Thinking Tools for Young Readers and Writers: Strategies to Promote Higher Literacy in Grades 2-8

by Carol Booth Olson, Angie Balius, Emily McCourtney, Mary Widtmann

Overview

In her new book, bestselling author and professional developer Carol Booth Olson and colleagues show teachers how to help young readers and writers construct meaning from and with texts. This practical resource offers a rich array of research-based teaching strategies, activities, and extended lessons focused on the “thinking tools” employed by experienced readers and writers. It shows teachers how to draw on the natural connections between reading and writing, and how cognitive strategies can be embedded into the teaching of narrative, informational, and argumentative texts. Including artifacts and written work produced by students across the grade levels, the authors connect the cognitive and affective domains for full student engagement.

“This book seamlessly bridges the gap from research to everyday practice.... You get an extremely well-organized set of overarching instructional principles that are right for our era and brought to life through well-explained instructional guides and classroom activities.”
—From the Foreword by Judith Langer, University at Albany, SUNY

“I have always admired Carol Booth Olson’s work with secondary students and teachers. She now applies those essential principles and practices to elementary and middle school students. Bravo!”
—P. David Pearson, professor emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807776834
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	04/20/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	38 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Carol Booth Olson is director of the UCI/National Writing Project and a professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. She is coauthor of Helping English Learners to Write—Meeting Common Core Standards, Grades 6–12.

Table of Contents

Foreword Judith Langer v

Preface vii

1 Why Use Thinking Tools to Promote Higher Literacy in Grades 2-8? 1

Reading and Writing Like a Detective: The Mystery Trash Challenge 1

What Are Students Expected to Know and Be Able to Do as Readers and Writers in Grades 2-8? 6

Why Take a Cognitive Strategies Approach to Reading and Writing Instruction in Grades 2-8? 7

Examining the Constraints Faced by Elementary and Middle School Readers and Writers 10

An Introduction to the Cognitive Strategies Tool Kit 15

Using the Tool Kit in the Classroom 21

21st-century Skills and Technology 24

To Sum Up 27

2 Best Practices in Reading and Writing Instruction for Students in Grades 2-8 28

Research on Best Practices for Reading and Writing Instruction in Grades 2-8 28

Create a Community of Learners 29

Big Al: A Cognitive Strategies Reading/Writing Tutorial 35

Using Think-Alouds and Play-Doh to Reinforce Cognitive Strategy Use 47

Connect Reading and Writing 52

Model with Mentor Texts 58

Scaffold Instruction to Lessen the Constraints on Readers and Writers 62

Offer Frequent Opportunities to Practice Writing Different Text Types Through Writer's Workshop 65

Provide Explicit Vocabulary Instruction 68

Administer Formative Assessments 74

To Sum Up 80

3 Reading and Writing Narrative Texts 81

Why Prioritize Reading and Writing Narrative Texts in Your Classroom? 81

The Language Demands of Narrative Texts 83

Teaching the Elements of Narrative Texts 84

Narrative Writing Strategies 90

Putting It All Together: Writing Fictional Narratives 98

Blending Genres in the Saturation Research Paper 107

To Sum Up 110

4 Reading and Writing Informative/Expository Texts 111

The Language Demands of Informative/Expository Texts 112

Getting Started: Exposing Students to Informative Texts 112

Teaching Text Structures for Reading and Writing Informative Texts 115

Teaching Text Structures About Tornadoes 117

The Initial Report 123

Writing Wacky Weather Reports: Teaching the 5 Ws + H and Parts of Speech 125

Informative/Expository Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum 129

Converting Informative/Expository Reading Into Poetic Writing 137

Blending Genres: The Robot Lesson 139

To Sum Up 143

5 Reading and Writing Opinion, Persuasive, Interpretive, and Argumentative Texts 144

The Challenges of Argumentative Reading and Writing 145

Teaching Response to Literature: Analyzing Theme in an Interpretive Essay on "Ribbons" 152

Image Grammar for Sentence Fluency 164

Helping Students Acknowledge and Refute Counterarguments in Essays Using Multiple Texts 166

Using Picture Books to Teach Ethos, Pathos, and Logos 170

Teaching Argument-Writing with a Real-World Purpose: A Project-Based Learning Unit on Philanthropy 171

To Sum Up 176

Conclusion: Cognitive Strategies Instruction Revisited 177

References 179

Index 190

About the Authors 198

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book seamlessly bridges the gap from research to everyday practice in grades 2–8. Along with the coauthors of this book, actual in-service teachers were collaborators in this research. All in all, you get an extremely well-organized set of overarching instructional principles that are right for our era and brought to life through well-explained instructional guides and classroom activities."
—From the Foreword by Judith Langer, distinguished professor at the University at Albany, SUNY

“I have always admired Carol Booth Olson’s work with secondary students and teachers. But it is ever so special to see how she and master teacher colleagues apply those essential principles and practices to elementary and middle school students. Bravo!”
—P. David Pearson, professor emeritus, University of California, Berkeley