Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Reading
Five to Thrive [series]
Corwin Literacy
Teach reading right with just-in-time expert advice!
Whether you’re new to teaching reading or if you are a veteran whose goal is to focus on authentic reading instruction, this book is designed to be an on-the-desk companion, providing answers to your burning teaching questions at the moment you most need them.
A lot has changed in reading instruction over the past decades, with old assumptions and tired curricula making way for both trusted and new best practices. Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Reading, written by a veteran teacher who’s an expert in literacy instruction, offers research-backed, classroom-tested guidance to set you on the right path. Through practical teaching strategies, classroom examples, actionable steps, further reading suggestions, and more, you’ll learn to
- Build and maintain an inclusive, equitable classroom reading community
- Structure, organize, and plan student-centered, responsive reading instruction
- Design and implement compassionate, effective assessment methods
- Engage and empower students to develop agency as readers
You became a teacher to teach students—not curriculum. With this indispensable book by your side, you’ll develop practices that prioritize student well-being and success.
Imagine getting to be a fly on the wall of an exemplary teacher’s classroom, watching reading instruction. Now imagine that you have a guidebook in front of you explaining why and how everything is happening, like the key on a map. This author is that teacher, and this book is that guide. Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Reading shares the whys and hows of great reading instruction in a classroom with clear examples and ample resources for those ready to dig deeper. It is an excellent resource for both new and veteran teachers wanting to make the best use of instructional time to help grow readers who will read for life, not just 20 minutes.
Teaching young students reading is not easy, but Christina Nosek’s important new book is here to help lay the foundation for educators. One of the critical components to powerful reading instruction is the why behind minilessons, strategies, conferences, small groups—what holds it all up? Christina walks readers through the why, the how, and offers a multitude of ideas to keep your reading instruction fresh, engaging, and student-focused. A book for reading teachers, yes, but also anyone working with teachers of elementary reading. I felt like Christina was sitting next to me, chatting and helping nudge my thinking about reading forward, and I’m excited for educators to get their hands on this valuable resource.
Christina Nosek is an educator with a passion for reflection, collaboration, and professional growth. Key questions anchor this book, and they are the questions that teachers of all experience levels grapple with, wonder about, and work to answer. With spotlights on community building, instruction, assessment, curriculum, and student agency, Christina weaves questions and answers with experience-based key commitments and practical strategies that will build your understanding of complex skills, your resources, and your confidence.
Christina Nosek expertly outlines and deeply explores holistic reading instruction that leads to curious, empowered, self-directed readers. If you want to learn practices that motivate and engage students in reading, structures that provide practical differentiation, instructional methods that work with a variety of classroom groupings, and assessments that serve your students and promote growth, then Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Reading is for you! I learned from this book, as well as found validation and inspiration in its chapters. I know you will too.
Thanks to Christina Nosek, my students will have a mentor literacy teacher with them at all times! She expertly guides us through the steps to create a robust community of lifelong readers, something our world desperately needs.