Classrooms That Work

Patricia M. Cunningham is a Professor of Education at Wake Forest University. She has over 30 years of experience, taught in various elementary grades and remedial reading, and was a curriculum coordinator and director of reading. Her major professional goal is promoting literacy for all children and currently engages in staff development across the United States.  Richard L. Allington is a Professor of Education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is past president of the International Reading Association and the National Reading Conference, co-recipient of the Albert J. Harris Award, and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame. Dick has extensively researched effective teaching and how schools can develop effective, expert teachers.

• Chapter 1 Creating Classrooms That WorkObserving in the Classrooms of Unusually Effective Teachers 3Observing in the Most Successful Schools 7What We Know About Effective Classrooms 9Common Core Raises the Bar 11Creating Your Classroom That Works in the Common Core Era 12  Chapter 2 Creating Independent ReadersAssess and Document Your Students’Independent Reading 14Make a Teacher Read-Aloud an Everyday Event 14Schedule Time Every Day for Independent Reading 20Accumulate the Widest Possible Variety of Reading Materials 21Schedule Conferences So You Can Talk with Your StudentsAbout Their Reading 22Make Time for Sharing and Responding 24Summary 26  Chapter 3 Building the Literacy FoundationConcepts That Form the Foundation for Literacy 30Activities for Building the Foundation 33Summary 44  Chapter 4 FluencyMandate Easy Reading for Everyone 47Model Fluent, Expressive Reading 49Provide Engaging Rereading Opportunities 51Use a Word Wall to Teach High-Frequency Words 53Summary 57  Chapter 5 Teaching Phonics and Spelling PatternsGuess the Covered Word 61Using Words You Know 64Making Words 67The Nifty-Thrifty-Fifty 76Summary 80  Chapter 6 Meaning VocabularyHow Do We Learn All the Words We Know? 84Teach Vocabulary with “Real Things” 86Talking Partners 88Maximize Word Learning from Reading 90Teach Independent Word Learning Strategies 96Promote Word Wonder 99Summary 100  Chapter 7 ComprehensionComprehension Strategies 103Think-Alouds to Teach Comprehension Strategies 104Lesson Frameworks for Comprehending Narrative Text 109Summary 118  Chapter 8 Reading Informational TextLesson Frameworks for Close Reading and Making Inferences 122Summary 148  Chapter 9 WritingWriter’s Workshop 152Adding Editing to Writer’s Workshop 155Adding Conferencing, Publishing, and Author’s Chair to Writer’s Workshop 159Adding Revising to Writer’s Workshop 163Focused Writing 170Summary 175  Chapter 10 Reading and Writing Across the CurriculumReading-Writing Connections 178Main Idea Trees 178Time Lines 180Compare/Contrast Bubbles 181Think-Writes 183Summary 191  Chapter 11 AssessmentWhat Is Assessment? 193Determining Student Reading Level 193Identifying Good Literacy Behaviors and Documenting Student Progress 196Summary 203  Chapter 12 Differentiation and Interventions for Struggling ReadersTargeted Tier 2 Interventions for Struggling Readers 209Summary 226  References 227Index 229