In Shifting the Balance 3-5, Jan Burkins, Kari Yates and I follow the same successful model as their Shifting the Balance K-2 book by introducing six specific shifts that teachers can make to their reading instruction. We zoom in on a common practice for teachers to reconsider and we untangle a number of misunderstandings that have likely contributed to the use of that common practice. We then propose a more science-aligned shift and we provide evidence from the large body of scientific research to support teachers’ understandings of why that shift is important. We also offer a collection of high-leverage, easy-to-implement instructional routines that teachers can make right away. Part of the “secret sauce” to the Shifting the Balance books is how accessible and practical the books are for busy classroom teachers. We strove to honor the journeys that teachers are on to make their classroom instruction the best it can be to support all children.
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Shifting the Balance 3-5 is available at Amazon and Stenhouse.
ISBN: 9781625315977
Written with my co-authors from the blog, The Classroom Bookshelf, Reading With Purpose is designed to help K–8 teachers tap into their inner reader, to make intentional text selections, and to create joyful and purpose-driven literacy learning experiences. The heart of the book is organized around four purposes for selecting and using literature: care for ourselves and one another, connect with the past to understand the present, closely observe the world around us, and cultivate critical consciousness. Each chapter includes classroom stories, accessible research, reasons for why this matters now, and criteria for selecting for this purpose. A final section provides teaching invitations that pair with suggested books but can also be used with any high-quality book teachers may already have in their classrooms.
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Reading with Purpose is available at Amazon and Teachers College Press.
ISBN: 9780807768501
What do we really want for our students and children? Yes, we want them to thrive as readers, writers, creators, and communicators. But, more importantly, don’t we also want our students to find fulfillment in life, to have strategies for creating their own happiness, and to find meaning and purpose in life. Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness is a guide for teachers to bridge social and emotional learning with literacy learning in intentional ways. Using seven pillars as a framework, Start with Joy helps teachers create literacy experiences that are purposeful, memorable, and joyful. Full of classroom stories, connections to research across fields, and teaching invitations to use right away, Start with Joy is practical and inspirational.
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In Start with Joy, Katie Egan Cunningham masterfully distills the science of happiness and applies it to classrooms. Drawing on a robust body of research, she proves that joy can–and absolutely should–be taught, cultivated, observed, and reinforced. When building a collection of teachers resources, start with Cunningham! -Suzanne Farrell Smith, author of The Writing Shop: Putting ‘Shop’ Back in Writing Workshop
Start with Joy is available at Amazon and Stenhouse.
ISBN: 978-1-62531-283-9
What is it that drives us as readers to stay up late at night under the covers with a flashlight? What compels students to lean in to listen closely on the rug or to continue asking questions when they walk out the classroom door? After over two decades of experience as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, instructional coach, and teacher educator, the resoundingly simple answer I have found is Story. Based on the belief that we are storytelling creatures by nature, Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning is based on several key questions about the place of stories in our elementary and middle school classrooms and how we can support all children to see themselves in stories and know that their stories matter.
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Katie Egan Cunningham’s Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning reminds us that stories found in literature, poetry, mustic, art and illustration, multimedia, and throughout all aspects of our lives serve to move us, inform us, and call us to action. Cunningham offers intriguing and effective steps to help our students strengthen their literacy skills through the reading and writing of story. -Kelly Gallagher, author of Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
Story is available at Amazon and Stenhouse.
ISBN: 978-1-62531-024-8
Literacy Leadership in Changing Schools is a guide for literacy leaders to develop meaningful learning experiences for teachers. Based on decades of experience supporting teachers and literacy leaders, we found 10 key areas literacy leaders can focus on to enact change in their schools. As schools become increasingly more culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse, it’s essential that literacy leaders have knowledge and strategies to support all teachers and all children to thrive. Offering vignettes, strategies, and guidelines, each chapter is devoted to one essential component of serving as an effective literacy leader. Literacy Leadership Toolkits include checklists, surveys, leadership activities, assessment charts, questions, and prompts for self-assessment.
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This book takes complex aspects of literacy professional development, such as standards and instructional techniques, and breaks them down in clear and applicable ways so that decisions can not just be made but also be implemented. -Gravity Goldberg, Author of Mindsets and Moves: Strategies that Help Readers Take Charge
Literacy Leadership is available at Amazon and Teachers College Press.
ISBN: 9780807757130
© 2023 Katie Egan Cunningham