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These reviews have been accessed times since January 1, 2007
Brief reviews for January 2007
Berman, Sally (2006). Service Learning: A Guide to Planning, Implementing, and Assessing Student Projects. Second edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Pages: 232 Price: $74.95(hardcover) $34.95(paperback) ISBN: 9781412936729(hardcover) 9781412936736 (paperback)
Sally Berman's book on service learning is an excellent how-to manual for creating structured, well-managed service projects for elementary through college level students. The introduction and first chapter describe the principles of service learning while the remaining chapters present nine service learning projects that teachers can implement as is or adapt as needed.
The introductory materials define services learning, provide a brief history of service learning, and explain the benefits of participating in service learning projects. Berman asserts that "service learning is brain-compatible learning" set in real world settings, solving real life problems, where the learners find it easy to draw conclusions and to remember what was learned (p. xxiii).
Each project chapter includes the following elements: identifying the service need; assessing risks; finding a community partner; aligning service and educational goals; managing the project; fostering reflective learning; and assessing student learning. The nine projects are grouped into basic, intermediary and advanced projects, and include ideas such as adopting a road, preparing personal hygiene kits for distribution, volunteering at a soup kitchen or food pantry, and creating gardens in urban spaces. The chapters are rich with sample questions, rubrics, goals, and reflection logs. Challenges experienced during service learning projects are addressed, such as time, knowledge, funds, liability and student buy-in.
The most noticeable difference between the first and second editions is the arrangement and content of the introductory materials. The project chapters are virtually identical in both editions, with a few new features in the second edition: multiple intelligences sidebars, assessing risks sections, and exemplary projects sidebars. In the second edition the bibliography has been expanded to include newer print and online resources. Readers who own the first edition may not need to purchase the second unless they are interested in the new material tied to multiple intelligences and the sections about assessing project risks. For teachers involved in service learning projects, this book is a must have resource.
Reviewed by Kathy Irwin, University of Michigan, Dearborn.
Bloom, Jeffrey W. (2006). Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists. Second edition. New York: Routledge.
Pages: 463 Price: $36.95 ISBN: 0-415-95236-0
Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists, by Jeffrey W. Bloom, is a unique, holistic textbook for elementary and middle grades teachers. In his writing, Bloom discusses educational philosophy, psychology, curriculum and instruction. Further, Bloom has written the book to build those traditional disciplines together into a "how-to" manual for teachers.
Bloom's educational philosophy is that of a social constructivist. As the title suggests, Bloom views education as a democratic and inquiry-based activity. Students should be part of a community of scholars working together to find answers to questions, rather than merely sitting in a classroom learning information from the teacher. Naturally then, the how-to portions of this book instruct teachers to get their students engaged in active, hands-on learning. Dispersed throughout the book are learning activities teachers can implement in their classes.
The strongest quality of the text is its focus on inquiry-based learning. This new second edition is up-to-date in content and matches the emphasis on inquiry found in state and national science education standards. New or aspiring teachers will likely appreciate that the textbook presupposes little; Bloom takes the time to explain his ideas quite well. For example, chapter 3, on "The Nature of Science," includes background information on the scientific inquiry processes—as opposed to the scientific method—and how subjectivity and bias affect scientific thinking.
While Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists is certainly a how-to guide in many ways, there is still no mistaking that this is a textbook. The book is best read from beginning to end and no part of the book is likely to be described as light reading. The various chapters include titles such as "Teaching and Learning Through Inquiry," "Assessing Children’s Thinking, Learning and Talk," and "Planning and Implementing Instruction." This text will probably fit well within a college pre-service course, but in-service teachers might find the style less immediately helpful, unless they read it over the summer while preparing for a new year. In short, the text's more than 400 pages take time to read and digest. Still, for future science teachers, time spent reading this book will likely be time spent well.
Reviewed by Bruce M. Sabin, EdD, who is the 6th grade science teacher at Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School in Fort Meade, FL
Carbone Ward, Cynthia (2006). How Writers Grow: A Guide for Middle School Teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Pages: 144 Price: $17.59 ISBN: 0-325-00975-9
True to the principles of the National Writing Project, "The best teacher of teachers is another teacher," and "teachers of writing must be writers themselves," Cynthia Carbone Ward, a teacher and writer herself, guides teachers to what seems to be a miracle: a middle school classroom full of writers.
Some teachers might find the book not straightforward enough, since it is not a compendium of recipes, rules, and lesson plans. Other teachers might feel disappointed because there is little theory in the book and the rationale of the suggested activities is seldom explicit. However, I am sure that most teachers, in particular those with some experience on teaching to write, would appreciate this book.
