Preparing Our Teachers : Opportunities for Better Reading Instruction

by Strickland, Dorothy S.; Snow, Catherine; Griffin, Peg; Burns, M. Susan; McNamara, Peggy; Strickland, Dorothy S.

• ISBN13: 9780309074452
• ISBN10: 0309074452
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-12-01
• Publisher: Natl Academy Pr

Summary

Today's teachers face huge challenges, especially for teaching reading in the primary grades. They must understand as much as possible about how children develop and learn, what they know, and what they can do. They must be able to apply a variety of teaching techniques to meet the individual needs of students. Equally important, teachers must identify students' strengths and weaknesses and plan instructional programs that help students make progress. But a recent study reveals that fewer than half of American teachers report feeling "very well prepared" to meet such challenges.Preparing Our Teachers seeks to improve that statistic by extracting practical information from the groundbreaking report issued by the National Research Council in 1998. This new book carefully outlines what classroom teachers need to know and what they need to be able to do to give children in preschool through grade 4 the essential opportunities to become good readers. It discusses what teacher education programs need to do to make their students good teachers of good readers and looks at what schools and school districts need to do to keep their teachers up to date for teaching reading.Students at risk for educational failure represent the fastest growing segment of our school population. Preparing Our Teachers demonstrates to educators, parents, and policymakers alike that the first and most enduring way to meet children's literacy needs is to support their teachers and teachers-to-be.

Table of Contents

Introduction Teachers of Young Children: The Agents and Champions of Literacy	1	(6)
How This Book Came to Be	6	(6)
What's at Stake	12	(1)
What Are Teacher Education and Professional Development?	13	(4)
A Firm Footing for Learning to Teach Reading in the Early Grades	17	(3)
Who This Book Is For	20	(1)
We Must Do It, and We Can	21	(2)
Notes	23	(1)
Resources	24	(5)
From Shopping Lists to Poetry: Forms and Functions of Written Language	29	(26)
Playing with Symbols	31	(3)
The Workings of Print	34	(2)
How Texts Vary	36	(1)
Oral and Written Language	37	(1)
Writing---When Children Control the Symbols	38	(3)
Sample Activities for Teacher Learning	41	(11)
Resources	52	(3)
Making Meaning: Language Development and Comprehension	55	(26)
Spoken Language---a Link to Literacy	58	(2)
Speaking of and in Multilingual Classrooms	60	(2)
Vocabulary Words---and the Ideas That Go With Them	62	(4)
Comprehension and Metacognition	66	(4)
Sample Activities for Teacher Learning	70	(6)
Resources	76	(5)
Sounds, Letters, and Words: How Print Works	81	(38)
Facts About Sounds and Spoken Words	83	(9)
Penetrating Words---Phonemic Awareness	92	(6)
Corresponding with Letters---Phonics	98	(3)
Fast, Easy, Complete Reading---Fluency	101	(3)
Sample Activities for Teacher Learning	104	(10)
Resources	114	(5)
Moving to Success: Motivating Children to Read	119	(28)
Grown-ups Have Fickle Motivations	119	(1)
Impressions of Children's Motivations	120	(3)
Concepts Essential to Motivating Children	123	(3)
Good Reading Instruction Raises the Bar for Motivating Students	126	(1)
The Matter of Materials to Motivate Reading	127	(2)
Can the Routine Aspects of Reading Be Interesting?	129	(1)
Writing Motivates Reading	129	(2)
Teaching Directly About Motivation to Read	131	(1)
Enlisting Families to Motivate Readers	132	(1)
Culture and Motivation	133	(1)
Sample Activities for Teacher Learning	134	(8)
Resources	142	(5)
Anticipating Challenges: Assessment, Prevention, and Intervention	147	(28)
Prepared to Know When to Intervene	148	(3)
Prepared to Assess All Aspects of Skilled Reading	151	(2)
Prepared to Provide Interventions	153	(2)
Instructional Groupings in Interventions	155	(1)
Computers in Interventions	155	(2)
Professional Development and Assessment	157	(3)
Sample Activities for Teacher Learning	160	(7)
Resources	167	(8)
About the Authors	175	(2)
Index	177	(6)
Credits	183