Language Arts and Literacy in the Middle Grades

by Finders, Margaret J.; Hynds, Susan

• ISBN13: 9780131751729
• ISBN10: 0131751727
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-03
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

From two prominent scholars in the field comes a book that addresses language arts and literacy in the middle grades. Complete with authentic cases and classroom examples, the book examines research and theory-based approaches to teaching literacy in the middle school classroom. This edition includes a stronger focus on culturally relevant pedagogy and the needs of English Language Learners, as well as Standards in Practice sections, which help teachers incorporate state and national standards into planning and instruction. Using a teacher-as-inquirer model, the book offers many resources to improve existing literacy programs and individual teaching techniques.

Table of Contents

Part I Entering the Profession	1	(128)
Entering the Middle School as a Professional	2	(28)
Public Perceptions and Harsh Realities in Middle School Education	3	(6)
Clear and Careful Conceptions	4	(1)
Professional Support: Where to Begin?	4	(5)
Monitoring Your Teaching: Your Fieldwork Journal	9	(2)
Beginning the Job Search: It's Never Too Early	11	(3)
Rising to the Top of the Pile: What Middle School Principals Value	11	(3)
Preparing a Professional Portfolio for Teaching in the Middle Grades	14	(3)
Classroom Cases	17	(2)
Classroom Management and Rules of Engagement	19	(6)
Teaching in the Middle: Why Accept the Invitation?	25	(5)
Middle School Students and Middle Schools	30	(20)
A Bundle of Raging Hormones: The Invention of Adolescence	31	(4)
Beyond Biology	35	(6)
The Invention of Adolescence	35	(1)
From ``Mini'' High School to Middle School	36	(5)
Literacy in the Middle Grades	41	(1)
What Counts as Adolescent Literacy	41	(1)
How We Think About Literacy Learning in the Middle School	42	(2)
Effective Middle School Practices: Opportunities and Obstacles	44	(6)
English Language Arts from Mid-Century to the Millennium	50	(30)
Exploring Your Teaching History	52	(2)
From Texts to Political Contexts: Literacy Learning Then and Now	54	(1)
Our Shifting Views of Literacy and Its Teaching	55	(13)
Literacy as Text: Product-Centered Approaches	58	(2)
Process-Centered Approaches	60	(5)
Social/Contextual Approaches to Literacy Teaching	65	(3)
Political Realities and Pendulum Swings: Challenges for Middle School Teachers at the Millennium	68	(12)
Designing for Excellence and Equity With Middle School Students	80	(28)
``Mainstream'' Metaphors	81	(4)
The Middle School Classroom: From Mainstream to Ecosystem	85	(5)
A Question of Balance: Navigating the Middle School Ecosystem	90	(3)
Comfort and Challenge	90	(3)
Principles and Practices of Culturally Relevant Teaching	93	(2)
Collaboration and Independence	94	(1)
Choice and Control	95	(3)
Correctness and Creativity	96	(1)
Private and Public Learning	97	(1)
Multiple Entry Points and Escape Routes	98	(3)
Performance Assessment of Authentic Learning Tasks	101	(7)
Supporting Middle School Learners with Disabilities	108	(21)
The Individual Educational Program	110	(9)
Making Modifications	114	(2)
Supports	116	(3)
Balancing the Social and the Academic	119	(2)
Promoting and Documenting Student Progress in English Language Arts	121	(1)
Getting to Know All Students: Moving Beyond the IEP	122	(1)
Evaluation of Student Performance	123	(2)
Building from Strength: Remediating Deficit Thinking	125	(4)
Part II: Planning the Language Arts Curriculum	129	(164)
Language Lenses: Integrating the Language Arts	130	(22)
Integrating the Language Arts: Teaching for Diversity	133	(1)
Challenging Some Myths About Language	134	(2)
Myth: Speech Is an Inferior Form of Language	134	(1)
Myth: Learning to Read Must Precede Learning to Write	135	(1)
Myth: Fluency in One Language Interferes with Fluency in Another	135	(1)
Language Lenses	136	(12)
Making a Fire in Our Hands: One Final Thought	148	(4)
Language Study in the Middle Grades	152	(30)
What Counts as Language Study	154	(1)
Discourse Communities and Communicative Competence	155	(2)
Helping Students to Understand Their Discourse Communities	157	(5)
Standardization and ``Powerful'' Language	162	(4)
Guiding Practice with Varieties of English	164	(2)
Playing with Language	166	(1)
Language Study Across the Curriculum	167	(3)
Language Diversity and Grammar Instruction	167	(1)
Teaching Grammar and Usage to Early Adolescents	168	(1)
Understanding Second Language Acquisition	169	(1)
Understanding and Documenting Student Growth	170	(12)
Learning From (and About) Our Errors	170	(12)
Writing in the Middle Grades	182	(32)
Writing with Middle School Students	183	(9)
Creating a Classroom for Writers	192	(6)
The Writers' Workshop as a Structure for Learning	194	(1)
Recording Students' Progress	195	(3)
Integrating Assessments	198	(8)
Monitoring Progress: Formative Assessments	199	(7)
Using Technology Effectively with Middle School Writers	206	(8)
Talking and Listening in the Middle Grades	214	(40)
The Many Faces of Talking and Listening	215	(1)
Purposes and Forms of Talk and Listening	216	(1)
Talk and Listening with Middle School Students	217	(2)
Leveling the Field: Race, Class, Gender, Culture, and Oral Language	219	(7)
Creating a Learning Community	221	(5)
Promoting Language Growth	226	(1)
Character Role Plays	226	(1)
``To Tell the Truth''	226	(1)
Talk and Listening as Inquiry	227	(3)
Exploring the Language of Self and Others	230	(9)
The Power of Names	231	(1)
Active Listening in Literature and Life	231	(1)
Nonverbal Criminals	232	(1)
Dinner Table Study	233	(1)
Breaking the I-R-E Pattern: Inviting Students' Genuine Responses in Class Discussion	234	(5)
Talk and Listening to Showcase and Perform	239	(4)
Speeches, Demonstrations, and Presentations	239	(2)
Beyond Round-Robin Reading: Oral Interpretation, Choral Reading, and Readers' Theater	241	(1)
Planning Performances	242	(1)
Evaluating Oral Language and Listening	243	(11)
Reading and Viewing in the Middle Grades	254	(39)
Reading and Viewing in New Times	256	(1)
Reading and Viewing for Multiple Purposes	256	(1)
Reading and Viewing with Middle School Students	257	(2)
Considerations for Reading and Viewing With Middle School Students	259	(1)
Differences Between Literary and Nonliterary Reading	260	(1)
Inviting Students' Responses to Literature: Stances Versus Hierarchies	260	(2)
Strategies for Comprehension and Understanding	262	(2)
Strategies for Critical Reading and Viewing	264	(2)
Informational Texts	266	(4)
Demands of the Text	267	(1)
Designing Instruction	268	(1)
Reading With All Readers	268	(2)
Text Selection in the Middle School Classroom	270	(2)
Text Selection and Censorship	270	(1)
Organizing Instruction	271	(1)
Creating a Classroom Climate for Reading and Viewing	272	(8)
Organizing for Whole-Class Instruction	272	(4)
Organizing for Student-Selected Reading	276	(1)
Organizing for Small-Group Reading Experiences	277	(1)
Organizing for Workshop Teaching	278	(2)
Assessment Issues in the Reading and Viewing Classroom	280	(13)
Responding	281	(2)
Evaluating	283	(1)
Grading	283	(10)
Index	293