innovative book provides sound, evidence-based advice and materials that can be used to help teach children about morphemes, and highlights the beneficial effects of this approach.

This Rapid Plus Assessment Book for Stage 5 contains two fiction stories to help teachers assess students' progress at Stage 5 and address difficulties if necessary before moving onto the next Stage.

50 Instructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy, 3/e helps adolescents read more and read better. Middle and high school teachers can immediately put to use its practical information and classroom examples from science, social studies, English, math, the visual and performing arts, and core electives to improve students' reading, writing, and oral language development. Going above and beyond basic classroom strategies, the instructional routines recommend simple changes to teachers' everyday procedures that foster student comprehension, such as thinking aloud, using question-answer relationships, and teaching with word walls.

Who can be a writer? You can! Start the story machine, choose your heroes and villains, and you’re off – from brilliant beginnings and magnificent middles to excellent endings!

These fun activities and writing prompts will help to expand vocabulary and language skills. Find out how to set the scene, give your characters a voice, and guide them through the action. Top it off with a tremendous title, and by the end of this book you’ll have written your very own splendiferous story.

Being able to read well is one of the most important literacy requirements in our society. It is fundamental to almost all secondary school subjects and the English programme in particular. The new Key Stage 3 focus on teaching reading compels us to find exciting ways to engage young people with texts that they will continue with and develop themselves.

Presenting how to analyse and correct simple spelling mistakes or tackle more complex problems, this work shows how to make assessment easy by setting realistic learning targets, easy to remember spelling rules that work, photocopiable masters for error-analysis, and detailed case studies.

This volume provides the first comprehensive, research-based examination of metacognition in literacy learning. Bringing together research findings from reading, linguistics, psychology, and education, it is logically organized as follows: Part I provides the theoretical foundation that supports the teaching of metacognition; Parts II and III provide new methods for metacognitive assessment and instruction in literacy contexts at all grade levels; and Part IV provides new information on integrating metacognition into professional development programs. Key features include: *Chapter Structure.Teacher reflections at the beginning of each chapter illustrate teacher thinking about the chapter topic and metacognitive connections at the end of each chapter link its content with that of the preceding and following chapters. *Contributor Expertise. Few volumes can boast of a more luminous cast of contributing authors (see table of contents). *Comprehensiveness. Twenty chapters organized into four sections plus a summarizing chapter make this the primary reference work in the field of literacy-based metacognition. This volume is appropriate for reading researchers, professional development audiences, and for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level courses in reading and educational psychology.

This volume provides the first comprehensive, research-based examination of metacognition in literacy learning. Bringing together research findings from reading, linguistics, psychology, and education, it is logically organized as follows: Part I provides the theoretical foundation that supports the teaching of metacognition; Parts II and III provide new methods for metacognitive assessment and instruction in literacy contexts at all grade levels; and Part IV provides new information on integrating metacognition into professional development programs. Key features include: *Chapter Structure.Teacher reflections at the beginning of each chapter illustrate teacher thinking about the chapter topic and metacognitive connections at the end of each chapter link its content with that of the preceding and following chapters. *Contributor Expertise. Few volumes can boast of a more luminous cast of contributing authors (see table of contents). *Comprehensiveness. Twenty chapters organized into four sections plus a summarizing chapter make this the primary reference work in the field of literacy-based metacognition. This volume is appropriate for reading researchers, professional development audiences, and for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level courses in reading and educational psychology.

