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Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write
“Cunningham and Allington’s voice and presentation style are unique, and I think this distinguishes their book from others. This book is an enjoyable and exciting read for my students. It makes them want to get out there and teach. They walk away from it with not only a sound set of teaching strategies, but a strong sense of why they would use them, and a belief that they can teach like this…Bravo!”
—Donna H. Topping, Millersville University “[ Classrooms That Work ]’s strengths are the knowledge of the authors, the organization and conversational tone of the text, and the emphasis on “ all children can learn”…. I believe the information presented changed my students’ perspectives on how reading and writing should be viewed and taught.”
—Brenda Bradshaw, Southwest Missouri State University “[This book] is easy to understand. The most distinguishing feature is that it is comprehensive and less than [350] pages. It is practical in ways others are not.”
—Dr. Susan McBridge, California Polytechnic State University The fourth edition of Classrooms That Work emphasizes a core set of ideas across a variety of timely topics, providing a comprehensive, balanced treatment of instructional reading methods for struggling and culturally diverse students. Pat Cunningham and Dick Allington, with their clear and friendly writing style, emphasize the importance of promoting the integration of phonics and literature-based process writing and reading instruction to enhance ALL students’ learning and reading skills. It clarifies concepts, defines key terms, and offers just the right balance of research and practical coverage to make the content complete without being overwhelming. This affordable book helps teachers engage all children in meaning-centered reading by fostering powerful decoding and comprehension strategies and implementing a balanced reading program. It identifies and explores five real reading and writing, guided reading, guided writing, decoding/spelling, and word/word knowledge. The fourth edition is filled with workable, practical strategies and activities to use in the classroom. This book plays upon readers' natural curiosity and desire for relevance by offering a modern, applied approach to “traditional” reading topics and an in-depth look at areas of reading instruction not covered by other books. Chapters 11, 12, and 13 describe a sample day in a Building Blocks kindergarten, a sample day in a Four Blocks primary classroom, and a sample week in a Big Blocks intermediate classroom, respectively. Combined, these chapters show how all of the important components of a balanced literacy program can be integrated. For the fourth edition, the authors have reorganized the chapters to reflect an integrative approach to literacy—this new edition starts with Creating Classrooms That Work, a chapter that summarizes the characteristics of the most effective classrooms. Other chapters on words, comprehension, writing, and assessment inform teachers of the need for a balanced approach to literacy. There are also three new chapters in this
Meet the Authors Patricia M. Cunningham is a professor of education at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, North Carolina. She has taught in various elementary grades and been a curriculum coordinator and director of reading. Her major professional goal is promoting literacy for all children. Richard L. Allington is a professor of education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is a past president of the National Reading Conference and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame. Dick has extensively researched effective teaching and how schools can develop effective, expert teachers.
—Donna H. Topping, Millersville University “[ Classrooms That Work ]’s strengths are the knowledge of the authors, the organization and conversational tone of the text, and the emphasis on “ all children can learn”…. I believe the information presented changed my students’ perspectives on how reading and writing should be viewed and taught.”
—Brenda Bradshaw, Southwest Missouri State University “[This book] is easy to understand. The most distinguishing feature is that it is comprehensive and less than [350] pages. It is practical in ways others are not.”