How Writers Grow is a well written book, full of examples of student writing and vivid descriptions of classroom activities. Readers are exposed to amusing sentences, ideas and titles that invite them to make notes, to smile, sigh, laugh and to be inspired by the creativity and enthusiasm of the author.
The book is organized into six chapters. The first one introduces several strategies to Get Started; for instance, it describes how to manipulate five basic components: exposure to well-written work; creation of a kind, respectful, humorous, and positive classroom environment; enough time and opportunity to practice writing; positive reinforcement; and empowerment. There is also a candid discussion about journal writing and several playful procedures to have fun with words.
Chapters two to five are devoted to different genres of writing. Thus, chapter two, Look into Poetry, includes a list with the fifty favorite poems of Carbone Ward as an invitation for educators to create our own anthology of poetry. This chapter suggests also an assortment of illuminating activities, which honors its title. Write for Results, is a tapestry of tips, descriptions and examples of how to help middle school students to write personal and business letters, persuasive essays, how-to manuals and technical texts. It also offers some solutions to two challenging situations: working with larger classes and helping students with revision.
Writing Creatively About Books describes several tips for: writing letters to —or about— characters; choosing a character that would most likely be a friend; making up a conversation and dialogue with characters of different novels; and an assortment of new twists and old standbys, including rewriting endings, creating posters, comparing two novels, contrasting a character with oneself and stealing a plot from a novel to write a story with new characters and settings.
Carbone Ward deals with memoir writing as a path to Wisdom and Discovery. The detailed description of the activity, Epiphany essay, is also an insightful and enjoyable description of middle school students who simultaneously are rough and tender, with a cognitive maturity that collides with energy, curiosity, a daring attitude and enough time to dream; therefore, enough dreams to write about.
The sixth and last chapter, Coming Full Circle: Assessment and Sharing, reflects on the difficulties of grading and assessing writing assignments. To help teachers to juggle seemingly opposite elements — state standards, ranking, rubrics, intrapersonal scoring, and grades— this chapter introduces Six Basic Principles: clearly stating expectations; using rubrics, but using instinct too; inviting the rewrite; being resourceful; keeping the big picture in mind; and overall, celebrating and sharing whatever has been written, because writing is born to be read and heard and, according to the author,it deserves at least as much hoopla as athletics. In a couple of pages, this chapter reflects on when and why teachers should sometimes not assess at all. The last page brings A basic rubric for essays and creative writing
Most of the strategies included in—and inspired by—this book could be successfully used with students from almost any level: primary school, high school and even early courses in college; however, I have a feeling that, in order to squeeze the most from it, How Writers Grow deserves to be tried in middle school classrooms, because this book is not only a guide to teach young students to write; it is also a warm tribute to middle school students, from a teacher-writer who truly likes and enjoys these students.
Reviewed by Celine Armenta, Ed. D., professor of education at the Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla (Mexico). She served as middle school science teacher for 20 years. Her professional interests include inclusion and diversity; and measurement and evaluation. Email: celine.armenta@iberopuebla.edu.mx
Cooper, Mark & Sjostrom, Lisa (2006). Making Art Together: How Collaborative Art-Making Can Transform Kids, Classrooms and Communities. Boston: Beacon Press.
Pages: 152 Price: $26.95 ISBN: 0807066184
In Making Art Together: How Collaborative Art-Making Can Transform Kids, Classrooms and Communities, Mark Cooper brings an exciting new perspective to the dialogue on the role of art in education. Working with Lisa Sjostrom, a curriculum consultant, Cooper demonstrates the benefits of collaborative art across the curriculum and in many different educational contexts—from pre- K to 16, in inter-institutional initiatives, and even outside the sphere of formal education. In this text, written with the classroom teacher in mind, Cooper asserts that any teacher can serve as "master artist," and create collaborative art that meets educational goals and is artistically powerful at the same time.
In his opening chapter, Cooper offers five basic principles of collaborative art-making in the classroom:
The following five chapters expand upon these principles, demonstrating their efficacy and offering examples of the principles in action. Cooper offers a compelling argument for even the most skeptical teacher to step into the role of master artist, demonstrating how the teacher's assumption of that role facilitates the collaborative process. He explains how the use of artistic frameworks and boundaries—whether a physical form such as the number 5, (p. 47) or a marine theme to inspire the shape of a student-designed sculpture (p. 58)—help to unify the work of many artists into a cohesive whole. He emphasizes the need to "create a process as well as a final product" (p. 65), noting that principles of math, science, history and literature, as well as life skills, are all used to create art.
