Accelerating Literacy for Diverse Learners

Research indicates that the culturally responsive teaching strategies outlined in this book accelerate literacy, language development, and academic growth for students in grades K–8, particularly for English language learners. Completely revised and updated, this bestselling resource speaks to the social-emotional needs of learners and helps teachers support each child’s development of a positive self-concept. The authors present best practices, aligned with reading and content standards, and tools for developing academic talk and instructional conversations in the classroom. Special emphasis is placed on using student culture and language as a means for promoting meaningful relationships among communities of learners. The text includes tips for using the strategies for parental involvement, gathering knowledge of the student's background, and promoting social-emotional learning. A companion website provides new video of the strategies being used in classrooms.

Book Features:

• Connections to ELP standards and skills with emphasis on processes that foster reading, writing, and comprehension skills.
• Guidance to help teachers move beyond static grouping structures and instead utilize responsive opportunities for collaboration and instructional conversations to introduce, rehearse, and review content.
• Technology connections that help teachers maximize the strategies as systematic learning tools for students.
• Detailed steps and instructional tips for strategy implementation.
• Access to teacher-in-action video clips that demonstrate key strategies in practice.

Socorro G. Herrera is a national and international consultant and a professor and executive director of the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy (CIMA) in the College of Education, Kansas State University. She received the 2022 AERA Division K Legacy Award. Shabina K. Kavimandan is a national presenter, a literacy/ESL coach, and a project manager and instructor in the College of Education, Kansas State University. Della R. Perez is an assistant professor in the College of Education, Kansas State University. Stephanie Wessels is an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"Accelerating Literacy for Diverse Learners provides teachers a powerful framework to guide their decisionmaking processes in support of their students’ sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic biographies. The book presents a varied set of strategies that actively engage students in communicating, displaying, sharing, analyzing, reflecting on, and using their own understandings to develop new understandings and gain access to a high-quality curriculum."
—Ester J. de Jong, EdD, professor, University of Florida, and 2017-18 President of TESOL

"Finally, a book about strategies for teaching multilingual learners that goes beyond teaching language as a subject and includes the need to engage, motivate, and advocate for these students. Always ahead of her time and always practical, concrete and helpful for busy teachers, Herrera and her colleagues have produced another must- have book for teachers of multilingual learners."
—Kathy Escamilla, professor, University of Colorado Boulder

"Dr. Socorro Herrera and Shabina Kavimandan have guided my staff in embracing an ELL lens to capture the biography of their students. Applying this knowledge and skill in classrooms is a dream come true."
—Sabina Gonzalez, principal, Guadalupe Centers Elementary, Kansas City, MO

Download Instructional Aids as PDF