Reading Groups

Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles

Harvey Daniels' Literature Circles introduced tens of thousands of teachers to the power of student-led book discussions. Nancy Steineke's Reading and Writing Together showed how a teacher can nurture friendship and collaboration among young readers. Now, Daniels and Steineke team up to focus on one crucial element of the Literature Circle model; the short, teacher-directed lessons that begin, guide and follow-up every successful book club meeting.

Mini-lessons are the secret to book clubs that click. Each of these forty-five short, focused, and practical lessons includes Nancy and Harvey's actual classroom language and is formatted to help busy teachers with point-by-point answers to the questions they most frequently ask.

• steer my students toward deeper comprehension?
• get kids interested in each others' ideas?
• make sure kids choose just-right books?
• help students schedule their reading and meeting time?
• deal with kids who don't do the reading?
• get kids to pay more attention to literary style and structure?
• help special education and ELL students to participate actively in book clubs?
• get kids to expand their repertoire of reading strategies?
• make sure groups are on-task when I'm not looking over their shoulder?
• introduce writing tools (including role sheets) that support student discussion?.
• help shy or dominating members get the right amount of "airtime?"
• give grades for book clubs without ruining the fun?
• use scientific research to justify the classroom time I spend on literature circles?

Each mini-lesson spells out everything from the time and materials needed to word-by-word instructions for students. The authors even warn "what could go wrong," helping teachers to avoid predictable management problems. With abundant student examples, reproducible forms, photographs of kids in action, and recommended reading lists, Mini-lessons for Literature Circles helps you deepen student book discussions, create lifelong readers, and build a respectful classroom community.

The Art of Teaching Reading

Written in Calkins' graceful and passionate style, The Art of Teaching Reading serves as an eloquent and desperately needed reminder of what matters most in teaching.

• Incredibly valuable resource for current and future teachers and educators.
• Offers a wealth of practical classroom examples to demonstrate principles and methods in practice.
• "I can think of no one in New York City who is more trusted by school people than Lucy," - Judith Rizzo, Deputy Chancellor for Instruction, New York City Board of Education.

Lucy Calkins is a Professor of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University, and an acclaimed speaker, with frequent keynote addresses at conferences across the country. She is also the author (or co-author) of numerous books, including the best-selling sister volume, The Art of Teaching Writing (Heinemann), Raising Lifelong Learners: A Parents' Guide (Perseus Books), and A Teacher's Guide to Standardized Reading Tests: Knowledge is Power (Heinemann).

Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs & Reading Groups

The Reading Group: A Novel (P.S.)

The Reading Group follows the trials and tribulations of a group of women who meet regularly to read and discuss books.Over the course of a year, each of these women become intertwined, both in the books they read and within each other's lives.

Inspired by a shared desire for conversation, a good book and a glass of wine-Clare, Harriet, Nicole, Polly, and Susan undergo startling revelations and transformations despite their differences in background, age and respective dilemmas.

What starts as a reading group gradually evolves into a forum where the women may express their views through the books they read and grow to become increasingly more open as the bonds of friendship cement.

In The Reading Group, Noble reveals the many complicated paths in life we all face as well as the power and importance of friendship.

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The Reading Group follows the trials and tribulations of a group of women who meet regularly to read and discuss books.Over the course of a year, each of these women become intertwined, both in the books they read and within each other's lives.

Inspired by a shared desire for conversation, a good book and a glass of wine-Clare, Harriet, Nicole, Polly, and Susan undergo startling revelations and transformations despite their differences in background, age and respective dilemmas.

What starts as a reading group gradually evolves into a forum where the women may express their views through the books they read and grow to become increasingly more open as the bonds of friendship cement.

In The Reading Group, Noble reveals the many complicated paths in life we all face as well as the power and importance of friendship.

Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for Beginning and Struggling Readers

As many schools are adapting to an ever-increasing broad range of learners, it becomes more important than ever to develop instruction to respond to these academically diverse students. Without differentiated reading instruction, some children will fall further behind while others will be left unchallenged. In Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for Beginning and Struggling Readers, author Beverly Tyner presents the Small-Group Differentiated Reading Model, an explicit classroom-tested and research-based model that provides effective reading instruction by combining guided reading and word study in small groups, allowing you to address the needs of beginning and struggling readers in a regular classroom setting. The following aspects support the success of the Small-Group Differentiated Reading Model: -Every group of students is given quality reading instruction and tasks that are worthwhile, valuable, and matched to students’ instructional level. -Assessment is ongoing and directly linked to instruction. -Components of the model work interactively, building on and supporting one another. The chapters present easy-to-implement lesson plans and activities to support the five stages of reading—emergent, beginning, fledgling, transitional, and independent—and the appendixes offer instructions on using the Early Reading Screening Instrument, word study materials, and word scramble and writing activities. Although intended primarily for primary-grade teachers, Small-Group Reading Instruction also will interest teachers of struggling readers in grades K–5 and those in charge of reading intervention programs. The book will provide you with teaching strategies and materials to determine and address your students' literacy education needs.

Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for Intermediate Readers, Grades 3-8

This book presents a powerful small-group differentiated teaching model for leading intermediate students through the evolving reader, maturing reader, and advanced reader developmental stages. Using these effective, research-based teaching stategies, teachers can support growth in fluency, word study, and comprehension as students make critical practices for working with, managing, and assessing smalll groups, which result in better instruction for all students.

Moving Forward With Literature Circles: How to Plan, Manage, and Evaluate Literature Circles to Deepen Understanding and Foster a Love of Reading (Theory and practice)

Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom

The Readers' Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites

Here are two hundred reader-tested answers to the question "What have you read that's good?"  The Readers' Choice is the first book to feature titles based on the recommendations of numerous book clubs.  Victoria McMains has collected two hundred favorites of more than seventy reading groups nationwide, ideal for book group members looking for a "good read," busy people seeking enjoyable books outside the bestseller lists, or anyone who wants to read more but isn't sure where to start.

Combining her skills as a book reveiwer and a veteran book group member, McMains provides brief, captivating profiles of a diverse mix of fiction and nonfiction.  There are love stories and war stories, fantasy and political intrigue, biography and nature-and much more.  Each profile highlights the unique traits of the book and ends with a few questions for group favorites as well as little-known gems that have been discovered and treasured.  Indexes organize the entries by title and subject matter, helping readers find books that appeal to their interest. For anyone wanting to learn the easy essentials of starting a book club, check out McMains's introduction.

Let The Readers Guide help you make the most of the precious time you spend reading?

 

The Guided Reading Classroom: How to Keep ALL Students Working Constructively

The Guided Reading Classroom is a different kind of book on guided reading. It takes a bird's eye view of your literacy teaching, offering commonsense, useable answers to that persistent instructional question: What do you do with the rest of the class while you're leading a small group?