Building Academic Literacy is a coach-in-a-pocket for educators seeking to build strong academic literacy and higher-order thinking. This book is for anyone with responsibility for instruction - teachers, instructional coaches, professional developers, principals, curriculum leaders, teacher preparation faculty. It provides pathways to developing higher-order thinking in every student and setting. Key to its success is that it connects reading, writing, listening, thinking, and speaking. Readers will find that they can engage all students with content, but more importantly, students will process content in ways appropriate to a particular subject. They also develop independent learning skills -- exactly what the Common Core State Standards call for. The text is engaging yet practical and practicable - grounded and useful to teachers in enacting more student-centered classrooms. Its strategies serve to actively engage all students in high-level thinking and learning, those who have always found school easy and those who have not. Not a prescription, but a book designed to deepen individual and group teacher competencies to implement learning strategies in new ways and to continually refine and develop their craft.
Foreword - Judith A. Langer Preface Why We Wrote This Book Who We Are Our Research Base Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Purposeful Pedagogy: Developing Each Mind How to Use This Book Key Elements Common Threads Opening the Classroom to Student Thinking and Voice Secure the Foundation by Teaching Students How to Talk and Think Together Five Essentials of Productive Classroom Discussions Summary Chapter 2. Purposeful Engagement: Activities to Engage and Support All Learners Sharing Thinking One-on-One Journal Jot/Quick Write and Think-Pair Share Extending Think-Pair-Share to Written Conversation about Content Scaffolds for Productive Whole-Class Discussions Reader's Marks and Variations Pass the Hat Pair Engaging and Complex Texts to Foster Critical Thinking Summary Chapter 3. Purposeful Talk: A Framework for Facilitating Academic Discussions A Guide to Facilitating Discussions that Foster higher-Level Thinking The Envisionment-Building Guide (EBG) A Teacher's Role During Discussion Preparing for and Facilitating Discussions that Foster Higher Levels of Thinking Practicing with a Well-Known Poem Trying an EBG and Discussion in Your Classroom Summary Chapter 4. Purposeful Experiences: Assignments to Sustain Thinking and Learning Some Tools to Help Students Capture Thinking in Written Form Why Writing Matters Learning Logs or Journals Open Mind Purposeful Assignments That Provide Opportunities for Students to Share Thinking Gallery Walk Carousel Stand and Deliver Extended Writing Summary Chapter 5. Purposeful Planning: Designing a Coherent and Connected Curriculum Supporting Students as Disciplinary Thinkers Rethinking the Curriculum Staring with the Big Ideas Thinking beyond the Textbook Collaboration Summary Chapter 6. Purposeful Leadership: Supporting Effective Instructional Practices Student Voice Engaging Activities Discussion Assignments Fostering Coherence Rethinking the Curriculum to Be More Coherent Collaboration across Grades and Subjects Summary End Note Appendix A. Sample Lessons An Envisionment-Building Lesson for Science An Envisionment-Building Lesson for Mathematics An Envisionment-Building Lesson for English Language Arts Appendix B. Annotated Bibliography Literary Works Cited Bibliography
