Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach » (5th Edition)

Gail E. Tompkins is Professor Emerita at California State Unversity, Fresno, and she continues to direct the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project.  She regularly works with teachers in their kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms and leads staff development programs on reading, language arts, and writing.  In 1998 Dr. Tompkins was inducted into the California Reading Association's Reading Hall of Fame in recognition of her publication and other accomplishments in the field of reading, and recently she was awarded the prestigious Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching at California's State University, Fresno.

What makes Literacy for the 21^st Century the most valuable and relevant literacy text on the market?

Authenticity

Bringing in the voices of K-8 teachers and students, Literacy for the 21^st Century will help you envision the opportunities and challenges that await you when teaching reading and writing.  You will:

• View teachers in action through the thrilling new DVD created to help you see literacy strategies in the context of classroom teaching.
• Envision today’s classrooms through chapter opening vignettes that share stories from successful literacy classrooms.
• Observe literacy learning and assessment in the student work samples that appear throughout chapters, helping you recognize the ways students develop as readers and writers. 

Balance

Literacy for the 21^st Century strengthens and clarifies the ways to balance skills and strategies instruction with authentic reading and writing experiences. Careful study of this text will allow you to: 

• Understand literacy instruction in terms of four foundational instructional approaches: basal reading programs, literature focus units, literature circles, and reading and writing workshop.
• Recognize the ten Components of a Balanced Literacy Program through new chapter features, clarifying the elements to balance and the ways to do it successfully.

Classroom Practice

Loaded with ideas to take right into the classroom, Literacy for the 21^st Century truly prepares you to differentiate your teaching and meet the needs of all students.  Special features include:

• Nurturing English Learnersfeatures thatdemonstrate how chapter content must be reconsidered in terms of the English learner. 
• Scaffolding Struggling Readers features, providing pivotal information to help students who struggle make real progress in developing literacy competency.
• Minilessons that offerclear, concise skill and strategy instruction, ready for you to take right into your classrooms!
• A Compendium of Instructional Procedures composed of dozens of step-by-step instructional methods designed to get you up and running quickly in your own literacy classroom.