Not Intimidating: Teaching Different Reading Genres to a Diverse Student Body

About the Book

Teaching genres of fiction, non-fiction, and media need not intimidate new to middle school teachers who may be recent college graduates or veterans transitioning from elementary or high school. Here are strategies for designing culturally relevant lessons that include firm and fair grading guidelines, plans to teach literary terms specific to various genres, and suggestions for selecting appropriate texts that appeal to and expand horizons of diverse students in classrooms across the nation.

Table of Contents:

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter One: Preparing the Road Bed for Smoother Travel

Chapter Two: Unpacking the Story and Understanding the Genre

Chapter Three: Crossing into Novel Territory – Reading Longer Fiction

Chapter Four: Teaching Classical Fiction: Where the Ghosts of the Past Speak Today

Chapter Five: Opening the Past Imaginatively: Teaching Historical Fiction

Chapter Six: Taking T.I.M.E. to Teach Poetry

Chapter Seven: Playing It Right: Reading and Writing About Drama

Chapter Eight: Unreeling Non-Fiction: Essays, Speeches, and the Media

Afterword: Safe Travels

Bibliography

About the Author :
Anna J. Small Roseboro, a National Board Certified Teacher has over four decades experience teaching in public and private schools, mentoring early career educators, facilitating leadership institutes. She was awarded Distinguished Service Awards by the California Association of Teachers of English and the National Council of Teachers of English.

Review :
Not Intimidating: Teaching Different Reading Genres to a Diverse Student Body is an excellent choice for anyone seeking literacy strategies and activities to engage adolescents. You are not alone on this journey even within your classroom. Your students are there to help." And Anna J. Roseboro is, too. This book is a guide for any ELA teacher starting a new job or a new grade level who feels overwhelmed or underprepared. It is packed with sage advice for planning the school year by genre while offering practical methods for understanding text structure while uncovering the art and joy of literature. Roseboro addresses the teacher directly, explaining how to teach the strategies for reading responses (P.I.E) or poem analysis (T.I.M.E), for example, creative activities that honor the voices and contributions of students with their own research and verse. This book will be a comfort to new teachers who are the department or do not have a team of teachers to visit or observe in their schools. If there is one thing Anna Roseboro is not, it is intimidating. Her approach to teaching reading genres is eminently do-able. While based upon current scholarship and research, the practices she describes reflect the practical realities of classroom scenarios you are sure to recognize. She skillfully navigates the balance between teacher direction and student choice. Prepare to learn from a master at work! Not Intimidating: Teaching Different Reading Genres to a Diverse Student Body contains an encyclopedia of strategies carefully organized to aid teachers in developing and reflecting on curricula that teaches foundational literacy skills for the middle grades. Roseboro addresses how best to support all students, including ways of motivating students to engage in literacy skills beyond the assignment, assessing students’ learning based on multiple intelligences, and warmly welcoming English language learners into lessons. Real student responses are intermixed with numerous research-based strategies, practical teacher tips, and poignant reflective questions to ensure that lessons and assessments are developed with students at the forefront of planning. Not Intimidating is a powerful text for pre-service teachers just beginning to conceptualize their own classroom structures and veteran teachers recrafting their curricula alike. As a veteran teacher reworking my own curriculum, Roseboro’s positive, welcoming style helped me better strategically map out the skills needing to be taught while being mindful of the different ways my students engage with texts. As a long-time ELA educator, I have read an immense amount of literature, guides, and instructional manuals written on how to get students engaged, how to help them deepen their learning and how to use instructional strategies to do that. Teachers will find Roseboro’s book, Not Intimidating, more than just a manual for the English Language Arts classroom. They will find Roseboro’s book an impactful resource that not only mentors teachers on how to develop rigorous lessons that create meaningful, accessible learning for all students, but Roseboro also provides relevant research to support her provided units, lessons, and various approaches to teaching our diverse, 21st Century learners the various reading genres.