- The teacher serves as master artist
- Use a framework to maximize the likelihood of success
- Work collaboratively throughout
- Draw on the perspectives and techniques of contemporary art
- Tie the artwork to the larger world.
In the final three chapters, Cooper offers practical suggestions for implementing collaborative art projects. There is an excellent discussion of the importance of ongoing reflection, and a useful analysis of the various stakeholders in collaborative art projects with tips to help to ensure their support. As part of the reflection and evaluation process, Cooper also advocates holding a closing ceremony. Such a ceremony provides a venue to share the project with stakeholders, explain the artistic and curricular achievements, and allow the participants to enjoy a sense of accomplishment. The book concludes with step-by-step guides, allowing a prospective master artist to recreate some of the projects described in the book.
Making Art Together is packed with examples of successful projects, which should stimulate the creative energy of any reader. The color plates are particularly helpful in communicating the visual strength of the art created. However, there is only one example in which a classroom teacher serves as master artist; the majority of projects profiled were led by Cooper himself. Some additional examples of teachers successfully taking on the role of master artist would have strengthened the book's "you can do it!" message
This easy-to-read book is sure to be an excellent resource for anyone wishing to incorporate art into a teaching repertoire. Its emphasis on the curricular connections in collaborative art-making and the value of the collaborative process to student learning should help teachers struggling to make a case for art in their classroom. The practical advice and vivid examples are suitable for beginners searching for a starting point as well as experienced art educators seeking new inspiration.
Reviewed by Stephanie Raill, Student Engagement Coordinator for Campus Compact.
Langrall, Cynthia W., editor (2006). Teachers Engaged in Research: Inquiry into Mathematics Classrooms, Grades 3-5. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Pages: 223 Price: $39.95 ISBN: 1-59311-497-4
This book is the second in a series of four volumes, each dedicated to the grade bands designated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. As the series foreword states, "These four books tell us about teaching and learning mathematics from the inside—from the perspectives of school-based teacher researchers who have carefully studied the commonplaces of mathematics teaching and learning..." (p. ix). The goal of the series is not to present research studies for other teachers to simply replicate within their own settings. The stories found in this series are not "one-time" professional development activities, or what the editor calls research or inquiry projects. Rather, they are aligned with the notion of inquiry as stance and seek to increase teachers' own knowledge of mathematics, as well as how students come to learn and understand mathematics. Many of the teachers in this volume have maintained their inquiry stance and are engaged in research with their students on a regular basis.
The Grades 3-5 volume includes 11 different teacher-researcher stories within the contexts of their classrooms. Some of the research was performed in conjunction with a university researcher; other research was completed solely by the teacher. The research topics of the 11 different studies include: division of fractions, reasoning and sense-making, arithmetic to algebra, multiplicative reasoning, mathematical writing, problem-solving instruction, teacher as researcher/researcher as learner, student sharing sessions and subtraction strategies, teacher questioning in a probability unit, lesson study and a beginning teacher, and the role of a literature person teaching and researching mathematics
Each of the 11 accounts is well-written and gives a detailed description of the teacher’s rationale for choosing the topic for the research. Most of the writers did a good job of telling the reader about teaching and learning mathematics from the inside, which is the primary goal of the series. While reading the accounts, this reviewer was able to form a clear and detailed mental picture of what happened in the classrooms. Copies of student work and transcripts of conversations add rich detail to the accounts. Mixed methods were often used in the research studies – pretest and posttest data, for example, is included alongside teacher reflection journals and student observations
This reviewer highly recommends this volume to mathematics teachers, mathematics education researchers, and faculty involved in preservice teacher education. The 11 teacher-researcher stories add to the existing body of mathematics education research and call for further research within Grades 3-5 classrooms.
Reviewed by Christopher Johnston, Ph.D. Student, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
Pierangelo, Roger & Giuliana, George (2006). The Special Educator's Comprehensive Guide to 301 Diagnostic Tests. Revised and expanded edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Pages: 484 Price: $32.95 ISBN: 0-7879-7813-2
At work, I often find myself going through thick, heavy special education folders, full of extensive reports from diverse specialists. Though familiar with many of the assessments, there are always some that I just don't know, or would like to know more about. So it would be most helpful to have one volume at hand that gives information for all kinds of special education testing. Roger Pierangelo's and George Guiliani's The Special Educator's Comprehensive Guide to 301 Diagnostic Tests (Guide) looks to fit the bill.
