Informed Reading Teacher: Research-Based Practice, The

Based on the idea that the best literacy teacher is the informed literacy teacher, this new book provides an accessible presentation of research and the teaching methods that stem from it. By emphasizing assessment and evaluation along with literacy skills and strategies as the basis for effective literacy teaching, chapters explain more than what to do in a literacy classroom—they help you understand why to do it. The book gives readers an understanding of the nature of reading and writing, equips them with the materials to teach, and develops in them the vital ability to select from this knowledge the “best practices” for meeting children's individual needs. For parents, teachers, and child care specialists of elementary school reading students.

Bill Harp, Ed.D. is professor of Language Arts and Literacy in The Graduate School of Education, University of Massachusetts-Lowell where he works with masters and doctoral students. He is the editor of The Bill Harp Professional Teachers' Library, an imprint of The Christopher-Gordon publishing company. Dr. Harp is currently working on the third edition of Handbook of Literacy Assessment and Evaluation, also published by Christopher-Gordon. Bill's teaching experience ranges from Head Start through sixth grade. He has been an elementary school principal and director of programs for the gifted.

Jo Ann Brewer, Ed.D. is professor of Language Arts and Literacy in the Graduate School of Education, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, where she works with masters and doctoral students. The fifth edition of her textbook Introduction to Early Childhood Education: Preschool through Primary Grades was released in the summer of 2003. Her classroom teaching experiences include many years in kindergarten and primary grade classrooms in Texas. As an administrator, she has had experience in classrooms in California. As a faculty member she has worked in elementary schools in Oregon, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Currently she is working with a group of preschool directors who are interested in increasing the literacy opportunities for the children in their programs. The Informed Reading Teacher: Research-Based Practice is one of several books authored by Dr. Brewer.