Listed below are selected teacher resources for teaching English language arts.
Engaging young readers: Practical tools and strategies to reach all learners,
by L. Robert Furman
Grades: K-4
Beginner-level guide focusing on developmental reading strategies for elementary students at all stages and exploring how technology can be used to improve the skills of a wide range of readers, including beginning readers, struggling readers, reluctant readers, enriched readers and English Language Learners.
by Molly Ness
Grades: K-5
The author presents five strategies that can help student become better readers: asking questions, making inferences, synthesizing, understanding the author’s purpose, and monitoring and clarifying.
The reading strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled readers
by Jennifer Serravallo
Grades: K-6
This book presents a wide range of techniques to allow teachers to develop individual goals for every reader, give students step-by-step instructions for reading with skill, guide readers using prompts aligned with a strategy, adjust instruction to meet individual needs, and more.
The writing strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled writers with 300 strategies
by Jennifer Serravallo
Grades: K-6
From the author of The reading strategies book, this book presents a wide range of techniques to allow teachers to develop individual goals for every writer, give students step-by-step instructions for writing with skill and craft, coach writers using prompts aligned with a strategy, present mentor texts that support a genre and strategy, and more.
Reading power: Teaching students to think while they read
by Adrienne Gear
Grades: K-6
This book presents five thinking strategies that children can employ during their reading: connecting, questioning, visualizing, inferring, and transforming.
Writing power: Teaching writing strategies that engage thinking
by Adrienne Gear
Grades: K-6
The author examines how developing an awareness of readers’ thinking can influence and affect a student’s ability to write. A range of effective writing techniques are outlined and reinforced throughout the book, with suggested “anchor books” for each lesson.
Teaching writing: Balancing process and product
by Gail E. Tompkins and Pat Daniel Jones
Grades: K-8
The authors present an overview of the strategies that writers use, the writing genres, and the writer’s craft, along with techniques for improving the quality of students’ writing. Classroom artifacts, mini-lessons, and day-to-day teaching strategies are integrated throughout the text.
Differentiated reading instruction: Strategies and technology tools to help all students improve
by Jules Csillag
Grades: K-12
This book explores how reading instruction can be differentiated using a range of technological tools, including text-to-speech programs, videos, interactive annotation tools, dictation software, and more.
by Adrienne Gear
Grades: K-12
This book explores ways to build social emotional skills and help students make connections, question what they read, and reflect on their learning as they develop into stronger readers and learners. Strategic and critical thinking strategies revolve around core anchor books that help integrate thinking into all aspects of teaching and learning: from social responsibility, to immigration, to life cycles.
Pulling together: Integrating inquiry, assessment, and instruction in today’s English classroom
by Leyton Schnellert et al.
Grades: K-12
This book explores working together with students to develop and explore essential ideas and practices, including responsive teaching and assessment, reading as a personalized and meaningful experience, and critical literacy.
Concept-based literacy lessons: Designing learning to ignite understanding and transfer
by Lois A. Lanning & Tiffanee Brown
Grades: 4-10
For literacy teachers looking for practical ways to implement a Curriculum and Instruction Model that’s more inquiry-driven and idea-centered, look no further than this book. This resource helps bridge the divide between conceptual curriculum and actionable practice, and provides practical support for teachers implementing Concept-Based literacy lessons.
The flexible ELA classroom: Practical tools for differentiated instruction in grades 4-8
by Amber Chandler
Grades: 4-8
This book describes a range of strategies for use in the ELA classroom, including using choice boards and menus to teach vocabulary, reading, and presentation skills; grouping students strategically to maximize learning outcomes and encourage collaboration; making vocabulary learning interesting and memorable with visual aids, tiered lists, and personalized word studies; designing Project Based Learning lessons to unleash students’ creativity; and assessing students’ progress without the use of one-size-fits-all testing.
Teaching literature to adolescents
by Richard Beach, Deborah Appleman, Bob Fecho, and Rob Simon
Grades: 6-12
How do I teach what my students are reading? How do I help students understand what they are reading? How do I create opportunities to talk and write about texts? This questions and more are addressed in this practical guide to teaching literature to middle school and high school students. Available in print and as an eBook.
Powerful readers: Thinking strategies to guide literacy instruction in secondary classrooms
by Kyla Hadden and Adrienne Gear
Grades: 9-12
This book demonstrates that instruction in the key strategies of connecting, visualizing, questioning, inferring, determining importance, and transforming can help students develop their reading skills and get more out of their work with fiction and nonfiction. Includes step-by-step lessons for introducing and using the strategies, connections to literary devices, and reading lists for each strategy.
Secondary starters and plenaries: English
by Johnnie Young
Grades: 9-12
This book provides English teachers with 50 suggestions for embedding and extending learning in the classroom: from individual to whole-class activities, and from the energetic to the sedate. Each starter and plenary contains an ‘ideas generator’, making it easily adaptable for the whole ability range of a class.
Letting go: How to give your students control over their learning in the English classroom
by Meg Donhauser, Cathy Stutzman, and Heather Hersey
Grades: 10-12
This book explores an inquiry-based approach which allows students to differentiate their learning, giving them the space to choose texts, develop questions, and practice skills based on their individual needs.
Finding More Resources
To find more resources in this area, try the following:
- Search using the General tab on the UBC Library website to look for material in all UBC Library branches.
- Search using “Search Education Resources” box in the left hand bar on the Education Library website to limit your results to physical materials in the Education Library.
- Use specific search terms, such as “English”, “English language arts”, “English language”, “equitable”, “diversity”, or “supportive”.
- To find lesson plans, include “lesson plans”, “lesson planning”, or “activity programs” in your search terms.
For more help with searching, please visit the Library Service Desk or e-mail ed.lib@ubc.ca.