From the authors of the popular blog and resource for teachers, The Classroom Bookshelf, this book offers a framework and teaching ideas for using recently released children's and young adult literature to build a culture of inquiry and engagement from a text-first approach. Reading With Purpose is designed to help K-8 teachers tap into their inner reader, to make intentional text selections for their students, and to create joyful and purpose-driven literacy learning experiences. The heart of the book is organized according to four purposes for selecting and using literature: care for ourselves and one another, connect with the past to understand the present, closely observe the world around us, and cultivate critical consciousness. Each chapter includes classroom stories, accessible research, reasons for why this matters now, and criteria for selecting for this purpose. A final section provides teaching invitations that pair with suggested books but can also be used with any high-quality book teachers may already have in their classrooms. Book Features: Builds on important work from thought leaders, urging teachers to create their own reading identities so they can help their students do the same. Describes a simple, sustainable framework teachers and teacher educators can use immediately to make more purposeful text selections. Provides myriad teaching ideas, narrative anecdotes from diverse classrooms, student work samples, and reflective questions. Offers a list of recommended, recently published children's and young adult literature.
Erika Thulin Dawes is a professor and chair of the Language and Literacy Department in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University. Katie Egan Cunningham is an associate professor of teacher education at Sacred Heart University. Grace Enriquez is a professor of language and literacy at Lesley University. Mary Ann Cappiello is a professor of language and literacy in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University. Together, they are the coauthors of The Classroom Bookshelf blog.
Contents Foreword Xenia Hadjioannou ?ix Acknowledgments ?xi Introduction ?1 Who We Are: The Classroom Bookshelf Story ?3 Why This Book? ?4 Purposes for Reading ?5 Using This Book ?6 Part I: Purposes for Selecting and Using Books 1. ?A World of Purpose in the Pages of Books ?11 Classroom Story: If I Were a Book ?11 What Matters Most ?13 Braided Purposes: The Reader, the Text, the Context ?16 Many Books, Many Purposes ?21 Purpose Matters: A Community of Readers ?22 2. ?Center Care for Ourselves and One Another ?25 Classroom Story: Nurturing Care ?25 Why Center Care? ?28 Why Now? Supporting the Whole Child ?29 Centering Care: Understanding Ourselves and Connecting to Others ?31 Selecting Books That Center Care to Teach and Reach the Whole Child ?38 3. ?Connect to the Past to Understand the Present ?40 Classroom Story: The Value of Knowing the Past ?40 Why Connect to the Past? ?42 Why Now? Barriers and Bridges ?43 Connecting to the Past ?45 Selecting Books That Connect to the Past to Better Understand the Present ?55 4. ?Closely Observe the World Around Us ?57 Classroom Story: Idea Making and Learning to Look Closely ?57 Why Closely Observe? ?58 Why Now? The Climate Crisis and Disconnect With the Natural World ?59 Close Observation: Strengthening Our Connection to Our World ?61 Selecting Books That Inspire Close Observation to See the World in New Ways ?73 5. ?Cultivate Critical Consciousness ?75 Classroom Story: Raising Critical Consciousness Across the Curriculum ?75 Why Cultivate Critical Consciousness? ?77 Why Now? Agency, Equity, and Justice in an Ever-Changing World ?79 Cultivating Critical Consciousness: Creating a Better World for All ?84 Selecting Books That Cultivate Critical Consciousness Toward Creating a Better World for All ?91 Part II: An Invitations Approach to Encourage Purposeful Reading 6. ?Invitations to Use Books to Center Care for Ourselves and One Another ?95 Text Sets ?95 Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies ?96 Critical Literacies ?97 Reading Process ?98 Visual Literacies ?99 Writing Development ?100 Multimodal Response ?100 Social-Emotional Learning ?102 7. ?Invitations to Use Books to Connect the Past to the Present ?107 Text Sets ?107 Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies ?108 Critical Literacies ?111 Reading Process ?112 Visual Literacies ?112 Writing Development ?113 Multimodal Response ?114 Social-Emotional Learning ?115 8. ?Invitations to Use Books to Closely Observe the World Around Us ?116 Text Sets ?116 Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies ?117 Critical Literacies ?119 Reading Process ?120 Visual Literacies ?121 Writing Development ?122 Multimodal Response ?124 Social-Emotional Learning ?125 9. ?Invitations to Use Books to Cultivate Critical Consciousness Toward Creating a Better World ?127 Text Sets ?127 Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies ?128 Critical Literacies ?131 Reading Process ?132 Visual Literacies ?133 Writing Development ?133 Multimodal Response ?135 Social-Emotional Learning ?136 In Closing ?138 References ?139 Children's Books ?149 Index ?157 About the Authors ?164
