Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write

Designed for courses that focus on instructional reading methods for at-risk and culturally diverse student populations, this inexpensive text assists preservice and in-service teachers in enriching the learning and reading skills of all children. Literacy movements and philosophies are subject to a pendulum effect, but renowned authors Cunningham and Allington promote the integration of phonics and literature-based process writing and reading instruction for a more balanced approach. The book helps ALL children engage in meaning-centered reading by showing teachers how to foster powerful decoding and comprehension strategies.

"The text is written like a road map for specific instructional practices... teachers would value it as a long-term resources, using it as part of their daily practice." April Key, Principal, Global Science Middle School, Las Vegas, Nevada

 

"This is a very balanced and thoughtfully organized book for promoting excellent teaching and learning in our classrooms.  I heartily recommend this book for teachers needing both a foundation to literacy guide and a book chock full of great ideas founded in research." Barry Hoonan, Odyssey Program, Bainbridge School District  

The Fifth Edition of Classrooms That Work emphasizes a core set of ideas across a variety of timely topics, providing a comprehensive, balanced treatment of instructional reading methods for struggling and culturally diverse students.

Schools today have more children from racial and ethnic minority groups, more children who are learning English, more children from single-parent homes and more children living in poverty.  The need for balanced, comprehensive literacy instruction that pervades the school day and curriculum is greater now than ever. Pat Cunningham’s and Dick Allington’s clear and friendly writing style emphasizes the importance of promoting the integration of phonics and literature-based process writing and reading instruction to enhance ALL students’ learning and reading skills.

 

New to the Fifth Edition:

Addresses the importance of fostering fluency by providing teachers with a variety of methods to increase the amount of reading their students are doing throughout the day and teaching students to quickly and accurately read and spell common words. (Chapter 4)

Suggests a variety of ways successful teachers differentiate their instruction to meet the needs of increasingly diverse classrooms. (Chapter 11)

Differentiates instruction by providing “Tech Savvy Teacher” and “English Language Learners” boxes throughout all chapters. These boxes contain practical suggestions for using technology and other resources to make instruction as effective as possible for ALL students.

Meet the Authors

Patricia M. Cunningham is a professor of education at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, North Carolina. She has taught in various elementary grades and been a curriculum coordinator and director of reading. Her major professional goal is promoting literacy for all children.

Richard L. Allington is a professor of education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is a past president of the National Reading Conference and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame. Dick has extensively researched effective teaching and how schools can develop effective, expert teachers.