Description: This new early literacy textbook (birth through age nine) focuses on creative literacy instruction through active participation of teachers, parents, and children, providing preservice teachers with practical strategies and activities that can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse learners. It offers a comprehensive view of literacy development and instruction, including assessment, phonemic awareness, and emergent literacy, as well as phonics, vocabulary, reading, writing, and arts integration in diverse classrooms. The authors' holistic approach explains why and how reading and language arts should be taught from the perspective of the whole child, with an emphasis on creativity in a nurturing learning environment. Their unique perspective integrates the arts, educational psychology, and literacy instruction, represented throughout the text by the incorporation of the cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical parts of the self into a visual Holistic Model of Literacy.--publisher.
Brief description: Janet Leigh Towell, Ed.D is Professor of Reading/Language Arts & Children's Literature in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Florida Atlantic University, and Professor, Emerita at the California State University, Stanislaus. Her teaching and research interests include family literacy, bilingual education, multicultural education, global literacy, and integrated reading & arts curriculum development. Dr. Towell was winner of the Constance McCullough Award from the International Reading Association for her project, Promoting Literacy in Jamaican Schools, and the Outstanding Article Award from the Journal of Reading Education. She has published widely on topics ranging from vocabulary development to children's literature to preschool literacy to ethnicity in literature. She is former Editor-in-Chief of The California Reader. She has published articles in The Reading Teacher, Kappa Delta Pi Record, Reading Today, The Journal of Reading Education, and others.
Review Quotes: "This comprehensive textbook affords the instructor and the student access to a host of different and valuable resources. It is easy to read, provides interesting content, and enables the student to glean a solid understanding of what is involved in teaching young children how to read."