Erika Thulin Dawes, Katie Egan Cunningham, Grace Enriquez, Mary Ann Cappiello
Foreword by: Xenia Hadjioannou
Publication Date: December 22, 2023
Pages: 176
Series: Language and Literacy Series
From the authors of the popular blog and resource for teachers, The Classroom Bookshelf, this book offers a framework and teaching ideas for using recently released children’s and young adult literature to build a culture of inquiry and engagement from a text-first approach. Reading With Purpose is designed to help K–8 teachers tap into their inner reader, to make intentional text selections for their students, and to create joyful and purpose-driven literacy learning experiences. The heart of the book is organized according to 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.
Book Features:
Erika Thulin Dawes is a professor and chair of the Language and Literacy Department in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University. Katie Egan Cunningham is an associate professor of teacher education at Sacred Heart University. Grace Enriquez is a professor of language and literacy at Lesley University. Mary Ann Cappiello is a professor of language and literacy in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University. Together, they are the coauthors of The Classroom Bookshelf blog.
“This is a book that will send readers to library shelves and bookstores and will prompt furious writing in notebooks and on sticky notes, brimming with fresh new ideas about how to recognize and honor the students in our classrooms and how to center purposefulness in our invitations to them to read and think about literature. These ideas may constitute a mind shift, or they may be an elaboration and reinforcement of existing dispositions and practices. Either way, they are bound to inspire some magnificent teaching with literature.”
—From the Foreword by Xenia Hadjioannou, associate professor of language and literacy education, Penn State University, Berks Campus and president, Children's Literature Assembly, NCTE
“The four purposes for reading children’s books presented here provide a theoretical and practical frame for reinvigorating our teaching and connecting to children’s lives and learning. The authors bring the rationales for the four purposes alive through examples of books, classroom practices, and life experiences.”
—Kathy G. Short, Regents Professor, University of Arizona
“Reading With Purpose: Selecting and Using Children’s Literature for Inquiry and Engagement is appealing, accessible, and filled with important and useful material. Getting to the heart of why teachers choose books is critical and those who read this engaging text are likely to be more thoughtful about their book selection processes (for example: which authors and illustrators they include or exclude, the value of sharing culturally diverse perspectives via text sets, using literature to connect children to the past as well as the world around them, and more). I highly recommend this book for classroom teachers as well as professors of literacy education and children’s literature.”
—Jonda C. McNair, Charlotte S. Huck Endowed Professor of Children's Literature, The Ohio State University
Contents
Foreword Xenia Hadjioannou ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Who We Are: The Classroom Bookshelf Story 3
Why This Book? 4
Purposes for Reading 5
Using This Book 6
Part I: Purposes for Selecting and Using Books
1. A World of Purpose in the Pages of Books 11
Classroom Story: If I Were a Book 11
What Matters Most 13
Braided Purposes: The Reader, the Text, the Context 16
Many Books, Many Purposes 21
Purpose Matters: A Community of Readers 22
2. Center Care for Ourselves and One Another 25
Classroom Story: Nurturing Care 25
Why Center Care? 28
Why Now? Supporting the Whole Child 29
Centering Care: Understanding Ourselves and Connecting to Others 31
Selecting Books That Center Care to Teach and Reach the Whole Child 38
3. Connect to the Past to Understand the Present 40
Classroom Story: The Value of Knowing the Past 40
Why Connect to the Past? 42
Why Now? Barriers and Bridges 43
Connecting to the Past 45
Selecting Books That Connect to the Past to Better Understand the Present 55
4. Closely Observe the World Around Us 57
Classroom Story: Idea Making and Learning to Look Closely 57
Why Closely Observe? 58
Why Now? The Climate Crisis and Disconnect With the Natural World 59
Close Observation: Strengthening Our Connection to Our World 61
Selecting Books That Inspire Close Observation to See the World in New Ways 73
5. Cultivate Critical Consciousness 75
Classroom Story: Raising Critical Consciousness Across the Curriculum 75
Why Cultivate Critical Consciousness? 77
Why Now? Agency, Equity, and Justice in an Ever-Changing World 79
Cultivating Critical Consciousness: Creating a Better World for All 84
Selecting Books That Cultivate Critical Consciousness Toward Creating a Better World for All 91
Part II: An Invitations Approach to Encourage Purposeful Reading
6. Invitations to Use Books to Center Care for Ourselves and One Another 95
Text Sets 95
Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies 96
Critical Literacies 97
Reading Process 98
Visual Literacies 99
Writing Development 100
Multimodal Response 100
Social–Emotional Learning 102
7. Invitations to Use Books to Connect the Past to the Present 107
Text Sets 107
Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies 108
Critical Literacies 111
Reading Process 112
Visual Literacies 112
Writing Development 113
Multimodal Response 114
Social–Emotional Learning 115
8. Invitations to Use Books to Closely Observe the World Around Us 116
Text Sets 116
Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies 117
Critical Literacies 119
Reading Process 120
Visual Literacies 121
Writing Development 122
Multimodal Response 124
Social–Emotional Learning 125
9. Invitations to Use Books to Cultivate Critical Consciousness Toward Creating a Better World 127
Text Sets 127
Content Connections and Disciplinary Literacies 128
Critical Literacies 131
Reading Process 132
Visual Literacies 133
Writing Development 133
Multimodal Response 135
Social–Emotional Learning 136
In Closing 138
References 139
Children’s Books 149
Index 157
About the Authors 164
Download Materials and Invitations in PDF format.
Professors: Request an Exam Copy
Print copies available for US orders only. For orders outside the US, see our international distributors.