That's a Great Answer! Second Edition: Teaching Literature-Response Strategies to Elementary, Ell, and Struggling Readers(Maupin House)

The ability to comprehend and to respond meaningfully to text is a skill students need every day--not just on test day. That's a GREAT Answer! provides complete and ready-to-go support to help teachers get great answers to open-ended comprehension questions from the students who need help the most--elementary students, struggling older readers, and English language learners. In this revised second edition, Nancy Boyles now includes new Common Core State Standards-based objectives, step-by-step lesson sequences, collaborative tasks that link teaching to learning, insightful new teaching tips, updated and enhanced bibliographies, and student targets on the CD that specify how to meet each objective and answer a particular comprehension question. Her ready-to-go student scaffolds then break comprehension objectives into fifty-three specific, measurable, open-ended questions divided among four thinking strands. A chart shows the correlation between all objectives and the Common Core State Standards for comprehension--easily aligned to the literacy objectives of any state curriculum. Each open-ended question includes: a step-by-step lesson sequence; a template for a related oral collaborative task; teaching tips; a bibliography of fiction and nonfiction picture books aligned with the question; a template instructing students how to find key evidence for the objective before writing their response; an answer frame scaffold for initial response practice that helps students at any grade level organize and elaborate; and a target on the CD that specifies for students how to meet each objective and answer a particular comprehension question. The included CD provides all of the answer frames and targets for the open-ended questions, as well as rubrics, criteria charts, planners, and an extensive master bibliography that matches key fiction and nonfiction literature models with appropriate objectives. From setting a foundation with great standards, books, and instruction through guidelines for assessment, That's a GREAT Answer offers a (now more) complete, great answer for teachers who want to empower their students to respond well to open-ended questions.

About the Author :
Dr. Nancy Boyles was a classroom teacher for many years and is now Professor Emerita at Southern Connecticut State University where she was Professor of Reading and Graduate Reading Program Coordinator. Previously, she spent 25 years as a classroom teacher at various elementary grade levels. She was named Teacher of the Year in her district and was a semi-finalist for Connecticut Teacher of the Year. She received her doctorate in reading and language from Boston University and has received numerous awards over the years for her contribution to the field of literacy. She currently consults with districts and other organizations and agencies, providing workshops, modeling best practices in classrooms, and assisting with curriculum development. Workshop topics include Close Reading for the Common Core; Comprehension Strategies, Small Group Instruction, Explicit Comprehension Instruction, Rigorous Assessment, and Author's Craft. Nancy is the author of several books, including Teaching Written Response to Text, Constructing Meaning through Kid-Friendly Comprehension Strategy Instruction, Hands-On Literacy Coaching, That's a GREAT Answer!, Rethinking Small Group Instruction in the Intermediate Grades, Launching RTI Comprehension Instruction with Shared Reading, Closer Reading in Grades 3-6, and Lessons and Units for Close Reading.

Review :
...offers readers an interesting title, useful organization, and valuable information to assist the teacher in eliciting critical thinking responses from students. For the K-3 classroom teacher of ELL students who are often struggling to find meaning in text, the book presents many wonderful ways to work toward this worthy goal...One of the most useful portions of the book is a rubric for assessing student oral and written response to comprehension questions. This rubric indicates beginning, developing, or accomplished levels with respect to accuracy, organization, thoroughness, and fluency. Boyles rightly includes these barometers of development, as these are indispensable skills for the student population the author seeks to serve. These emphasis areas are highly important for the savvy teacher to gauge progress in her students. The rubric is quick-to-use. It is a user-friendly tool to guide the on-going evaluation of student response to any piece of literature used in the classroom. Another strength of this book is inclusion of abundant templates and tips for assisting the student in his effort to respond appropriately to text...The author was successful in her attempt to impart valuable information for use by teachers of ELLs and struggling readers. As the student makeup of classrooms is increasingly diverse and the occurrence of struggling readers is almost universal, this book is a valuable resource for teachers who appreciate having a quick-reference to useful graphic organizer exercise pages. This impressive inventory of appropriate exercises may be copied for classroom use. This is one of the biggest benefits of the book.-- "Education Book Reviews"