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Teaching Literacy

Engaging the Imagination of New Readers and Writers

By: Kieran Egan

Bring out the "fun" in fundamentals of literacy!

Award-winning author Kieran Egan puts the "fun" into fundamentals of literacy by demonstrating both the necessity and joy of stimulating students' imagination and emotions in their learning. This rich and innovative guide offers a vast array of memorable teaching practices to help beginning readers and writers internalize, comprehend, and retain the roots of oral language and literacy. Key features include:

Tried-and-true activities from classroom teachers
"Teachers, Try It Out" features with instructional challenges (and an appendix of possible responses) for everyday classroom practice
Step-by-step planning frameworks for designing and delivering engaging literacy instruction

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781412927888
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2006
Page Count: 176
Publication date: April 05, 2006

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Author(s) Table of Contents Reviews

Description

"A fascinating piece of writing, presenting ideas that are fresh and exciting."
-Katherine Taddie Kelly, Literacy Coach and Reading Interventionist
Waco Independent School District, TX

"Focuses on enhancing students' metalinguistic awareness and not just their intuitive use of words, fostering the development of higher mental functions."
-Elena Bodrova, Senior Researcher
McREL

Bring out the fun in fundamentals of literacy!

For teachers charged with the great responsibility of helping students achieve basic literacy, delivering instruction in stimulating and engaging ways is not an ideal-it's a necessity. Recognizing this, award-winning author and educator Kieran Egan puts the fun in fundamentals of literacy by helping teachers stir students' imagination and emotions.

In Teaching Literacy, Egan rejects the notion that familiar ideas and experiences are the best vehicles for effective instruction. Instead, he champions a new approach that focuses on teaching core literacy skills using concepts ranging from fascinating to exotic to magnificent to weird. By framing the elements of literacy in the unforgettable, students more readily internalize and retain material, not only preparing themfor tests, but alsoinstilling alifelong love of reading and writing.

This innovative resource supplies answers to the question, "But how do I do it?" by offering:

Tried-and-true activities from practicing classroom teachers
"Teachers, Try It Out" features with instructional challenges (and an appendix of possible responses) for everyday classroom practice
Step-by-step planning frameworks for designing and delivering engaging literacy instruction

Combining playfulness with practicality and creativity with common sense, Egan's strategies apply to beginning readers at any age, bringing about authentic, enjoyable learning experiences.

Key features

Practical and entertaining instruction to engage students in literacy learning using stories, jokes, metaphors, heroes, extremes, graphic organizers, and more
Includes start-to-finish planning frameworks, and application of the frameworks to specific lessons on commas and homonym use
Appendix offers chapter-by-chapter literacy activities for everyday classroom practice
Instructional strategies apply to all new literacy learners--both children and nonliterate adults

Author(s)

Kieran Egan

Kieran Egan is Professor of Education at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, as well as founder and director of the Imaginative Education Research Group (www.ierg.net). He has authored and edited over twenty books, many of which have been translated into European and Asian languages. In 1991, he won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Education for his book, Primary Understanding: Education in Early Childhood.

Born in Clonmel, Ireland, Kieran Egan was raised and educated in England. He graduated from London University with a B.A. in History, and from Cornell University with a Ph.D. in Education. In 1993, he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada. He is a foreign associate member of the National Academy of Education and holds a Canada Research Chair in Education.

Preface

Two Sources of This Approach

Cognitive Tools in Everyday Teaching Practice

Literacy Learners, Young and Old(er)

The Cognitive Tool Kits of Language and Literacy

Planning Frameworks Using Cognitive Tools

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Part I: The Cognitive Toolkit of Oral Language

1. Using the Story Form: Meeting Objectives by Engaging Feelings

Stories and Feelings

Stories in the Classroom

Inventing Comic Characters

Personifying Elements of Language

Creating a Literacy Adventure

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

2. Images We Care About: Too, Two, and To

Images Aid Memory and Understanding

Tying Concepts to Images

From Images to Letter Representation

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

3. Binary Opposites: Goldilocks and Civil War

Using Opposites to Expand Upon Understanding

Mediating Binary Opposites

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

4. Literal and Metaphoric Talk: “Like a Spring-Woken Tree”

Recognizing and Reflecting on Language

Similes

Metaphors

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

5. Jokes: Drawing the Drapes

Joking and “Seeing” Language

Humor in Amelia Bedelia

Reading Puzzles

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

6. Rhyme and Rhythm: Mickey Mouse’s Underwear

Echo Rhymes

Rhyme and Rhythm: Ring, Rang, Rung

Nursery Rhymes

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

7. Living Knowledge: Barbie and The Matrix

Embedding Knowledge in Students’ Lifeworlds

Children's Lifeworlds

Conclusion to Part I

Part II: The Cognitive Tool Kit of Literacy

8. Extremes: The Queueing Subbookkeeper

The Strange, Exotic, Different, and Wonderful

Fascinating Reality

Metalinguistic Awareness

Exploring Extremes

Wonder in the Classroom

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

9. Everyday Heroes: Spiderman and the Comma

Heroizing Literacy Tasks

Heroes in the Classroom

Heroic Experiences

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

10. Human Contexts: John Montagu, The Earl of Sandwich

Knowledge in a Meaningful Context

Linking Language With Purpose

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

11. Collections and Hobbies: Alphabets and Beanie Babies

Collecting Letters and Words

Literacy as a Hobby

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

12. Graphic Organizers: Lists and Flowcharts

From the Ear to the Eye

Visual Tools

Teachers, Try It Out

Final Words

Conclusion to Part II

Part III: Planning Frameworks

13. Framework 1

Mythic Planning Framework

Example: A Lesson on Homonyms

14. Framework 2

The Romantic Planning Framework

Example: A Lesson on the Comma

The Frameworks and You

Conclusion

Appendix: Responses to the "Teachers, Try It Out" Questions by Gillian C. Judson

References

Index

Reviews

"A fascinating piece of writing, presenting ideas that are fresh and exciting."

Katherine (Taddie) Kelly, Literacy Coach and Reading Interventionist
Waco Independent School District, TX

"Focuses on enhancing students' metalinguistic awareness and not just their intuitive use of words, fostering the development of higher mental functions."

Elena Bodrova, Senior Researcher, McREL
Senior Researcher, McREL

"A fun, revealing guide acknowledging that an atmosphere of fun, familiar ideas and experiences promote effective instruction. Offers a new approach designed to present classroom teachers with intriguing, different activities. Chapters offer challenges for student and teacher alike and encourage lessons which are refreshingly different."

The Midwest Book Review, August 2006

Other Titles in: Teaching Methods & Learning Styles | Elementary Teaching Methods | Literacy, K-12

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