Books by Irvin, Meltzer, and Dukes, Taylor and Collins, and Lent

by Beth Munger

Taking Action on Adolescent Literacy is about turning the vision of a literacy-rich school into reality by creating a middle or high school that “successfully develops the academic literacy habits and skills of all students.” Anecdotal vignettes invite readers to “visit” their own and others’ schools, all the while clarifying and describing the roles, responsibilities, and actions that leaders of middle and high schools can take. Careful not to treat literacy development as just an “add-on,” the authors stress their belief that all students in grades 6 through 12—“those who struggle, those who read on grade level, those whose academic skills are strong, those for whom English is not their first language, those who have special learning needs, and those who feel unmotivated and disenfranchised”—need ongoing literacy support.  

Strategies for ensuring the growth and success of students, teachers, and leaders are clearly presented and detailed throughout the book, and special attention is devoted to specific literacy support across the content areas. Teachers will find helpful the short sections on ways to support literacy in the English language arts, math, science, and social studies classroom. The appendices are especially useful, too, in that they offer concrete “Tools for Leaders Taking Action”: a teacher knowledge inventory, a classroom observation guide, and a literacy assessment review tool.

Literacy Leadership for Grades 5–12, by Rosemarye Taylor and Valerie Doyle Collins (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA, 2003)

Looking for some practical suggestions and applications for getting started with literacy learning communities? Teachers Rosemarye Taylor and Valerie Doyle Collins have written a book filled with strategies for classroom approaches and applications, presenting detailed action plans for middle and high school principals, administrators, and teachers. The to-the-point discussions include aligning curriculum, instruction, learning tools, and assessment. Using a nuts-and-bolts approach, the authors supply a step-by-step “how-to” of highly effective literacy practices. The steps are quick and easily transferable to the classroom and curriculum planning.

Among the valuable resources the book provides are the various templates that explain, model, and highlight ways to ensure success of literacy leadership at all levels. From an exploration into the characteristics of positive professional development, to an examination of stakeholders’ commitment to literacy learning, to a focus on resource commitment to literacy, to an overview of whole-school performance, these templates anchor the authors’ discussion to research-based data and practice. The book is positive and affirming, approaching the authors’ end goal for literacy—“that all students will become joyful, independent readers and writers”—in a way that outlines for readers the steps to reach these goals.

Literacy Learning Communities: A Guide for Creating Sustainable Change in Secondary Schools, by ReLeah Cossett Lent (Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 2007)

A book that invites readers to enter into a community dialogue about literacy is always a welcome addition to a teacher’s bookshelf. ReLeah Cossett Lent’s book encourages teachers, administrators, and district personnel to engage in questions, reflection, and study groups that will set the stage “for building authentic, embedded, and sustained literacy learning communities.” The author opens her first chapter by describing her work as a literacy consultant, and readers will find the school experiences the author shares throughout her book refreshing and lively. Her discussions bounce between what “ideal” literacy experiences and schools look like (included are examples of elementary schools) and what can be done to create an effective literacy learning community in our secondary schools.

Ever aware of the focus on and research about content-area learning, Lent has sought to provide readers with “ways of interlacing literacy and community in a manner that supports content area instruction within interdependent teams of learners.” Lent’s book is a strategic framework for embracing and engaging discussions about literacy learning communities and then developing action plans for creating them.

Beth Munger teaches composition, reading, and American literature at Ohio Dominican University. She has also taught composition and literature at Ohio State University and Columbus State Community College. Munger holds a bachelor of arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she majored in English and history, and a master of arts degree from Ohio State University in the field of rhetoric and composition. She has worked on several ORC projects, including Advancing Literacy Instruction Together (AdLIT), Ohio Writing Institute Network for Success (OhioWINS), and the English Language Arts Program Models.

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