The Guide has three sections: an Overview of Assessment, Tests Used in Special Education, and an Overview of the Special Educator as an Educational Evaluator. The meat of the book is in the second section, where individual tests are grouped in 24 alphabetically ordered chapters with each chapter focusing on one type of assessment. Examples include Academic Achievement, Aptitude, Autism, and Speech and Language. Within each chapter tests of that category are listed alphabetically and concisely reviewed. Each chapter starts with a synopsis that defines characteristics for that category of assessment. The Guide uniformly relies upon four sections to provide detailed test information. The first section, General Test Information, includes: author, publisher information, time for administration, whether the test is individually or group administered, and age/grade levels. After the general information section, there are sections for Purpose and Description, Subtest Information (when applicable), and lastly Strengths of the Test.
As an illustration, consider the first chapter, Academic Achievement. The synopsis for this chapter defines various areas of achievement testing (e.g., reading, math, and writing) and then breaks these areas into their components (i.e., reading into decoding, phonological awareness, and fluency, among others). The authors then discuss the significant role of achievement assessment when special educators document educational need to determine special education eligibility. The first test in the Academic Achievement chapter is the Basic Achievement Skills Inventory (BASI) by Achilles N. Bardos. The General Test Information section indicates that the BASI, published by Pearson Assessment, is an individually administered, two-hour survey test, for individuals 8 to 80 years of age or for grades 1 to 12 and post high school. Next, the BASI is described as a versatile, multi-leveled, norm-referenced test of math, reading, and language skills. The subtest section lists six subtests (vocabulary, spelling, language mechanics, reading comprehension, math computation, and math application) and includes the administration time for each subtest. The test's pluses include finding a student's academic strengths and weaknesses; diagnosing reading, math, or spelling disabilities; designing interventions; and estimating yearly progress for No Child Left Behind.
Besides the Guide's test listings in section II, chapters in sections I and III contain topics such as special education regulations, the referral process, workings of the child study team, observations during testing, and report writing. These chapters include examples of referral forms, guidelines for test observation and reporting, and thoughtful suggestions for working with parents. The Guide does not provide critical test reviews like Buros' Mental Measurements Yearbook, does not exhaustively list all the special education tests, nor does it provide extensive details about each test. It does, however, provide enough information to get the gist of each test. Furthermore, it's interesting and informative to read about the tests in each chapter. The only thing missing in the Guide was a complete test index. The authors certainly do achieve their goal of having in one volume the most frequently used special education assessments. It's on my bookshelf, and there will be a spot on my computer's desktop for either a CD-ROM or web-based version of the Guide in the future. Thus, I recommend this efficient, easy-to-use reference to social workers, psychologists, special education teachers, school administrators, and others involved in the special education endeavor—all will benefit from its use.
About the authors: Roger Pierangelo comes with the experience of have written other guides such as The Special Educator's Survival Guide (Pierangelo, R., 2004) and The Special Educator's Book of Lists (Pierangelo, R., 2003). Additionally, the two authors have collaborated on a useful text called Learning Disabilities (Pierangelo & Giuliana, 2006). Their books are clear, easy to read, interesting, and immediately useful. The quality of their work assuredly derives from both authors' extensive clinical and teaching experience in special education. The book just reviewed is an updated and revised version of The Special Educator's Complete Guide to 109 Diagnostic Tests (Pierangelo & Giuliana, 2000).
References
Mental measurements yearbook. (annual) Lincoln, Neb: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.
Pierangelo, R. (2004). The special educator's survival guide (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pierangelo, R. (2003). The special educator's book of lists (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pierangelo, R. & Giuliana, G. (2006). Learning disabilities: A practical approach to foundations, assessment, diagnosis, and teaching. Boston and International: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pierangelo, R. & Giuliana, G. (2000) The special educator's complete guide to 109 diagnostic tests. Paramus, NJ: Center for Applied Research in Education. (1998) West Nyack, NY:
Reviewed by Arthur S. Ellen, PhD, School Psychologist, New York City Board of Education.
Schumm, Jeanne Shay (2006). Reading Assessment and Instruction for All Learners. New York: The Guilford Press.
