New Releases by Jeffrey Wilhelm

This award-winning book continues to resonate with teachers and inspire their teaching because it focuses on the joy of reading and how it can engage and even transform readers. In a time of next generation standards that emphasize higher-order strategies, text complexity, and the reading of nonfiction, “You Gotta BE the Book” continues to help teachers meet new challenges including those of increasing cultural diversity. At the core of Wilhelm’s foundational text is an in-depth account of what highly motivated adolescent readers actually do when they read, and how to help struggling readers take on those same stances and strategies. His work offers a robust model teachers can use to prepare students for the demands of disciplinary understanding and for literacy in the real world. The Third Edition includes new commentaries and tips for using visual techniques, drama and action strategies, think-aloud protocols, and symbolic story representation/reading manipulatives. Book Features: A data-driven theory of literature and literary reading as engagement.A case for undertaking teacher research with students.An approach for using drama and visual art to support readers’ comprehension. Guidance for assisting students in the use of higher-order strategies of reading (and writing) as required by next generation standards like the Common Core.Classroom interventions to help all students, especially reluctant ones, become successful readers. “This book points the way for us to cast our students as experts and collaborators in the educational enterprise.” —From the Foreword by Michael W. Smith, Temple University, College of Education “Simply put, it is a classic—timeless in its basic approach and yet full of relevant ideas and strategies for the era of Common Core.” —Deborah Appleman, Carleton College On the Second Edition: “This important book remains on the must-read list for literacy teachers working with adolescent learners.” —CHOICE “I hope this book is read and considered by all the stakeholders who can make a difference in education by following Wilhelm's lead of improving instruction to enhance students’ lives.” —Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy

This text for pre-service and in-service English education courses presents current methods of teaching literature to middle and high school students. The methods are based on social-constructivist/socio-cultural theories of literacy learning, and incorporate research on literary response conducted by the authors. Teaching Literature to Adolescents – a totally new text that draws on ideas from the best selling textbook, Teaching Literature in the Secondary School, by Beach and Marshall – reflects and builds on recent key developments in theory and practice in the field, including: the importance of providing students with a range of critical lenses for analyzing texts and interrogating the beliefs, attitudes, and ideological perspectives encountered in literature; organization of the literature curriculum around topics, themes, or issues; infusion of multicultural literature and emphasis on how writers portray race, class, and gender differences; use of drama as a tool for enhancing understanding of texts; employment of a range of different ways to write about literature; integration of critical analysis of film and media texts with the study of literature; blending of quality young adult literature into the curriculum; and attention to students who have difficulty succeeding in literature classes due to reading difficulties, disparities between school and home cultures, attitudes toward school/English, or lack of engagement with assigned texts or response activities. The interactive Web site contains recommended readings, resources, and activities; links to Web sites and PowerPoint presentations; and opportunities for readers to contribute teaching units to the Web site databases. Instructors and students in middle and high school English methods courses will appreciate the clear, engaging, useful integration of theory, methods, and pedagogical features offered in this text.