Teaching Middle School Language Arts: Incorporating Twenty-first Century Literacies
If only I had had a mentor like Roseboro to ease my way into the classroom. If only someone had handed meTeaching Middle School Language Artsto help me plan a coherent year of learning for them. . . . Data on teacher attrition demonstrates that we are a profession that eats its young. Between 40 and 50 percent of teachers leave the profession in the first five years. Anna Roseboro's book can help to turn these numbers around by helping new teachers be successful right from the first year. It also provides a much-needed tonic for experienced teachers who may have lost their way and are wondering if there isn't an easier way to make a living. (Carol Jago, thirty-two-year veteran middle and high school English teacher; director, California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA)As a teacher educator, I look for any help that I can find for my future language arts middle school teachers. After readingTeaching Middle School Language Artsby Anna J. Roseboro, I realized that my search has ended. This book is everything I could possibly hope for in a text for future middle school language arts teachers as well as veterans. This is a comprehensive text. It covers almost everything a teacher could imagine as part of a language arts middle school curriculum. This book has a friendly personal voice. Roseboro's teaching experiences are documented throughout. You will find the author in this text. (Harold Foster, distinguished professor of education, University of Akron)The wisdom offered in these chapters builds the student's interest, comfort, and confidence concurrently with the elements of literature, writing, and speaking. Every astute teacher knows that before you can teach students, you must reach students. Then you can help them develop language skills and the art of communicating effectively through a wide variety of methods and technology to succeed in a global and diverse society. Anna J. Roseboro not only knows this firsthand but also understands how to convey this to teachers in the most practical and useful handbook for novice middle school language arts teachers or experienced teachers looking for more ideas. (Alison Taylor Fastov, former English department chair; English teacher emeritus, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC)In her latest book, Anna J. Roseboro has provided middle school English language arts teachers with a guide to the curriculum that everyone can use. Novice teachers will find the text easy to understand and adapt, and veteran teachers will be reminded of what they might need to add to enhance or alter what they are already are doing. Roseboro's text has appeal to all who work with middle schoolers looking for interesting and challenging English classes. This book—a worthy successor to Nancie Atwell'sIn the Middle—should be a staple of teacher preparation programs and staff development efforts for years to come. (Bob Infantino, professor emeritus, University of San Diego; past president, California Association of Teachers of English (CATE))Teaching Middle School Language Artswas a joy to read. . . . Reading this book of instruction for teachers new at the work as well as veterans has my interest in the field of teaching, specifically children in middle school, perked. . . . [This is a] book of instruction to assist middle school language arts/ English teachers with lesson examples, stories, and assignments but . . . lays highest significance and emphasis on the importance of the students as individuals. (Shayna Swafford, college student)Roseboro provides a valuable map for traveling through the challenging world of middle school language arts. She includes descriptions of specific lessons aimed at helping students demonstrate their understandings through writing, speech, music, and art. These lessons develop language skills using library and online research while meeting language arts standards. They use both print and electronic forms. Of particular use to teachers who may not be as familiar with electronic formats as their students are suggestions for incorporating new options for language expression. For example, group or individual video journaling, podcasts, wiki sites, using digital photos to scan drawings, posting on the class or school Web site, etc. YouTube and other video posting Web sites can be a source for fan readings of poetry or literary excerpts that can be downloaded or played directly from the Internet in class. The author reminds readers of the need to establish rules for civil engagement while using electronic formats. Postings can be saved and shown later to provide a record of learning. A rich teacher resource appendix should prove an invaluable aid for implementing these suggestions. Roseboro has truly shown how to address 21st-century literacies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. (CHOICE)