Teaching Language and Literacy ─ Preschool Through the Elementary Grades

Christie (social and family dynamics, Arizona State U.), Enz, Vukelich, and Roskos show teachers how to facilitate the reading, writing, speaking, and listening development of students in pre-kindergarten through grade five. Their approach blends constructivism and science-based instruction, respect for diversity, instruction-based assessment, and family involvement in literacy learning. They describe the constructivist/emergent literacy and scientifically based reading research perspectives; oral language development; providing opportunities for reciprocal conversation and discussion, contexts for language uses, and language-centered activities; and strategies for teaching and assessing language and literacy at the early and later elementary levels using functional literacy activities, sharing literature, literacy play, shared writing, developmentally appropriate instruction for core early reading skills and strategies (including writing workshops, interactive writing, and publication), decoding and word analysis, basic comprehension skills, advanced reading skills, linking assessment to content-area skills, individual growth in self-assessment, handwriting, spelling, capitalization and punctuation, and grammar. This edition has a new section on vocabulary instruction for young children; ways to support the Common Core Standards; revised chapters on elementary reading; new illustrations of applying teaching strategies to specific situations and dealing with practical problems; and more examples and activities. It omits strategies for grade six and adds more for grades one through five, as well as more on promoting oral language in these grades. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

James Christie is a professor of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University, where he teaches courses in Family and Human Development. His research interests include early literacy development and children's play. Dr. Christie has co-authored Helping Young Children Learn Language and Literacy, 3rd ed. (2008) and Play, Development, and Early Education (2005). He has served as co-director of Early Reading First projects in San Luis and Somerton, AZ; Bullhead City, AZ; and Gallup, NM.

Billie Jean Enz is an emeritus professor of early childhood education at Arizona State University, where she taught and served as an administrator for 25 years. She has co-authored several texts on mentorship and new teacher development and is the founder of the Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) program. Her research interests include language and literacy development and family literacy. Dr. Enz has co-authored Helping Young Children Learn Language and Literacy, 4^th ed. (2011) and Assessing Preschool Literacy Development (International Reading Association, 2009). She also served as the founding executive director for Educare Arizona.

Carol Vukelich is the L. Sandra and Bruce L. Hammonds Professor in Teacher Education, Director of the Delaware Center for Teacher Education, and Deputy Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware. Her research and teaching interests include children’s early literacy development and teachers’ professional development, specifically coaching strategies. Dr. Vukelich has served as President of the Association for Childhood Education International and the International Reading Association’s Literacy Development in Young Children Special Interest Group. She was a founder of the Delaware Writing Project, and serves as one of its co-directors. In addition to this book, other books by Dr. Vukelich include Helping Young Children Learn Language and Literacy, 3rd ed. (2012); Building a Foundation for Preschool Literacy: Effective Instruction for Children’s Reading and Writing Development, 2nd ed., (2009); and Achieving EXCELLENCE in Preschool Literacy Instruction (edited with Laura M. Justice, 2008). She has served as a co-director of three Early Reading First projects.

Kathleen Roskos is a professor of educationat John Carroll University, where she teaches courses in reading assessment and instruction. Formerly an elementary classroom teacher, Dr. Roskos has served in a variety of educational roles, including director of federal programs in the public schools, department chair in higher education and Director of the Ohio Literacy Initiative at the Ohio Department of Education from 2000-2002. She has developed and coordinated numerous educational grants, most recently Early Reading First projects in Lorain, OH and Akron, OH. Dr. Roskos studies early literacy development, teacher learning and reading curriculum, and has published articles, chapters and books on these topics. Her current research examines the use of ebooks in early childhood literacy education. She was one of the lead writers of the 2010 Educator Professional Standards of the International Reading Association. Other recent books by Dr. Roskos include The Early Literacy Materials Selector (co-authored with Lisa Lenhart and Brandi Noll), Nurturing Knowledge (co-authored with Susan B. Neuman), and Designing Professional Development in Literacy (co-authored with Catherine Rosemary and Leslie Landreth).