Transformational Literacy - by Ron Berger & Libby Woodfin & Suzanne Nathan Plaut & Cheryl Becker Dobbertin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Transformational Literacy, written by a team from EL Education, helps teachers leverage the Common Core instructional shifts--building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction, reading for and writing with evidence, and regular practice with complex text--to engage students in work that matters. Worthy texts and worthy tasks help students see the connection between their hard work as readers and writers and their capacity to contribute to stronger communities and a better world.

The stories, examples, and resources that permeate Transformational Literacy come primarily from the more than 150 EL Education schools around the country that support teachers to select, supplement, customize, and create curriculum, and improve instruction. The book also draws on EL Education's open source Common Core English Language Arts curriculum--often cited as one of the finest in the country--and professional development offered to thousands of teachers to implement that curriculum effectively.

Transformational Literacy combines the best of what EL Education knows works for kids--purposeful, inquiry-based learning--and the new imperative of the Common Core--higher and deeper expectations for all students.

• Teach standards through a compelling and purposeful curriculum that prioritizes worthy texts and worthy task
• Improve students' evidence-based reading, thinking, talking, and writing
• Support students to develop a new mindset toward the challenge of reading complex texts

Transformational Literacy introduces an approach to literacy instruction that will engage, challenge, and inspire student with work that matters.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Transformational Literacy

"Put Transformational Literacy at the top of your reading list. This book truly is about transforming, not just tweaking, practice in response to the Common Core State Standards. Perfect for study in professional learning communities, the book takes you inside schools and classrooms that provide ambitious, higher-order instruction for students from all backgrounds."

--NELL K. DUKE, Ed.D., professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture, University of Michigan

"Hopeful and helpful--Transformational Literacy is filled with work-worthy ideas that instill hope in readers by providing helpful vignettes, descriptive examples, text suggestions, and instructional shifts that will prepare young scholars for the 21st century. No classroom teacher, instructional coach or administrator should be without this book."

-- CRIS TOVANI, Secondary English teacher and instructional coach, author, and international literacy consultant

"Transformational Literacy is the right book at the right time. It gives teachers and administrators the know-how to leverage the Common Core State Standards across the academic disciplines in a way that promotes deep school-wide literacy improvement. But this really isn't a book about the Common Core; it is a book about how to foster our students' natural curiosity by challenging them with worthy and rigorous tasks, and it is about how to turn our classrooms into places where there is a clear commitment to quality. A must read."

-- KELLY GALLAGHER, Secondary English teacher and author of Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts

About the Author

Ron Berger, chief academic officer for EL Education, taught public school for more than twenty-five years.

Libby Woodfin, a former teacher, is director of publications for EL Education.

Suzanne Nathan Plaut, a former high school English teacher, serves as the director of curriculum design for EL Education.

Cheryl Becker Dobbertin, program director for EL Education, is a former teacher and building administrator.