Teaching Tools -
Literacy

• Professional Books to Accompany the Literacy Roadmap  - A listing of professional books that provide valuable information on everything from tutoring adolescents to activities for beginning readers
• Using Student Engagement to Improve Adolescent Literacy
• Project CRISS -  Strategies to be taught by content teachers to help students become more effective, independent learners (link to Larsen Middle School CRISS examples)
• Consortium for Reading Excellence Newsletters:
  • The Complex Challenge of Comprehension 
    Comprehension Not Where It Should Be? Mind the Language Gap 
  • What Reading Leaders Need to Know About Effective Reading Instruction
    Literacy Support Systems and Leadership
  • Role of Vocabulary in Building Comprehension
    What the Research Says About Vocabulary Levels and Comprehension
    • U-46 Reading site with resources for parents
    • U-46 Library website

    Additional Sites

    • Reading Online -  This website contains articles on a wide range of topics regarding literacy education from adolescent literacy to  writing-reading integration. Information can be accessed through a search or subject/title/author indexes. The site is provided by the International Reading Association
    • Consortium for Reading Excellence Free Resources:
    • Put Reading First - The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read
    • NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) and MAP testing
    • Lexile: Matching Readers to Text 

     

     

     

• How Can Literacy be Developed at the Secondary Level - overview of secondary reading with numerous links
• Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read and Write Well - six features of effective instruction 
• Encouraging Boys to Read -  This page provides a link to books recommended by U-46 teachers, articles with ideas and books on the topic.

Teaching Readers Who Struggle 

• Never Too Late: Approaches to Reading Instruction for Secondary Students with Disabilities - strategies for teaching students with disabilities
• Motivating Reluctant Adolescent Readers
• Meeting the Needs of Struggling Readers: A Resource for Secondary English Language Arts Teachers – Information and lesson ideas for finding the main idea, book cover predictions, figuring out figurative language, etc.
• Teaching Readers Who Struggle: A Pragmatic Middle School Framework  - Practices originating in classroom experiences to help teacher plan and organize literacy instruction for young adolescents at all levels of literacy development.
• By George, We’ve Got It! Content Reading for English Language Learners  - Reading, History, Differentiated Instruction, English Learners and assessment for grades 5-12.    Handout from a presentation for teachers of struggling readers and ELL students provides ideas for teaching and meeting the needs of these students
• Scaffolds to Help ELL Readers - teacher with 20 years of experience teaching ELL students shares ideas to improve student learning in the middle school  and assess the effect of classroom interventions
• Spelling and the Middle School English Language Learners
• Secondary English Language Learners – a collection of articles and teaching strategies for teachers working with ELL students at the middle/high school level
• Elementary English Language Learners - a collection of articles and teaching strategies for teaching ELL at the elementary level

Activities

• Scholastic - Teaching Ideas for all grade levels (pre-K to 12) - This site contains ideas for  all grade levels with resources, online field trips, and lesson ideas. 
• Mosaic Listserv - Professional Listserv allows teachers to ask questions, as well as find support in teaching comprehension. There is also a section on this  site with "Teaching Tools" that includes lesson plans, worksheets, etc.
• Read Write and Think - Lesson plans and resources are provided for grades K-12 by the International Reading Association