Cultivating Adolescent Literacy: Standards, Strategies, and Performance Tasks for Improving Reading and Writing

(Hardback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This book offers middle and high school teachers useful suggestions and strategies for cultivating literacy in their classrooms, focusing primarily on the key skills of reading and writing. It discusses the nature of standards-based education and emphasizes the power and importance of good literature in the ELA curriculum. Included are detailed approaches to reading and writing with simple strategies for teaching close reading of complex text, as well as textual evidence and elaboration. A variety of sample performance tasks are included for commonly taught works of American and world literature as well as a variety of strategies to strengthen students reading and writing skills needed for success in college and the workplace. This book is a practical handbook for teachers, who can easily find appropriate strategies to use in their classrooms and begin implementing them right away. It is a useful collection of tips with suggestions and instructions for implementing effective and engaging literacy strategies and performance tasks.

Reviews

For teachers who are confused about what to believe about the Common Core State Standards, Greg Berry has written a common-sense approach that will answer many of their question.Cultivating Adolescent Literacy: Standards, Strategies, and Performance Tasks for Improving Reading and Writing is an important book that discusses the pros and cons of the CCSS and also provides a much-needed explanation of the CCSS's various components. Berry also includes practical strategies that help teachers implement the Standards. This book would be a great suggestion for teacher study groups as well as for individual teachers. -- Susan J. Lenski, EdD, professor, Portland State University
Cultivating Adolescent Literacy is a book that bridges the gap between the Common Core Standards and strategies for the classroom while also demonstrating that creativity can embrace rigor. This book delivers wisdom on so many levels and should be mandatory reading for new teachers entering the profession. It is also invigorating for veteran teachers who crave strategies to meet the needs of our changing populations, and it has a plethora of ideas for curriculum connoisseurs. Dr. Berrys writing style makes us feel as if we are sitting down in an intimate coffee shop discussing his class. He is a phenomenal teacher who empowers students to reach their potential through differentiated assignments and strategies. He shares those assignments along with student models in this book. This book will not sit on a shelf gathering dust; rather, it will sit prominently on your desk, dog-eared and filled with numerous post-it notes due to use. If Dr. Berrys first book, Literacy for Learning, was the appetizer for useful teaching strategies to empower student learning, then this book is the savory main dish to devour. -- Karri Gordon, English teacher, North Salem High School, Salem, Oregon
Dozens if not hundreds of books have been published in the past decade exploring the educational implications of teaching academic literacy in the era of the Common Core. Yet, through this synthesis of key contributions from renowned colleagues, Berry offers a volume of resources, providing a concise set of invaluable practices for educators. Cultivating Adolescent Literacy presents a collection of diverse and practical tools that any educator can use daily to grow the thinking of students, aiding them with the most rigorous of texts. -- Barbara Dehm Bamford, PhD, Educational Consultant & AVID District Director, Salem-Keizer Public Schools
A timely book providing a great review of the literature supporting reading and writing, with instructional strategies for the novice teacher as well as for the experienced educator. In this book, Dr. Berry showcases with clarity and passion his years of experience teaching English to adolescents. A book for all to reflect on best practices to support learning. -- J. A. Morales, PhD, High School Administrator

Author Bio

Gregory Berry teaches English at South Salem High School, where he has also served as teacher leader, instructional coach, and department coordinator, and is an adjunct English instructor at Chemeketa Community College. He received his BA in English, BS in Education, and MS is education from Eastern Oregon University and his doctorate in educational leadership, curriculum, and instruction from Portland State University in 2009. He is the author of Literacy for Learning: A Handbook of Content Area Strategies for Middle and High School Teachers, published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2014.