Reading Links

Arts with the Brain in Mind
How do the arts stack up as a major discipline? What is their effect on the brain, learning, and human development? How might schools best implement and assess an arts program?? Eric Jensen answers these questions C and more C in this book. To push for higher standards of learning, many policymakers are eliminating arts programs. To Jensen, that's a mistake.

This book presents the definitive case, based on what we know about the brain and learning, for making arts a core part of the basic curriculum and thoughtfully integrating them into every subject. Separate chapters address musical, visual, and kinesthetic arts in ways that reveal their influence on learning.

What are the effects of a fully implemented arts program? The evidence points to the following:

$ Fewer dropouts $ Higher attendance $ Better team players $ An increased love of learning $ Greater student dignity $ Enhanced creativity $ A more prepared citizen for the workplace of tomorrow $ Greater cultural awareness as a bonus

To Jensen, it's not a matter of choosing, say, the musical arts over the kinesthetic. Rather, ask what kind of art makes sense for what purposes. How much time per day? What kind of music? Should the arts be required? How do we assess arts programs? In answering these real-world questions, Jensen provides dozens of practical, detailed suggestions for incorporating the arts into every classroom.

Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement

Since its publication in 2000, Strategies That Work has become an indispensable resource for teachers who want to explicitly teach thinking strategies so that students become engaged, thoughtful, independent readers. In this revised and expanded edition, Stephanie and Anne have added twenty completely new comprehension lessons, extending the scope of the book and exploring the central role that activating background knowledge plays in understanding. Another major addition is the inclusion of a section on content literacy which describes how to apply comprehension strategies flexibly across the curriculum. The new edition is organized around four sections:

Part I highlights what comprehension is and how to teach it, including the principles that guide practice, a review of recent research, and a new section on assessment. A new chapter, Tools for Active Literacy: The Nuts and Bolts of Comprehension Instruction, describes ways to engage students in purposeful talk through interactive read alouds, guided discussion and written response.




Mosaic of Thought: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction
Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann have returned with a new edition of Mosaic of Thought that features 70 percent new material. When the first edition published ten years ago, Mosaic of Thought became a runaway best seller as the first book to explicitly describe the use and benefits of strategy-based comprehension instruction. Since then comprehension strategy instruction has exploded, leading to numerous inspiring variations on Mosaic's instructional principles, as well as a widening of the comprehension research base. Now the second edition offers up-to-the-minute insight for classroom teachers, literacy coaches, and school leaders everywhere, and reminds everyone of precisely what effective, long-lasting comprehension teaching looks like.


Weaving Through Words: Using the Arts to Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies
Share the experience of two educators who developed a curriculum that brought art and reading together to strengthen their students' understanding of text. This rich resource provides detailed explanations of six comprehension strategies - developing sensory images, building and activating schema, questioning, determining importance, inferring, and synthesis; in-depth arts lessons that incorporate these strategies and assess students' learning; and additional lessons that can be adapted to different grade levels. The book also offers students' artwork and writing samples and individual case studies of learners with special needs. The appendixes include an art matrix for implementing lessons; directions for art projects and drama techniques; blackline masters of assessment forms; and resource lists of books, websites, and art suppliers. Weaving Through Words will help you provide students with a variety of ways to improve their reading comprehension.