Common Core State Standards in Literacy Series – serie

Vocabulary forms a relentless divide between children who succeed and those who do not. This divide is often between poor children and their privileged counterparts. Without vocabulary knowledge, children cannot interpret text meaningfully or respond in ways that enable them to fully participate in classroom discussions. All About Words is a practical guide designed to help early childhood teachers take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the Common Core State Standards. It offers strategies for planning and presenting vocabulary instruction and for monitoring children's word learning progress, along with helpful appendices that provide specific guidance on which words to teach. Each chapter includes ideas to support home-school connections, recognising the important role parents play in children's vocabulary development. Throughout, the authors encourage readers to examine day-to-day classroom issues, making it an ideal resource for professional development.

Unlike any other work in the field of literacy education, this book offers readers a unique and progressive approach for preparing prospective and inservice teachers, and graduate students, to effectively teach the literacy skills to K-12 students that are needed for eventual college and career success. The book is not a traditional text on professional development that focuses on, “this is what teachers need to know and be able to do as literacy teachers.” Rather, the book’s focus is on engaging teachers, as adult learners, in professional learning that is collaborative, substantive, situated, dynamic, intense, and personal. These six themes are woven throughout the book, and are exemplified through real-life scenarios that follow elementary and secondary teachers from the Blue Falls School District as they explore and expand their own professional learning about effective literacy instruction, based on student assessment, teacher reflection, and problem solving. The reader is provided with useful tools for creating literacy teams, needs assessments, reflective book study groups, effective coaching practices, and more.