Inquiry Paths to Literacy Learning: A Guide for Elementary and Secondary School Educators

(Paperback)

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Inquiry Paths to Literacy Learning, a collection of chapters from secondary teachers and university researchers, offers English language arts teachers several models and considerations for how to design and implement inquiry-based teaching and learning. As the contributors demonstrate, an inquiry approach can significantly boost student achievement, understanding, and transfer of learning. The chapters in this collection present classroom-tested approaches, activities, and assignments that teachers can use right away, but that also serve as models for designing learning experiences that most engage and benefit learners. Focusing on issues that adolescents find consequential, the sample learning activities promote the development of complex literacy skills, engage students in evidence-based reasoning, and foster an environment of cooperation, collaboration, and respect for different points of view. Together, the contributions in this book envision the English language arts classroom as a supportive environment for authentic inquiry and for the genuine democratic processes involved in grappling together with tough perennial and contemporary issues.

Reviews

At a time when society and schools are running at a faster-than-ever break neck pace, a purposeful move towards inquiry-focused learning is precisely the salve that can create more thoughtful and critically-minded students and teachers. What Elizabeth Kahn and her colleagues do in Inquiry Paths to Literacy Learning is provide an essential guidecollected from experts around the field of English Language Arts--to developing classes of students who thrive while pursuing deeper, nuanced understandings of issues important to them. -- Christian Z. Goering, PhD, NBCT, past chair, English language arts teacher educators professor, English Education, University of Arkansas
This book puts the process of inquiryat front and center. Instead of merely touting the benefits of inquiry, the authors adeptly unite theory and practice by first presenting readers with a rich theoretical and historical backdrop for the concept of inquiry and next illustrating inquiry in action in English language arts classrooms. The depth of this book will reignite teachers and teacher educators excitement about the learning process. -- Heidi L. Hallman, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Teaching, University of Kansas
The editors of Inquiry Paths to Literacy Learning have curated an inspired approach to guided inquiry, one that teachers will find indispensable. Through cogent explanations and inspiring and well-crafted examples, this volume places guided inquiry right at the heart of literacy instruction, where it belongs. -- Deborah Appleman, Carleton College, author of Words No Bars Can Hold: Literacy Learning in Prison
Kahn and her colleagues provide us with a remarkable approach to teaching English that harnesses students curiosity to engage them in real-world problem solvingand thats also a lot of fun. Demonstrating admirable depth and breadth and rooted in the foundational research of George Hillocks, their advice covers a range of topics, from classroom instruction to service learning, from planning to assessment, from canonical literature to contemporary young adult texts, from whole-class instruction to small-group work, and from traditional classrooms to digital tools. Are you concerned that you and your students are just going through the motions Would you like to turn up the dial on your students engagement in rigorous critical thinking Is it time for you to cast a bolt of energy into your class discussions Read this book, follow its promising practical advice, and stand back! -- Ken Lindblom, professor of English, Stony Brook University (SUNY)

Author Bio

Elizabeth A. Kahn taught English language arts for 36 years and served as English department chair; she now teaches in the English teacher education program at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. She has co-authored several books, including Discussion Pathways to Literacy Learning (NCTE 2018), The Dynamics of Writing Instruction (Heinemann 2010), and Writing About Literature (NCTE 1984 and 2009, updated edition).



Andrew Bouque has taught English in public high schools for 20 years, currently at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. He is coeditor of Raise Your Voices: Inquiry, Discussion, and Literacy Learning (Rowman & Littlefield 2019).



Dawn Forde is a teacher at Adlai E. Stevenson High School and has been learning from her students for the past 18 years. She coedited Raise Your Voices: Inquiry, Discussion, and Literacy Learning (Rowman & Littlefield 2019) and has presented at local, state, and national conferences.



Thomas M. McCann is a professor of English at Northern Illinois University, where he contributes to the teacher licensure program. His books include Transforming Talk into Text and Literacy and History in Action (Teachers College Press) and the co-authored Talking in Class (NCTE 2006), The Dynamics of Writing Instruction (Heinemann 2010), and Teaching Matters Most (Corwin Press 2012).



Carolyn Calhoun Walter taught English students for thirty years at both public and private high schools and now supervises student teachers for Northern Illinois University. She is a regular presenter at national conferences and has co-authored Designing and Sequencing Pre-Writing Activities and Writing about Literature, and Discussion Pathways to Literacy Learning.