Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students

With its inclusive view of literacy, Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students emphasizes methods that have been validated by research and practice, while delivering the basics of all major aspects of reading and writing.  The Sixth Edition of Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students continues to be one of the most comprehensive, practical texts on the market, and includes a new focus on higher-level literacy practices. Written by distinguished author Tom Gunning, Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students provides readers with step-by-step guidance for teaching reading and writing, including sample lessons for virtually every major literacy skill/strategy. Reflecting the author’s ongoing extensive hands-on work with schools coping with the demands of No Child Left Behind, the Sixth edition includes teaching tips and materials that are more practical, more realistic, more effective, and more extensive than ever.

A Letter To Students, From the Author

Avon, Connecticut

March 14, 2007

Dear Student:

Although I receive royalties from the sales of Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students (Sixth Edition), my main reason for writing the text and continuously revising it is to improve the quality of literacy instruction for students in grades pre-k through grade 8. I believe that the best way to do that is to provide for pre-service and in-service teachers a text that explains effective ways to assess and instruct students. As times change and I acquire new knowledge and insights, I add to and revise the suggestions that I make.

In preparation for the revision of this last edition, I worked three days a week for a year in an urban school as a hands-on consultant. I also visited a number of schools, talked with lots of teachers, and worked with groups of students in a variety of settings. These direct experiences were very enlightening. One of my chief discoveries was the power of a well-planned, carefully executed intervention program that includes screening and continuous monitoring of progress. I’ve described this plan in the latest edition of Creating Literacy Instruction.  While implementing the intervention program, I also discovered better ways to teach phonics, especially clusters (blends) as in stop and stamp, which are troublesome for many novice readers. And I devised a way of leveling beginning reading materials based on the phonics elements needed to read them. Using this leveling systems makes it possible to identify children’s books that reinforce the phonic elements that novice readers have been taught. 

          A second key discovery was the importance of fostering higher-level reading and responding skills. To meet the demands of No Child Left Behind, many schools are focusing on decoding skills and literal comprehension.  Unfortunately, this has led to a neglect of vocabulary development and higher-level literacy skills, which are key elements in developing the kinds of skills needed in today’s society and which are assessed in the upper grades by today’s high-stakes tests. To emphasize the importance of higher-level literacy skills, a new feature entitled “Building Higher-Level Literacy,” appears at the end of each chapter.

            Recognizing the reality of the requirements of No Child Left Behind and high-stakes tests, I have included suggestions for preparing students to cope with demanding tests. Using lookbacks, supporting responses, and other key comprehension and test-taking skills are featured. Also emphasized is the importance of going beyond teaching students how to respond to challenging texts in discussions to also teaching them how to respond in writing, since that is how they will be assessed.

            Quickwrites, Macro-Cloze, Story Impressions, Think-Pair-Share, and a number of other intriguing teaching techniques have been added to the latest edition of Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students. Throughout the text, changes, large and small, have been made that I believe will enhance your knowledge of literacy and your ability as a teacher to build the literacy of the students that you teach. While I realize that the purchase of the text might mean a financial sacrifice, it should help make you a better teacher of literacy and your students’ better readers and writers. Although the text is costly, potential benefits are priceless.

Sincerely,

Thomas G. Gunning, Ed. D, Author

Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students