TALKING WALLS: Building Classroom Environments to Support Student Achievement

Talking Walls is a great resource for teachers who want examples of what can be done inside the classroom to hook students into learning and support achievement gains. The entire book is built upon actual student work and teacher-made products representing the interactions and processes that were generated from state adopted curricula. Data walls, effective writing programs, accelerated vocabulary, and rigorous instruction focusing on intentional and meaningful work using academic language, and student engagement are all represented on the walls of this new book by Michelle Karns and Charlotte Knox. The pictorial presentation is well supported by a running dialogue of why the authors targeted these strategies and how they are best applied. The forms, teacher tools, standards-based student worksheets, word cards, and achievement strategy instruments referred to in the book are available on the enclosed CD.