Publications

This resource guide provides information on how teachers from preschool through high school can use personal, family, and community stories to:

• Bring students' narrative voice into the classroom
• Enrich teaching and learning by tapping into students' knowledge, lives, families, culture, and community
• Engage and motivate students to write
• Reinforce reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking connections and competencies

This guide is divided into two main parts: a literature review and practitioner examples. The research and literature reviewed explore the topics of writing instruction and the importance of personal, family, and community stories. The practitioner examples describe projects teachers have implemented that use personal, family, and community stories. The examples draw on the insights and practices of teachers to show how schools in the messy, real world of the classroom are creating innovative and effective strategies to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse student population.

Tapestry of Tales cover
Author: Amy Stuczynski, Joyce Riha Linik, Rebecca Novick, Jean Spraker, Patti Tucci, Debbie Ellis
Available formats:
Book: Order online
On the Web: Tapestry of Tales Web site

The purpose of this guide is to inform educators about the research on early adolescence and the implications of this research for adolescent literacy development in the middle years. Modification of instructional strategies and types of instructional organization in middle level classrooms will be explored through the research review and effective practice as demonstrated in northwest region classrooms.

A primary focus of this guide is to assist educators to re-examine their notions of. what it means to be a literate person and what might be effective paths to achieving full literacy for all students. Reflecting on classroom practice helps to develop insights into the reasons behind our actions. New understandings emerge that lead to conscious choices about the beliefs that govern literacy practice. Inquiry into educational practice can change our world view and allow us to "see schools and students through new eyes" (Buchanan, 1994).

The guide is organized according to the following topics:

• Ways of thinking about learning
• Learning themes as frameworks for teaching and learning
• Adolescent development
• Literacy research
• Cconnecting learning principles to literacy instruction

The first two topics are examined in Chapter 1: New Learning for a New Millenium. This section provides an overview of the theory and research that supports current thinking about how individuals learn about themselves, the world and the complex interactions that make us who we are.

Chapter II: The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: Early Adolescence in the 21st Century connects us to the world of adolescence as we explore not only what researchers say about being an adolescent in the 21st century but what adolescents tell us about their world.

In Chapter III: Becoming Literate: Reading and Language Processes reviews the research on reading particularly as it relates to middle school literacy growth.

Chapter IV: Adolescence, Literacy, and Learning draws together what we know about learning and literacy to explore classroom options for creating optimal literacy learning in middle school classrooms.

Conclusion: Things Worth Pondering explores possibilities for improving literacy learning.

Inquiring Minds: Learning and Literacy in Early Adolescence
Author: Maureen Carr
Available formats:
Book (240 pp): Order online
PDF: Cover and Title Pages | Table of Contents | Introduction | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Summary | References | Appendix I | Appendix II

In education, no skill is as fundamental as reading. Children who read well in the early grades enjoy more success in their later years of schooling than those who struggle to make sense of the printed page. Those who don't become proficient readers are more likely than their classmates to drop out before completing high school.

The No Child Left Behind Act leaves no doubt about the importance of effective reading instruction, setting a national goal for every child to become a proficient reader by the third grade. With 70 percent of fourth-graders from low-income families currently unable to read at even a basic level, teachers face a daunting challenge.

"Teachers are well aware that success or failure in learning to read does not begin in kindergarten," says Novick. Children come to school with "widely differing literacy histories and experiences." The comprehensive program she advocates in Many Paths to Literacy adds to those rich and varied experiences, helping children build bridges from home to school, from oral language to written language, from letter decoding to reading comprehension.

Although her insights are grounded in scientifically based research, Novick also draws on the insights, strategies, and classroom examples of effective teachers. The result is a practical, accessible resource for preschool and elementary teachers and others who care about how children become competent at integrating the activities of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

Novick opens with a developmental look at literacy. "Long before children are able to match print with sound," she explains, "they are using language to persuade, reason, reflect, imagine, respond, analyze, observe, compare, infer, empathize, share experiences and ideas, solve problems, and for the sheer joy of playing with words."

Children learn to use language in a social context-using words to communicate with parents and other caregivers. Their home language environments differ widely, however, with some children experiencing what Novick calls "a language-impoverished environment." The typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000 or more hours spent reading with an adult-compared with only 25 hours for a child from a low-income family, she reports.

Drawing on research about "well-read-to" children, Novick explains the importance of engaging young learners in positive experiences with reading. "Reading and being read to at school and at home are the best ways for children to catch up with their peers in vocabulary, concept development, and content knowledge," she concludes.

Many Paths to Literacy provides guidance on selecting children's books and specific strategies to build comprehension along the developmental path from emergent literacy to independent reading. Vignettes from real classrooms--many serving children from culturally diverse families-show how teachers put these strategies to use.

Although increasing children's literacy skills is a serious national issue, the effective primary classroom remains a place where child's play is welcome and appropriate. Silly songs and nursery rhymes, word games and riddles, make-believe and dress-up are all part of the "work" of learning about language. These activities are far from frivolous, Novick points out. "Rather, they help children develop phonemic awareness (the ability to hear and manipulate the separate sounds in words), which plays a key role in phonics knowledge (understanding that letters stand for the sounds in spoken words)."

Similarly, Novick makes a strong case for attending to children's emotional and aesthetic literacy, or what she calls "learning to read the heart." Reading offers a powerful way to connect children's emotions and background experiences with text, thereby engaging young readers and integrating higher-level comprehension skills.

Many Paths to Literacy
Author: Rebecca Novick, Ph.D.
Available formats:
Book (240 pp): Order online
PDF: Table of Contents
PDF: Selected chapter: Storytelling, Story Acting, and Writing: Essential Language Experience for All Children
PDF: Selected chapter: Nurturing Emotional and Aesthetic Literacy: Learning to Read the Heart

Another new publication from the Language and Literacy team, this guidebook draws on both research and classroom practice to steer educators toward effective uses of technology to advance literacy. It explores some of the many possibilities these new resources offer for education, and describes how this broad assortment of tools can be used in meaningful ways with students through the early elementary years. It provides practical information on using the many tools of technology to support literacy and language development.

The guidebook has sections on:

• Understanding technology's role in literacy
• Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners
• Selecting Software; Tools and Applications; Working with Words; Student Publishing; Working with Images; Using Audio/Video Recorders; Making Connections

This book takes an indepth look at the beliefs and practices of four schools that have created a collaborative learning community based on caring and support, high expectations (with the resources to meet them), and multiple opportunities for meaningful participation. Interviews with teachers, parents, and students, document study, and classroom observations have been used to gather information on the challenges faced and successes achieved by the preschool and elementary schools described here.

Sharing the wisdom of practice: schools that optimize literacy learning for all children
Author(s): Novick, Rebecca & Fisher, Amy
Available format: Book (113 pp): Order online
PDF: Table of Contents
PDF: Selected chapter: Integrating Students' Culture and Language Into the Curriculum: Unpacking the Canoe at Tulalip Elementary School