Books by Harmon, Wood, and Hedrick and Allen

Instructional Strategies for Teaching Content Vocabulary, Grades 4-12, by Janis M. Harmon, Karen D. Wood, and Wanda B. Hedrick (National Middle School Association, Westerville, OH, International Reading Association, Newark, DE, 2006)

This practical book is a compilation of forty-two research-based strategies to help middle and high school content-area teachers with vocabulary instruction in the classroom. David W. Moore (Arizona State University) describes in the foreword what separates this book from so many other books on vocabulary instruction: ". . . its accessible, no-frills format. The vocabulary strategies' descriptions, suggested variations, content area examples, and blackline masters are especially convenient." Each vocabulary instruction strategy is self-contained and includes a brief introduction to the strategy (including the research that supports it), a materials needed list, a reference to the content area for which the strategy is most helpful, the procedure for teaching the strategy, and content-area examples and variations of the strategy.

Authors Janis M. Harmon, Karen D. Wood, and Wanda B. Hedrick have divided the chapters by content area to help teachers "focus on the type of word learning tasks that are involved in the terms" they have selected to teach. In addition, the authors reference the specific vocabulary instruction needs of students who struggle with reading, students who lag behind in reading proficiency, and English language learners.

[This review originally appeared in the March 2008 issue of In Perspective.]

Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary, Grades 4–12, by Janet Allen (Stenhouse Publishers, Portland, ME, 2007)

With an ability to invite teachers into casual conversation and the knack for knowing just what teachers and students need to advance their learning, Janet Allen is one of those authors whose every book you want to seek out for your teacher bookshelf. Allen seems to talk out loud in a way that reaches into the heart of teacher methodology, grasping onto just the right collection of ideas and activities for what’s going to work in the middle and high school classroom.

In Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary, the author thinks out loud—“Why another book on teaching vocabulary? I have pondered that question several times in the course of writing this book”—she then reminds us that "'one must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment' (Hart Crane).” Here teachers can thumb through an extensive list of instructional strategies and the tools that support them (building background knowledge, teaching words that are critical to comprehension, providing support during reading and writing, and developing conceptual frameworks for themes, topics, and units of study), selecting from among them vocabulary learning activities that fit their objective and classroom. Two special features include a CD of printable graphic organizers and an appendix of reproducibles in both English and Spanish.

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.

Return to top