Pages: 576 Price: $50.00 ISBN: 1593852908
Literacy teachers in today's classrooms are faced with great challenges. Along with increased expectations for student achievement, the implementation of the Response to Intervention model places responsibility for quality, research based instruction squarely on the shoulders of classroom teachers. Diversity in the classroom has become the norm. Students from a wide variety of cultural, linguistic and economic backgrounds learn side by side. Those who are eligible for programs such as ESL, Title 1, and Special Education may participate in pull-out programs or inclusion models requiring the teacher to work closely with colleagues. In Reading Assessment and Instruction for All Learners, practitioners will find an invaluable resource for designing effective instruction that meets the needs of all of the students in their classrooms.
Jeanne Shay Schumm has done an excellent job in editing contributions by numerous authors, many of whom are her colleagues at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. The writing style and formatting are consistent from chapter to chapter, resulting in an edited volume that reads like a single author text. A large body of information is provided in a clear concise manner, making this text worthy of consideration for undergraduate coursework.
Focus on the Learner is the first of three main sections. The chapters included in this section provide the background needed to understand the role of the classroom teacher in an instructional paradigm based on informal assessment and differentiated instruction. In this paradigm, information gleaned from assessments is used to develop an individual reading and writing profile that forms the basis for instructional decisions and design. Additional pieces of the profile are included in each subsequent chapter. Teachers who complete the profile as outlined in the text will have a comprehensive view of their studentsÕ reading and writing abilities.
The extensive second section, Focus on the Foundations of Reading, deals with the nuts and bolts of differentiated reading instruction. Assessment and instruction in the core components of phonological awareness, the alphabetic principle, sight word recognition, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary are discussed in a way that makes a wealth of information readily accessible to pre-service, novice and veteran teachers. An extensive chapter on writing has been included, which is a helpful addition for integrating reading and writing instruction.
The chapters are structured in a consistent format. A summary of current research findings and best practice begins each chapter. A wide range of appropriate assessments is then described. This discussion is followed by recommendations for strategies that are aligned with a tiered model of differentiated instruction. The tiers include high quality core instruction, supplemental instruction, and intensive support.
The final section, Focus on Connections, features chapters addressing the use of technology, specifically computer-mediated instruction, as well as various organizational models for differentiated instruction.
The formatting of the text is more akin to that of journal articles than the traditional undergraduate textbook; nevertheless, many extra features are present that make this text an excellent choice. The appendices include an extensive student profile and frequently asked questions regarding IRIs. Each chapter concludes with a summary along with questions for reflection. Suggestions for further related reading, recommended websites, and classroom- ready assessment instruments are provided. These resources alone make the volume a valuable addition to oneÕs professional library. Other features interspersed throughout the text include Research Briefs, Parent Pointers, and Tech Tips.
Reading Assessment and Instruction for All Learners is an invaluable recourse to both preservice and classroom teachers. This volume will be useful for practitioners and would be an excellent text for a survey course in literacy assessment.
Reviewed by Karen Kindle, a doctoral student at the University of Houston. A veteran teacher with 17 years of experience, she currently serves as the reading specialist for six campuses. She is an adjunct instructor for the UH system, teaching classes in corrective and remedial reading and early literacy development. Her interests focus on vocabulary development and its impact on literacy.
Turbill, Jan & Bean, Wendy (2006). Writing Instruction K-6: Understanding Process, Purpose, Audience. Katonah, NY: Richard C. Owen Publishers.
Pages: 240 Price: $24.95 ISBN: 1-57274-748-x
Turbill and Bean's intent in writing their book is made explicit in its Foreword: "To restore purpose and audience to the writing curriculum in every elementary classroom" (p. vii). Keeping this premise in mind the foundation of the volume rests on the consideration of writing as a social process: "Writing is only real and can only be produced to the best of a writer’s ability if the social purpose for the writing is clear, the social audience for the writing is known and the response from the audience is eagerly anticipated and cared about (p. viii)." Therefore, purpose, audience, and genre pervade its pages as constant reminders that writing is more than learning punctuation, capitalization, and spelling conventions. Rather, it is a complex skill whose intricacies must be specifically explained to students if teachers wish to turn them into active participants in the process.
The book includes a foreword, nine chapters, some concluding thoughts, appendices, references, and an index. In the foreword, Mem Fox describes the purpose of the book and the three dimensions to writing (word, sentence, and whole text level) while reminding teachers not to forget the relevance of the latter, with its focus on genre and the meaning of a piece. Chapter 1 explains that teachers only write when they have to. This is attributed to “red pen syndrome," their recall of experiences receiving essays back from their own teachers covered in red ink. While there is no magical recipe to eliminate this problem, the authors make suggestions to help students, among them presenting descriptions of grammatical features, focusing on the conventions of writing, explaining the syntax of the language and explaining how to find appropriate information, take notes, and work on cohesion and coherence. In short, teachers should help students gain the necessary background knowledge to produce better writing results and to learn that "writing is composing meaning into texts for a particular purpose and a particular audience" (p. 3).
Of particular interest for teachers is the discrepancy between the indicators of good writing selected by authors such as Wilkinson and Macrorie and those chosen by some teachers surveyed by the authors. While the former focused on holistic aspects of the skill, more than 50% of the latter chose isolated skills such as spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. One of the cameos included is very revealing. When a student was asked to write a story he asked: "Will I write a school story or a real story?" For the authors this is a clear example of how students' perception of the lack of an audience for their school writing tasks influences the quality of their writing. Interestingly, the authors found that teachers' criteria for what they considered "good writing" varied significantly when they moved away from their classroom practice.
In an exploration of the reading-writing connection, Turbill and Bean explain that readers compose meaning from the text while writers compose meaning into text. The three tables compare what readers and writers do before, during, and after reading and writing, respectively. The authors include Frank Smith's suggestion that learning the conventions of writing at the whole text, sentence, and word level can't be done through didactic teaching only. Rather, he thinks that writers initially learn all the techniques they know or need to know through reading. Elaborating on this idea, the authors note that while "many avid readers will not necessarily be avid writers. . . it is unlikely for those who don’t read to ever become avid writers" (p. 21).
The authors underline the importance of aligning teachers' basic beliefs about writing and their classroom practice. They subsequently describe what they label their four "basics of writing" and what they mean in the classroom. The first one, "writing is a language act," means providing students with time for talking and listening during the different phases of writing; "writing is worth learning" entails giving students the opportunity to write every day and providing them with feedback; "writers need to understand audience and purpose" means reading aloud to students, discussing authors' perceived purposes, and giving students the opportunity to talk about the purpose and audience of their writing before initiating writing; finally, "writers need to understand the writing process" includes teacher modeling of all aspects of the writing process, including focusing, composing, editing, and different spelling strategies.
The core of the authors' model for teaching writing is audience and purpose and their relationship to the choice of genre. Turbill and Bean take this opportunity to remind teachers to make what they know about writing more explicit to students. They describe the skills students need as they develop into writers: punctuation, grammar, reading, handwriting, computer skills, and spelling. Of special interest for the reader is the description of the steps to be followed by teachers to ensure a smooth student transition from reading to writing: modeled-shared-guided-independent. Also of interest is the authors’ take on spelling. While they think the skill needs to be taught they also make it clear that there is “very little benefit in learning words for the sake of being able to reproduce them in spelling bees or weekly written tests” (p.50), something that clearly goes against the phonics frenzy present in many current reading programs.
The discussion of helping writers consider audience, purpose, and genre includes a model (modeled-shared-guided-independent) similar to the one used to help students move from talking to writing skills. "Teaching genres" details characteristics of the most current types of text at the school and academic levels (narrative, informative, and persuasive) and some of their distinguishing structural and grammatical features covering the word, sentence, and text level. The section includes cameos of student samples illustrating their grasp of various genres.
The authors end with a discussion of managing writing instruction. The rationale for the four pillars (time and timing, resources, teaching strategies, and assessment), is explaining the "how" after having talked about the "why" and the "what." The fourth pillar, asssessment, gets the most attention. It includes two examples of checklists to judge students' process and product of writing and a rubric including a section on students' self- assessment of their writing process ("Make a comment on what you can do to improve next time"). The latter is particularly useful because it forces students to reflect on the process, thereby helping them produce better pieces of work. The authors caution against the use of assessments to make comparisons among students, calling instead for teachers to design their own assessments.
A few shortcomings of the book are its excessive concentration on lower grade student samples despite targeting a K-6 audience; additionally, the use of too many headings and subheadings made reading Chapter Seven’s description of Pillar three somewhat cumbersome; finally, there are references in some chapters to figures and checklists contained in previous or subsequent chapters. Perhaps a different distribution of the information would have helped avoid this situation.
Overall Turbill and Bean's volume succeeds in achieving its main purpose, that of emphasizing the presence of purpose and audience in the writing process. To this effect its pages include numerous appeals for teachers and students not to forget these two components as well as several cameos illustrating how students addressed them in their writings. It is precisely the inclusion of cameos and of actual teacher checklists that teachers will find especially valuable, since they help illustrate the main points stressed by the authors.
Reviewed by Francisco Ramos, Ph.D., Assistant professor in the School of Education, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California.
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