Robert Calfee

Marilynn Chambliss

This book is one of the most comprehensive texts discussing the design, selection and adoption of expository textbooks. Focusing on their own analysis, but also drawing on appropriate studies of others, the authors have produced not only a comprehensive discussion of what makes textbooks more readable, but also the steps that designers and adopters may take to apply the authors' recommendations. Textbooks for Learning recognizes the continuing significance of textbooks in the classroom and seeks to improve the present text-book orientated curriculum via practical rather than the more normal theoretical means through the use of wide-ranging illustrations and examples. The authors conclude that the actual design is the key to a successful textbook, not content alone, and designers will find here clear cut guidelines for creating and revising instructional material. Those selecting textbooks for student use now have at their disposal a framework to support the analysis of expository texts and for trainee teachers, a procedure to consider for textbook selection. Future studies of textbooks will necessarily have to start with this book.

Nurturing Children's Minds

Textbooks for Learning

Dominic W. Massaro

Thomas R. Trabasso

John P. Sabatini

From Orthography to Pedagogy pays tribute to Richard L. Venezky's work and influence on reading, linguistics, and computer science. This book catalogs findings related to speech and language development, reading and spelling's role in infant speech development, and the present and future advances in the study and theory of speech and cognitive development. The editors focus on the role technology could play in development and advancement of literacy speech and reasoning. Topics include: *speech directed at infants; *speech perception; *cognitive development and spelling; *early reading instruction; *reading and comprehension; and *influences of modern technology and multi-media. Representing a history of study in the field, this book appeals to anyone working in the area of language development, as well as those in related fields such as linguistics and developmental psychology.

Essays in Honor of Richard L. Venezky

From Orthography to Pedagogy

Pamela Perfumo

This volume presents chapters by researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who study the impact of classroom portfolios in the assessment of writing achievement by elementary and middle grade students. The focus throughout the volume is on the tension between classroom assessment and externally mandated testing. It presents the efforts of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to understand the impact of classroom portfolios for the assessment of writing achievement by elementary and middle grade students. Under the auspices of the Center for the Study of Writing, the editors conducted a national survey of exemplary portfolio projects, arranged for a series of "video visits," and held several working conferences. The result of this work is a broad-ranging tale: the aspirations of teachers and administrators to move the machinery of schooling in the direction of more authentic and engaging tasks, the puzzlement of students when they realize that the assignments are real and that the teacher may not have a "right answer" in mind, and the tensions between ivory-tower ideas and everyday classroom practice. Divided into four sections, this research volume: * provides a historical perspective, develops the conceptual framework that serves as a background for many activities described throughout, and discusses numerous practical issues that confront today's researchers and practitioners; * views the phenomenon of writing portfolios through a variety of broadview lenses such as teacher enthusiasm, student reflection, assessment tension, the portfolio as metaphor, and the locus of control; * conveys important conceptual issues with a balance toward pragmatics; and * offers unique insights from the perspective of one individual who serves as scholar, researcher, and teacher.

Policy and Practice, Promise and Peril

Writing Portfolios in the Classroom

Robert Calfee

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