Books by Copeland, Gallagher, Glasgow, and McLaughlin and DeVoogd

by Sheila Cantlebary

Here are a few good books on this issue's theme--Working Through Challenging Texts:

Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School by Matt Copeland (Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2005)
Socratic circles have long been touted as a powerful method for developing critical reading and thinking skills. In Matt Copeland's Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School, you will find a comprehensive guide for using them successfully. From the nuts and bolts of getting started to multiple means of assessment, it is all here. Transcripts and descriptions of Copeland's own practice demonstrate how to facilitate the inner and outer circles, manage the dynamics, and provide feedback. Copeland includes suggestions for cross-curricular activities and provides a bibliography of text selections for Socratic circles.

Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12, by Kelly Gallagher (Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2004)
This book provides the active learning strategies that will help students read beneath the surface level. Drawing on twenty years of classroom experience teaching language arts and a solid research base, author Kelly Gallagher shows how to take students from effective "first-draft reading" to meaningful refection. This resource is a compelling read, filled with practical and engaging strategies such as "literacy dominoes" and "shift charts." Gallagher also includes ways to apply critical thinking skills when teaching informational or "real-world texts."

Strategies for Engaging Young Adult Readers: A Social Themes Approach by Jacqueline Glasgow, Ed. (Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers)
Edited by Jacqueline Glasgow, Strategies for Engaging Young Adult Readers presents rich thematic units based on social issues found in award-winning young adult novels. Literacy is used as a tool for exploring issues that are meaningful and relevant to students. The eleven chapters include a wealth of embedded before-, during-, and after-reading strategies that can easily be adapted for other uses. A bibliography of related young adult literature is provided for each theme. An accompanying CD shares samples of students' culminating projects, including reader's theater scripts, poetry, multigenre papers, zines, artistic responses, and much more.

Critical Literacy: Enhancing Students Comprehension of Text by Maureen McLaughlin and Glenn L. DeVoogd (New York: Scholastic, 2004)
Maureen McLaughlin and Glenn DeVoogd first "demystify" critical literacy for the reader by clearly defining the term and sharing some essential theoretical underpinnings. They offer a framework and model lessons for guiding students to "comprehend with a critical edge." Although the classroom examples in the book are drawn from elementary and middle schools, high school teachers will also find it a worthwhile resource for planning instruction that requires students to read with a critical stance. Appendices include a glossary of critical literacy terms, an annotated list of useful trade books, and a list of websites to use for additional information about critical literacy and as resources in lessons.

Sheila Cantlebary is a reading content specialist at the Ohio Resource Center. As a former teacher in Columbus Public Schools, she taught English, language arts, and reading (7-12), served as a K-12 English language arts coordinator, and was a teacher in the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow program. Her teaching experience also includes facilitating State Institute for Reading Instruction and English Language Arts Academy sessions. She is currently co-facilitator of the High School Language Arts Network sponsored by the Central Ohio Regional School Improvement Team.

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