Building Adolescent Literacy in Today's English Classrooms

Bomer, director of the Heart of Texas Writing Project and professor of pre-service English teachers at the University of Texas, provides ideas for preparing students to participate in a globalized, digital world. Within a framework for making key instructional decisions, the book explains how to understand adolescents' literacy needs through effective assessment, how to develop flexible routines that support students' interests, and how to develop a curriculum that connects students to the world. Section 1 describes classroom structures that invite engagement and covers assessment, academic literacy, and college readiness. Section 2 addresses topics such as teaching skills related to fluency and comprehension and teaching toward great conversations. Section 3 gives ideas on teaching writing with tools such as writers' notebooks, taking on ethical and social values in writing, and genre studies. Section 4 examines curriculum issues such as working toward tests without insulting students' intelligence. The book includes numerous classroom and student vignettes, margin notes, and large margins with space for readers' written notes. An appendix lists 13 genres (such as short story, essay, drama, policy argument, and websites) and four possible goals within each genre. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Randy Bomer, author of Building Adolescent Literacy in Today's English Classrooms, is a leader in secondary English/Language Arts teaching whose goals have always been to connect research to classroom practice and to make a literate life possible for every student. As a teacher of first-year college students, he helps young people develop habits of mind that prepare them for further college work. He shares his passion with individual preservice and in-service teachers as a professor at the University of Texas and as the Director of the Heart of Texas Writing Project. As a literacy consultant and former Co-director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, he has shared his vision with large groups of teachers nationwide. He has also brought his experience to the entire field as past president of the National Council of Teachers of English, and as the author or coauthor of Time for Meaning, For a Better World, and The Handbook of Adolescent Literacy Research.