Excerpt
Current research identifies six language arts: reading, writing, listening, talking, viewing, and visually representing. Most textbooks cover only four.
Language Arts: Patterns of Practice not only introduces the six language arts but also models their integration into the curriculum. Helping children and adolescents master all six language competencies and learn to communicate effectively in our culturally diverse, technologically changing society can seem like an overwhelming task for a new or even an experienced teacher. This text will help you fully understand how best to teach these language arts in kindergarten through eighth grade.
These six language arts can be meaningfully integrated into the curriculum through four instructional approaches, or patterns of practice. This text intricately weaves the teaching of the six language arts through four instructional approaches and, just like creating a quilt, you learn how to put the pieces together to form a complete whole.
PATTERNS OF PRACTICE
Encouraging you as a teacher to actively engage your students in personally meaningful, functional activities, Language Arts: Patterns of Practice highlights the four well-respected instructional approaches best suited to integrating the six language arts. These are:
- Literature focus unitsstudents read and study a high-quality children's book together as a class.
- Literature circlesstudents choose, read, and respond to a book in small groups.
- Reading and writing workshopsstudents work independently to read self-selected books and use the, writing process to independently write books and other compositions.
- Theme cyclesstudents use an integrated approach to engage in a content area study, such as a unit for social studies or science topics.
Throughout the chapters, the text illustrates how to use patterns of prac-
- Establish a community of learners
- Engage students in "real" children's literature
- Teach children the language arts strategies and skills that enable them to learn to communicate effectively
- Integrate the six language arts skills into classroom instruction by threading them through this entire text with discussions, examples, and specific features
New! Chapter opening vignettes begin new chapter discussions by describing how classroom teachers use one of the instructional approaches to develop students' language arts competencies associated specifically with the new chapter's content. These intimate looks at classrooms model masterful language arts teaching while offering a contextual understanding of how patterns of instructional practice actually work in real classrooms. - Colorful inserts in Chapter 2 provide detailed classroom examples of teachers in action, identifying procedures and processes for using each instructional approach. These colorful classroom glimpses illustrate how motivating and engaging each approach can be for students learning language arts.
Language Arts: Patterns of Practice also provides teachers with a seamless presentation of practical methods for developing and assessing specific strategies and skills.
- Piecing a Lesson Together shows how to teach strategies and skills with detailed descriptions. These features list lesson topics to help teachers plan meaningful minilessons, illustrating fully realized minilessons, to demonstrate how classroom teachers follow certain sequences to teach skills. Additional minilessons accompany chapter modules on the text's Companion Website.
- Weaning Assessment Into Practice features take readers into the classroom to witness the regular integration of assessment in masterful language arts teaching. Here are authentic artifacts and guidelines for assessing students' language arts learning and development.
- Step by Step features in every chapter give teachers the tools they need to prepare and carry out specific instructional procedures for myriad research-based strategies. Providing detailed instructions, these features become a clear and precise map for teachers to use in their classrooms.
- LA Essentials provide guidelines, lists, tools, and resources ready to take right into the classroom. These practical, informative teaching tips are foundational tools all teachers can refer to again and again as they teach.
- Classroom Library features are another excellent tool for teachers, providing lists of books to use in teaching language arts, addressing the needs of different grades, different reading levels, and different topics.
Language Arts: Patterns of Practice grounds readers in real classroom teaching and learning. To feel comfortable and confident in teaching, you will need more than just an understanding of the language arts concepts and familiarity with the best teaching methods. You will need to be able to see yourself successfully teaching in a language arts classroom. The text's many examples from real classrooms model best practice and teacher decision-making.
- Authentic student artifacts, the student samples from each of the four patterns of practice, found in almost every chapter, help preservice teachers learn what to expect from young readers and writers.
- Seeing Common Threads allows readers to look more closely at issues important to elementary and middle school teachers, giving them an opportunity to apply what they're learning through questions provoking reflection and analysis. To encourage a dialogue on these issues, readers are encouraged to compare their thoughts with those of other preservice teachers online in our Companion Website's Threaded Message Board, available at www.prenhall.com/tompkins.
- Meeting the Needs of Every Student features help prepare pre-service teachers for the diverse needs of today's students by providing ideas for adapting lessons to fit students' needs. This special feature contains explicit suggestions for scaffolding and modifying the learning experiences for students with special learning needs so they can be successful. Visit the Companion Website at www.prenhall.com/tompkins for even more resources for adapting instruction to better suit the needs of all students.
- NEW! Free CD-ROM will help you experience the effective instruction that takes place in classroom communities by analyzing video footage of master teachers who integrate minilessons and strategy and skill development in the use of writing workshops. Users can examine, re-examine, and manipulate genuine classroom footage to develop a deep and lasting understanding of these instructional approaches and the ways they are effectively carried out in classrooms.
- Margin notes throughout the text integrate the CD footage and lessons with chapter content to better apply the reading.
- New! A colorful insert in Chapter 10 walks you through using the CD to the fullest.
- New! CD-ROM Activities on our Companion Website, found at www.prenhall.com/tompkins help to deepen and solidify your understanding of research-based language arts teaching.
Helping students learn to communicate effectively is an ongoing challenge, especially given the cultural and linguistic diversity of today's classrooms and the swift changes in technological environments. For those of you who are preservice teachers, anxious to work with students from kindergarten through the eighth grade, you will find in Language Arts: Patterns of Practice consistent models of instruction to help you make those difficult decisions you may at first find overwhelming. For those of you who are experienced teachers, the text is infused with a rich array of strategies and ideas, adaptable to suit your personal instructional style and your students' individual needs.