Taming the Wild Text: Literacy Strategies for Today's Reader

by Pam Allyn, Monica Burns (With)

This professional resource equips K-12 students with the skills they need to be critical readers in the 21st century. Today's reader is reading across multiple genres, on phones and tablets, with text in hand, and also online, and this helpful book provides educators with techniques on how to teach students to read on every platform and in every genre, to struggle with text, and to break through to new ideas when reading text. It focuses on the habits that students must form in order to gain the confidence to access all texts across all platforms. Each chapter is devoted to developing the five habits for successful reading closely, widely, critically, deeply, and purposefully. Grounded in the latest research, the easy-to-implement strategies and instructional methods will help students cultivate strong reading skills in the 21st century classroom.

184 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2017

About the author

PAM ALLYN is the author of an inspirational and practical book for parents, teachers, and caregivers entitled What to Read When , which was published by Penguin in April 2009.

Her first professional book, The Complete 4: How to Teach Reading and Writing Through Daily Lessons, Monthly Units and Yearlong Calendars , was published by Scholastic in November 2007. This groundbreaking book was recently followed by Pam’s series of grade level books chock-full with day to day lessons called The Complete Year published by Scholastic in 2008 and co-authored with her LitLife colleagues.

Pam is the Executive Director of LitLife, a nationally recognized organization specializing in transformative school improvement through literacy education. She is also the Executive Director of LitWorld, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to bringing quality education to the world’s most vulnerable children.

She is the Founding Director of Books for Boys. For nine years, this program has been acclaimed for its innovative efforts on behalf of at-risk boys, and its work is replicated in other foster care agencies. Pam also spearheads an initiative called “The Family Story Power Project” which brings literacy rich curriculum to families and children.

Pam is the recipient of the James Patterson Page Turner Award for excellence in bringing literacy to underserved populations. She has also received a Disney Points of Light Foundation Award for her work bringing books and literacy to children. In May 2007 The Children's Village, the nation’s largest residential treatment center for foster care children presented Pam with its Legacy of Service Award for her tireless efforts to bring the magic of books and reading to children.

She is a motivational speaker for audiences of teachers, administrators, librarians and parents. She has been featured on The Today Show. Prior to founding LitLife, she was the Director of Funded Projects at the Columbia University Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.

Pam is on the Advisory Board of the Dream Charter School in Harlem, the Leadership Council of Global Action for Children, the Advisory Board of the Amherst College Center for Community Engagement and the English Language Arts Scope and Sequence Advisory Group for the New York City Department of Education.

Reviews

[Heather Stringham · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book gives great ideas to help readers, I had hoped for more to benefit the high schoolers. I felt that there wasn’t enough information given to let me know that it was meant for elementary and middle school.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great guide for educators to go deep into reading with their students, individualizing for all learners. Great tools to help along the way!