Literate Lives: Teaching Reading & Writing in Elementary Classrooms

Meet the challenges of teaching literacy in today's classroom. Reading is more than decoding symbols on a page. It is a complex, multi-layered process that begins early in a child's life and encompasses the many social, cultural, and historical contexts that surround the child. "Literate Lives: Teaching Reading and Writing in Elementary Classrooms" not only gives you the historical and theoretical foundations that you need to be a teacher of reading, writing, and literacy in today's classroom; it helps you understand the broader, more complete picture of the reading process and what it means to be a teacher of readers. In this book, you'll cover the major theories and application strategies of the reading process, and learn how to organize for literary instruction in your classroom. As you learn to recognize and draw upon the multiple literacies that children bring to the classroom, you will: Become a skilled problem-solver as you work through real-world examples and study the classroom experiences of others. Discover how to dig deeper into literacy instruction and decide on what actions to take. Explore ways to drive and teach literacy with such tools as children's toys and familiar characters. At once engaging and challenging, "Literate Lives" gives you both the tools and the confidence you need to begin your successful career as a teacher of literacy.