—Dr. Susan McBridge, California Polytechnic State University The fourth edition of Classrooms That Work emphasizes a core set of ideas across a variety of timely topics, providing a comprehensive, balanced treatment of instructional reading methods for struggling and culturally diverse students. Pat Cunningham and Dick Allington, with their clear and friendly writing style, emphasize the importance of promoting the integration of phonics and literature-based process writing and reading instruction to enhance ALL students’ learning and reading skills. It clarifies concepts, defines key terms, and offers just the right balance of research and practical coverage to make the content complete without being overwhelming. This affordable book helps teachers engage all children in meaning-centered reading by fostering powerful decoding and comprehension strategies and implementing a balanced reading program. It identifies and explores five real reading and writing, guided reading, guided writing, decoding/spelling, and word/word knowledge. The fourth edition is filled with workable, practical strategies and activities to use in the classroom. This book plays upon readers' natural curiosity and desire for relevance by offering a modern, applied approach to “traditional” reading topics and an in-depth look at areas of reading instruction not covered by other books. Chapters 11, 12, and 13 describe a sample day in a Building Blocks kindergarten, a sample day in a Four Blocks primary classroom, and a sample week in a Big Blocks intermediate classroom, respectively. Combined, these chapters show how all of the important components of a balanced literacy program can be integrated. For the fourth edition, the authors have reorganized the chapters to reflect an integrative approach to literacy—this new edition starts with Creating Classrooms That Work, a chapter that summarizes the characteristics of the most effective classrooms. Other chapters on words, comprehension, writing, and assessment inform teachers of the need for a balanced approach to literacy. There are also three new chapters in this
Meet the Authors Patricia M. Cunningham is a professor of education at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, North Carolina. She has taught in various elementary grades and been a curriculum coordinator and director of reading. Her major professional goal is promoting literacy for all children. Richard L. Allington is a professor of education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is a past president of the National Reading Conference and a member of the Reading Hall of Fame. Dick has extensively researched effective teaching and how schools can develop effective, expert teachers.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
13 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 19, 2018
Read for a graduate course, this offers a basic framework for the middle level ELA classroom, along with useful strategies and tools that can be implemented immediately. Perhaps better suited as an undergraduate text, but it provided useful reminders nonetheless.
August 18, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and continued to read it past what was required for my reading instruction class. It is full of excellent ideas and inspiration for teaching reading to students with diverse needs.
December 16, 2019
It was required reading for a class but I enjoyed all of the ideas and resources that this book provided. I will refer back to it.
July 16, 2014
"What Really Matters for Struggling Readers" by Richard Allington (a co-author on this book) is one of my favorite books about reading. This one, though, was really just lackluster for me. I thought the section on words and word work just can't compare to "Words Their Way" or "Word Journeys." I felt the assessment stuff was all stuff I already knew. It's basic premise--that all students need ample time to read and write--is undeniable. I just feel like I've read all of this before, and that I've read it all in a better format. It really can't compare to a lot of other books that I've read. I know that this book was first written in 1994, and that at that time a lot of this may have been groundbreaking. I read the third edition, though, that was published in 2003. I don't think it has updated itself like it should. I wish I liked it more, because the other Richard Allington book I read before was just fabulous. It just really didn't do much for me or my practice as a teacher.
November 27, 2008
Cunningham provides the reader with many hands on lessons througout this text. She invites teachers to become more interactive and aware of literacy centers. She does a great job of mapping out each activity by time and location. Cunningham is an excellent researcher that encourages teachers to build teamwork and teach children on all levels. This is a great resource to have in the classroom. Itis a easy read that teachers can relate to.
December 6, 2007
Patricia Cunningham is amazing! Her books are full of information to help you better understand the development of literacy/reading and writing in students and activities to assist in that development. Highly recommended.
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August 7, 2011Patricia Cunningham is my resource! I was taught and do teach the 4 Blocks method. This is a great go to resource: highlight the heck out this book and go back to it every summer before school starts!
March 18, 2016
This book has a lot of great activities. I really liked the tone of this book, it is not one of those textbooks that you read and know you are reading a textbook. It's not boring and dry like a lot of other textbooks, which made the reading go quick and I learned a lot from it.
July 25, 2007
A must read for all elementary educators.
September 3, 2007
Coming back to this book after more experience in the classroom, I found that the ideas and concepts were even more relevant and important.
September 13, 2007
All elementary teachers and principals should read this. There is a new edition with some additional material.
March 21, 2008
Literacy
August 15, 2008
Full of great suggestions for simple and effective reading and writing strategies. After reading this book I have a better understanding of what early grade teachers do to teach reading and writing.
February 25, 2011
So far I really like it. I am a big fan of Patricia Cunningham and Richard Allington. My teacher friends would know these folks.
July 29, 2011
Good Information, easy read, centered around early childhood.
April 8, 2015
This text has a very friendly tone and is easy to read. It's set up like a textbook, but has more style and makes it more fun.
December 14, 2015
Another excellent book from Patricia Cunningham, a great tool for teachers!
January 19, 2015
Lots of great strategies I was able to use in the classroom.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews