Chapters are all very reader-friendly, chock full of up-to-date information, and engagingly written. I would definitely say it is current, accurate, and research-based. My students consistently have good things to say about the book, which is unusual for undergraduates taking a required methods course! They especially like the authentic vignettes that open each chapter, the clear organization, and the many summary tables. They clearly see the connection from theory to practice. They also like the Compendium of Instructional Procedures. I’d probably rate all chapters a 10 on a 10 point scale!
Bonnie Armbruster
Universityof Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign
The book is very readable and the tables/charts are rally helpful. It’s very engaging for students. I love the English Learner and Struggling Reader features, and the compendium is awesome!
Laura S. Pardo, HopeCollege
This text is one of the finest literacy texts available to inspire and educate pre-service teachers in the ways to create a successful literacy classroom. The strength of this book is the engaging, easy-to-read style, and the Compendium of Instructional Procedures and video support provided.
Jean M. Casey
CaliforniaStateUniversity, Long Beach
The most valuable feature of Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach is the Compendium of Instructional Procedures. Basic instructional procedures are easy to find and are described well. Our students purchase and read this textbook during their sophomore year. Throughout their junior and senior years they continue to use the compendium and glossary to review terms and find appropriate instructional methods as they complete field experience assignments. When graduation arrives, the book is well-worn but ready for the students to take with them into their first classrooms as a reference of effective literacy instructional techniques.
Helen Hoffner
HolyFamilyUniversity
Literacy for the 21st Century is filled with a wealth of helpful information and resources for the literacy educator. The text is filled with helpful charts/tables and figures that condense the chapter topics and present hem in an organized and easily understood manner. Another strength is the many resources, instructional procedures, and mini-lessons that are integrated throughout chapters along with various authentic examples of how they are used in the classroom.
PrestonVan Loon
IowaWesleyanCollege
This is a college textbook that all beginning teachers should keep through their early years of teaching and beyond. It’s an amazing resource.
Kristen Gehsmann
St.Michael’s College
The market leader in literacy education, Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach continues to evolve to meet the needs of a changing world. Integrating the best of what we know about teaching reading and writing while implementing the ideas that will lead us into the future of education, the fifth edition provides the balance that you need to be successful in the classroom.
Balancing Student Learning and Teaching Procedures
- New! Be Strategic!: These features help you identify and teach the cognitive strategies successful readers and writers use.
- New! Nurturing English Learners: Expanded chapter sections focus on ways to scaffold students who are learning to read and write at the same time they’re learning to speak English.
- New! Teaching Struggling Readers and Writers: Using recommendations drawn from research, these expanded features explain how to assist students who don’t meet grade-level standards.
- New! Differentiating Instruction: A new chapter helps you understand how to vary instruction and provide interventions so that all students can be successful.
Balancing Explicit Instruction with Genuine Application
- Compendium of Instructional Procedures: This invaluable resource provides you with a bank of step-by-step, evidence-based, teaching strategies.
- New! New Literacies: These new features describe ways to prepare students for the literacy demands of the 21st century’s digital information and communication technologies.
- Minilessons: These popular featurespresent clear, concise skill and strategy instruction, ready for you to take right into your classroom.
- Booklists: These recommendations simplify your job of locating books to use in your classroom.
- Chapter opening vignettes and authentic student work: As signature features of the text, these classroom stories demonstrate how effective teachers balance explicit instruction with authentic application.
Balancing Assessment and Instruction
- New! Assessment. This strong chapter, placed early in the text, lays the groundwork for assessing students’ achievement and using the results to inform instruction.
- Assessment Tools: These features recommend specific tests and informal assessments to use to screen, diagnose, and monitor students’ progress in reading and writing.
MyEducationLab
New! In the pages of this text you'll meet five second graders who are learning to read and write. You’re invited to go to the Literacy Portraits section of the MyEducationLab website to watch students and their inspiring teacher. There you’ll examine classroom footage and student artifacts that document a year-long case study of literacy learning.
- Literacy Portraits: Viewing Guide features in every chapter direct you to case study video demonstrating how students develop as readers and writers.
- Margin Notes direct you to Building Teaching Skills activities that help you refine your knowledge and prepare to teach reading and writing.
- End of Chapter features outline all the resources on this robust website for you to explore to deepen your understanding of chapter topics.
To order this book WITH MyEducationLab, use either ISBN:
ISBN-13: 9780136101406
ISBN-10: 0136101402
To order this book WITHOUT MyEducationLab use either ISBN:
ISBN-13: 9780135028926
ISBN-10: 0135028922
About the Author
Gail Tompkins I’m a teacher, first and foremost. I began my career as a first-grade teacher in Virginia in the 1970s. I remember one first grader who cried as the first day of school was ending. When I tried to comfort him, he sobbed accusingly, “I came to first grade to learn to read and write and you forgot to teach me.” The next day, I taught that child and his classmates to read and write! We made a small patterned book about one of the stuffed animals in the classroom. I wrote some of the words and the students supplied the others, and I duplicated copies of the book for each child. We practiced reading it until everyone memorized our little book. The children proudly took their books home to read to their parents. I’ve never forgotten that child’s comment and what it taught me: Teachers must understand their students and meet their expectations.
My first few years of teaching left me with more questions than answers, and I wanted to become a more effective teacher so I started taking graduate courses. In time I earned a master’s degree and then a doctorate in Reading/Language Arts, both from Virginia Tech. Through my graduate studies, I learned a lot of answers, but more importantly, I learned to keep on asking questions.
Then I began teaching at the university level. First I taught at Miami University in Ohio, then at the University of Oklahoma, and finally at California State University, Fresno. I’ve taught preservice teachers and practicing teachers working on master’s degrees, and I’ve directed doctoral dissertations. I’ve received awards for my teaching, including the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at California State University, Fresno, and I was inducted into the California Reading Association’s Reading Hall of Fame. Throughout the years, my students have taught me as much as I taught them. I’m grateful to all of them for what I’ve learned.
I’ve been writing college textbooks for more than 20 years, and I think of the books I write as teaching, too. I’ll be teaching you as you read this text. As I write a book, I try to anticipate the questions you might ask and provide that information. 
![Literacy for the 21st Century: Balancing Reading and Writing Instruction [RENTAL EDITION]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/219EEpNdfNL._SR75,75_.jpg)
Great for beginner teacher of literacy!KLM
