Content Area Literacy Instruction for the Elementary Grades

A welcome addition to the content area reading market, this much-needed text helps teachers find ways to show elementary school children the classroom value of what they learn outside of school. Using a social constructionist framework, this prestigious author team includes strategies that the National Reading Panel deemed useful in promoting comprehension, becoming the first and only text that calls attention to evidence-based research and its implications for instruction. Innovative in its 3 R's framework―Remembering―Reflecting―Reconsidering―it will help readers make connections and improve comprehension.

A welcome addition to the content area reading market, this much-needed text helps teachers find ways to show elementary school children the classroom value of what they learn outside of school. Using a social constructionist framework, this prestigious author team includes strategies that the National Reading Panel deemed useful in promoting comprehension, becoming the first and only text that calls attention to evidence-based research and its implications for instruction. Innovative in its 3 R's framework―Remembering―Reflecting―Reconsidering―it will help readers make connections and improve comprehension.

Unique features that you will find in this new text:

• A full chapter on diversity (Ch. 7).
• “English Language Arts Standards” textboxes are found in each chapter, and “English Language Arts Standards” and “Reading Professionals Standards Matrices” are found in Appendix C to help students understand how standards are addressed in the text.
• “Evidence-based Research” icons in found throughout every chapter.
• A wealth of sample lessons about how to integrate literacy into different grade-level content lessons are found throughout the text.
• “Try-It” exercises in every chapter illustrate main points and engage readers in participating in their own learning.
• Every chapter is embedded with boxed material highlighting key information on struggling Readers, English language learners, activities aligned to standards, and technology links to show students how to adapt their instruction.

“Extremely well done! ...(Chapter four) inspires readers and offers hope that there can be success in helping students of all abilities acquire skill with content area reading. ”
(Lee A. Dubert, Boise State University)

“The text is highly readable. The authors speak directly to the reader in a collegial voice. Ideas are presented clearly and illustrated with examples that will appeal to both novice and veteran teachers. ”
(Lois E. Huffman, North Carolina State University)

Author Bios

Donna E. Alvermann is a professor of reading education at the University of Georgia and former classroom teacher in Texas and New York. She co-directed the National Reading Research Center (1992-1997) and currently edits Reading Research Quarterly. Her co-authored books include Content Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today's Diverse Classrooms (3rd ed., Allyn & Bacon, 2002) and Popular Culture in the Classroom: Teaching and Researching Critical Media Literacy (International Reading Association, 1999).

Jeanne Swafford is an associate professor of literacy education at Mississippi State University and a former kindergarten, special education, and Title I reading teacher in Tennessee and Ohio. She has published on content area literacy in The National Reading Conference Yearbook, Content Area Reading Journal, and Journal of Reading. She presents regularly at international and national reading and education conferences. Her passions include spending time with elementary school students and teachers and reading children's literature.

M. Kristina Montero is a Ph.D. Candidate at The University of Georgia and former English as a Second Language and French as a Second Language teacher in Ontario and Québec, Canada. She was the Reading Clinic Assistant at Northern Illinois University and the Editorial Assistant for the Journal of Literacy Research at the University of Georgia. Kristina has worked extensively in the preparation of pre-service teachers, both in the classroom and field experiences, during her graduate studies.