Offering fresh alternatives to common instructional practices that fail to get results, this accessible, highly practical guide highlights ways to motivate middle school students while enhancing content-area learning. Each chapter features an enlightening case study of a teacher whose current strategies are not supported by research; describes effective instructional alternatives, illustrated with concrete examples; and lists online resources and lesson examples. Emphasis is given to supporting critical engagement with texts and drawing on technology and new literacies. The book covers specific content areas--including science, social studies, math, and literature--as well as ways to teach oral literacy and writing across the curriculum.
I. Teaching Content Literacy1. If They Can't Read Their Science Books-Teach Them How, Maria Grant 2. If They Can't Read Their Social Studies Books-Support Their Learning with Guided Instruction, Karen D. Wood, Jennifer I. Hathaway, and Lina B. Soares3. If You Want to Motivate the Learning of Mathematics-Use the Visual Arts as a Lens to Learning, Robin A. Ward and Susan Troutman4. If You Want to Move Beyond the Textbook-Add Young Adult Literature to Content Area Classes, Virginia S. Loh 5. If You Want Students to Read-Motivate Them, Joan Kindig 6. If You Want Students to Use New Literacies-Give Them the Opportunity, Stephanie Schmier and Marjorie Siegel 7. If You Want Students to Evaluate Online Resources and Other New Media-Teach Them How, Jill Castek 8. If You Think Students Should Be Critically Literate-Show Them How, Peggy Albers II. Developing Spoken and Written Language9. If You Want to Take the Ho-Hum Out of History-Teach Writing That's Right for New Times, Dana L. Grisham and Thomas DeVere Wolsey 10. If Students Are Unmotivated Writers-Motivate Them, Jane Hansen and Timothy Shea 11. If Students Are Not Succeeding as Writers-Teach Them to Self-Assess Using a Rubric, Judy M. Parr and Rebecca Jesson 12. If You Want Students to Learn Academic English-Teach It to Them, Dianna Townsend 13. If You Want Students to Learn Vocabulary-Move Beyond Copying Words, Kathy Ganske 14. If You Value Student Collaboration-Hold Students Accountable for Collaborative Group Work, Heather Casey III. Establishing Effective Learning Routines 15. If You Think Book Clubs Matter-Set Some Up Online, Thomas DeVere Wolsey and Dana L. Grisham, with Melissa Provost 16. If You Want Students to Read Widely and Well-Eliminate Round-Robin Reading, Kelly Johnson and Diane Lapp 17. If You Want to Eliminate Misconceptions and Errors-Support Learning with Questions, Prompts, Cues, and Explanations, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey 18. If You Want Students to Take Notes Instead of Copying Them-Teach Them How, Christianna Alger and Barbara Moss 19. If You Want to Help Students Organize Their Learning-Fold, Think, and Write with Three-Dimensional Graphic Organizers, Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher 20. If Homework Really Matters-Assign Some That's Valuable, Cynthia H. Brock, Julie L. Pennington, and Jennifer D. Morrison
