Best Practices in Literacy Instruction

by Lesley Mandel Morrow (editor), Ernest Morrell (Editor), Heather Kenyon Casey (Editor)

This authoritative text and PreK–12 teacher resource is now in a substantially revised seventh edition with 80% new material, foregrounding advances in inclusive, equitable instruction. Teachers are guided through every major component of reading, as well as assessment, motivation, teaching bilingual learners, strengthening connections with families and communities, and more. The book presents principles and strategies for teaching literature and nonfiction texts, organizing and differentiating instruction, supporting struggling readers, and promoting digital literacy. Pedagogical features include chapter-opening bulleted previews of key points; reviews of the research evidence; recommendations for best practices in action, with examples from exemplary classrooms; and end-of-chapter engagement activities.
 
New to This Edition
*Chapter on culturally responsive teaching, plus more attention to social justice and equity throughout. 
*Chapter on supporting students in the “invisible middle.”
*Important new focus on social and emotional learning (SEL).
*All chapters thoroughly revised or rewritten to reflect current research, theory, and instructional practices. 
 

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Grad School, College, Teaching

496 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2003

Reviews

[Wesley Lebakken · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative, boring. i found nuggets of helpful information buried in the endless, dragging prose, which made it worth it. plenty to chew on, and even more to forget lol

(i promise i’m not that cynical in my classroom!)

[Liz Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some very good chapters in here, mostly the ones dealing with adolescent education. Where it falls down for me is that it lacks a critical edge and discounts writing for much of the time. The chapter on writing uses as an example a teacher who has to push writing into the curriculum but it doesn't question the reason for this: the rise of high stakes testing and the Common Core State Standards. In my mind best practices involves critical thinking skills and questioning the big issues of the day. I have a feeling that'll be in there somewhere but when the editors choose to start out the book with a chapter in which RTTT and CCSS are introduced in a 'neutral' way they are taking the side of the corporate reformers behind both of these measures. There is no neutral in education. You either support and maintain the status quo or you question the power structures that keep so many children and families down.

[Valerie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for grad school. It contains a lot of quality, research-based instructional strategies, but it felt like a bit of a hodge podge due to having different people write each chapter. I felt like this factor was especially unhelpful when there was one chapter on comprehension of narrative text and another from different researchers on comprehension of informational text. Rather than one author being able to compare and synthesize the strategies of comprehension in two different contexts, the two chapters felt very isolated from each other and were often repetitive. Also, the various authors sometimes took differing stances on the CCSS and its impact/implications for teachers. All of this led to a slightly jarring reading experience. This book would definitely be better for referencing specific chapters in isolation.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Updated 6th edition. Fine for what it is.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I understand that social justice is an important part of education, and as a teacher, I too try to fight for educational equity, this book took it a little far. OFTEN I felt like I wasn’t reading a book about literacy instruction but rather a book about Ed equity. There’s a whole chapter about how horrible Trump is. Whether or not you like the man is beside the point; it didn’t need to be included in a book about literacy instruction best practices. There were some gold nuggets and some good research. I did learn some best practices to apply to my classroom, but there was also extraneous social justice included.

[Shannon McLeod]

Each chapter is by (a) different researcher(s), and they’re kind of hit or miss. A solid overview of literacy practices for new educators, K-12. Good reminders of important practices for teaching students reading strategies within any subject area.

[Carol]

Had to read for my MA. It ended up being really useful.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my texts for my masters reading course. Each chapter talks about best practices in a different aspect of literacy. The authors are very much anti-high stakes testing. Instead, the advocate student-centered approaches like writing workshop. This update has some information about Common Core in it.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a grad class.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required reading for the graduate course I am teaching.