Like its predecessor, Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas, Second Edition is written for undergraduate, graduate, and in-service teachers who want to integrate literacy processes into their content area instruction. In addition to extensive updating of earlier material, this new edition extends its coverage to include new chapters on adolescents' out-of-school literacy experiences and their in-school preferences, digital resources for content learning, and considerations for the reading specialist. In doing so, however, the authors have tried to maintain the brevity, stylistic clarity, and classroom focus of the earlier volume. Key features of this important new book include: *Teaching Flexibility. Although written with the needs of pre-service teachers in mind, theory and research are treated in sufficient depth to make the book suitable for graduate courses and for teacher study groups. It is also appropriate for secondary reading specialists or literacy coaches responsible for establishing or maintaining a school-wide literacy program. *Changes in New Edition. All chapters have been reorganized and most of the text rewritten. In addition, new chapters not usually included in content area reading texts were added. These cover: 1) adolescents' out-of-school literacy experiences and in-school preferences; 2) digital resources for content learning; and 3) considerations for the reading specialist. *Socio-Cultural Perspective. Like other volumes in the Literacy Teaching Series, the perspective of this one is socio-cultural and constructivist. It recognizes that classroom teaching and learning are closely intertwined with surrounding school and community cultures as well as the culture and language of the subject being studied. Likewise, literacy is not simply a matter of reading and writing but involves using multiple literacies to negotiate and construct meaning. *Practical Orientation. Although supporting theory and research are included in all chapters, instructional strategies with illustrative examples from practicing teachers are included in most chapters. Each chapter concludes with "Application Activities" and "From Our Professional Library" references.

This accessible yet authoritative book affirms the vital role of creativity in writing, and considers and encourages flexible, innovative practices in the teaching of writing. Importantly, the book reflects upon teachers' imaginative practices in the teaching of writing. Importantly, the book reflects upon teachers' imaginative and artistic involvement in the writing process as role models, collaborators, artists and writers themselves.
Arguing that children's creative use of their language is key to the development of their language and literacy skills, this book focuses on the compositional process and children's own ideas. The authors examine the many voices that influence the inner and outer voice of the child, through reading, investigating, imagining, talking and taking part ion a range of engaging and inspiring activities.
Illustrated throughout with many examples of children's writing and drawing, and then with suggestions for classroom activities, this book is for any teacher looking to deepen their understanding of literacy theory and practice.

This accessible yet authoritative book affirms the vital role of creativity in writing, and considers and encourages flexible, innovative practices in the teaching of writing. Importantly, the book reflects upon teachers' imaginative practices in the teaching of writing. Importantly, the book reflects upon teachers' imaginative and artistic involvement in the writing process as role models, collaborators, artists and writers themselves.
Arguing that children's creative use of their language is key to the development of their language and literacy skills, this book focuses on the compositional process and children's own ideas. The authors examine the many voices that influence the inner and outer voice of the child, through reading, investigating, imagining, talking and taking part ion a range of engaging and inspiring activities.
Illustrated throughout with many examples of children's writing and drawing, and then with suggestions for classroom activities, this book is for any teacher looking to deepen their understanding of literacy theory and practice.

This book takes on a daunting task: How do writing teachers continue to work toward preparing students for academic and real-world communication situations, while faced with the increasing use of standardized high-stakes testing? Teachers need both the technical ability to deal with this reality and the ideological means to critique the information technologies and assessment methods that are transforming the writing classroom.
"Teaching and Evaluating Writing in the Age of Computers and High-Stakes Testing" serves this dual need by offering a theoretical framework, actual case studies, and practical methods for evaluating student writing. By examining issues in writing assessment--ranging from the development of electronic portfolios to the impact of state-wide, standards-based assessment methods on secondary and post-secondary courses--this book discovers four situated techniques of authentic assessment that are already in use at a number of locales throughout the United States. These techniquesstress:
*"interacting" with students as communicators using synchronous and asynchronous environments;
*"describing" the processes and products of student learning rather than enumerating deficits;
*"situating" pedagogy and evaluation within systems that incorporate rather than exclude local variables; and
*"distributing" assessment among diverse audiences.
By advocating for a flexible system of communication-based assessment in computer-mediated writing instruction, this book validates teachers' and students' experiences with writing and also acknowledges the real-world weight of the new writing components on the SAT and ACT, as well as on state-mandated standardizedwriting and proficiency exams.

