Back to the Books

Teachers everywhere are tired of literacy strategies that seem to inhibit rather than support student engagement in reading, writing, talking, and thinking. They've learned that overly scripted materials fail to prepare students for the challenge of a college option and, what's worse, result in kids turning off to learning. Back to the Books offers new ways to think about creating a culture of literacy in your school. Both the book and DVD (purchase separately) follow seasoned teachers and examine the strategies they've used to engage students in the excitement of both making texts meaningful and creating their own texts. The DVD features extensive classroom footage and interviews with teens that demonstrate ways to create a literacy culture in your school—a culture that encourages adolescents to read, write, and think critically about books.

Chapters: Creating Opportunities for Choice, Fostering Analysis, Encouraging Student Voice, Requiring Revision, Setting High Expectations, Appendix: Resources

Ann Cook is Executive Director of the New York Performance Standards Consortium and Co-Director of Urban Academy, New York City. Phyllis Tashlik is Director of the Center for Inquiry in Teaching and Learning and a teacher at Urban Academy.

“I can’t think of a better model for engaging students in literacy development and learning.”
—Susan B. Neuman, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education

"It's just wonderful to listen to a diverse group of kids speaking in their own language about their love for reading and learning. As an author who often gets into schools, I constantly preach the importance of writing and rewriting and was particularly moved to see the very skills I live by being taught with such gusto in these classrooms."
—Michael Winerip, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author of the Adam Canfield series

"Back to the Books is another wonderfully informative and inspiring contribution to the Teacher-to-Teacher series. It provides us with a way to see what literacy across the curriculum can be and what challenging and engaging teaching and learning actually looks like. These videos and books are powerful tools for professional development. Thanks for the great work!”
—Tony Wagner, Co-Director, Change Leadership Group, Harvard Graduate School of Education, author of The Global Achievement Gap