This book takes on a daunting task: How do writing teachers continue to work toward preparing students for academic and real-world communication situations, while faced with the increasing use of standardized high-stakes testing? Teachers need both the technical ability to deal with this reality and the ideological means to critique the information technologies and assessment methods that are transforming the writing classroom.
"Teaching and Evaluating Writing in the Age of Computers and High-Stakes Testing" serves this dual need by offering a theoretical framework, actual case studies, and practical methods for evaluating student writing. By examining issues in writing assessment--ranging from the development of electronic portfolios to the impact of state-wide, standards-based assessment methods on secondary and post-secondary courses--this book discovers four situated techniques of authentic assessment that are already in use at a number of locales throughout the United States. These techniquesstress:
*"interacting" with students as communicators using synchronous and asynchronous environments;
*"describing" the processes and products of student learning rather than enumerating deficits;
*"situating" pedagogy and evaluation within systems that incorporate rather than exclude local variables; and
*"distributing" assessment among diverse audiences.
By advocating for a flexible system of communication-based assessment in computer-mediated writing instruction, this book validates teachers' and students' experiences with writing and also acknowledges the real-world weight of the new writing components on the SAT and ACT, as well as on state-mandated standardizedwriting and proficiency exams.

Originating in a recent CIERA conference held at the University of Michigan, this book brings together the nation's most distinguished researchers to examine how readers understand text and how comprehension is assessed. The first part provides both national and historical contexts for the study of reading comprehension. The second part examines how vocabulary, motivation, and expertise influence comprehension, and it includes analyses of the developmental course and correlates of comprehension. Chapters in the third part consider how schools focus on comprehension for instruction and assessment. The fourth part includes chapters on large-scale assessment that analyze how test formats and psychometric characteristics influence measures of reading comprehension. At the end of each part is a commentary--written by an expert--that reviews the chapters, critiques the main points, and synthesizes critical issues. Key features of this outstanding new book include: *Integration of Research and Practice--provides a bridge between conceptual issues studied by researchers concerned with reading comprehension theories and practical issues addressed by educators concerned with classroom instruction and assessment. *Comprehension Focus--provides a thorough history and rigorous research-based analyses of reading comprehension. *Assessment Focus--provides innovative approaches to comprehension assessment that include the influences of vocabulary, decoding, and motivation. *Synthetic Commentaries--provides periodic summaries that analyze and synthesize research, practices, and issues discussed in each part. *Expertise--contributing authors and commentators are highly respected authorities on reading comprehension (see table of contents). This text is appropriate for educational and psychological researchers, reading educators, and graduate students in education and psychology. It is part of the CIERA series, which includes the following volumes: Taylor and Pearson: Teaching Reading: Effective Schools, Accomplished Teachers (2002) Van Kleeck, Stahl, and Bauer: On Reading Books to Children: Parents and Teachers (2003) Hoffman and Schallert: The Texts in Elementary Classrooms (2005)

The benefits and importance of Socratic seminars are widely recognized, but little has been written on "how" to make them happen successfully in the classroom. By offering real-world examples and straightforward answers to frequent questions, Matt Copeland has created a coaching guide for both the teacher new to Socratic seminars and the experienced teacher seeking to optimize the benefits of this powerful strategy. "Socratic Circles" also shows teachers who are familiar with literature circles the many ways in which these two practices complement and extend each other.

Effectively implemented, Socratic seminars enhance reading comprehension, listening and speaking skills, and build better classroom community and conflict resolution skills. By giving students ownership over the classroom discussion around texts, they become more independent and motivated learners. Ultimately, because there is a direct relationship between the level of participation and the richness of the experience, Socratic seminars teach students to take responsibility for the quality of their own learning.

Filled with examples to help readers visualize the application of these concepts in practice, "Socratic Circles "includes transcripts of student dialogue and work samples of preparation and follow-up activities. The helpful appendices offer ready-to-copy handouts and examples, and suggested selections of text that connect to major literary works.

As our classrooms and our schools grow increasingly focused on meeting high standards and differentiating instruction for a wide variety of student needs and learning styles, Socratic seminars offer an essential classroom tool for meeting these goals." Socratic Circles" is a complete and practical guide to Socratic seminars for the busy classroom teacher.