Engaging in the Language Arts: Exploring the Power of Language

Engaging in the Language Arts is a new book that defines the discipline of language arts. This book emphasizes the need for teachers to draw upon the language power of students–the best language resource in their classrooms–in order to succeed in teaching to our increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse student body.

Engaging in the Language Arts enables teachers to identify their students’ language possibilities and know how to make optimal use of these possibilities in their classrooms. Distinguished author team Donna Ogle and Jim Beers have crafted an ideal book for instructors seeking a focus on contemporary communication and visual literacy, using varied genre and electronic resources. Ogle and Beers present a lively narrative, clear organization, exceptional pedagogy and special features that bring the language arts to life for teachers.

Unlike comparable books, Engaging in the Language Arts helps teachers ensure that students learn to use language to communicate with others, to explore ideas, and to demonstrate their learning orally and in written formats. While covering all of the basic writing processes, the book places a unique emphasis on the actual purpose behind teaching writing and also includes classroom-based assessments and activities reflecting state and national standards that provide important resources to help teachers differentiate instruction.

About the Authors

 Donna Ogle is Professor of Education at National-Louis University in Chicago, Illinois, and is actively involved in staff development projects work in the Chicago Public Schools, the Reading Leadership Institute, and in other American school districts. Dr. Ogle serves as a literacy consultant internationally, including Critical Thinking International and as a part of the editorial review boards of Lectura y Vida and the Thinking Classroom. She recently finished her term as president of the International Reading Association (IRA). Donna also conducts research on visual literacy and content comprehension, having developed both the K-W-L and PRC2 (partner reading in content, too). She is the author of many books, book chapters, and professional articles and conducts national and international workshops on teaching for comprehension and higher order thinking, as well as using the arts in teaching. Her K-W-L procedure has become so renowned that teachers use it all over the world.

James Beers is Professor of Reading, Language, and Literacy in the School of Education at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. He is also the Director of the Eastern Virginia Writing Project of the National Writing Project which helps teachers help their students become better writers. He has a B.A. in English from Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. in English, and Ph.D. in Reading from the University of Virginia.   

            Dr. Beers has taught reading, writing, and spelling to students at all grade levels and has published books, chapters, and articles on reading, writing, and spelling. Among these publications are Developmental and Cognitive Aspects of Learning to Spell and Writing for Competency. James is also an author on the Scott Foresman Reading and Spelling Programs. He has given numerous in-service workshops throughout the United States and Canada for teachers and administrators on the teaching of reading, writing, and spelling. He has assisted a number of school systems in developing K-12 reading and writing curricula and the three- to four-year plans for implementing the curricula.

            Along with his wife, Dr. Carol S. Beers, James has participated in the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project through the International Reading Association’s International Volunteer Program. This project has helped teachers in eastern European countries promote critical thinking and independent learning through reading and writing in their students. James and Carol are currently co-authoring a book that addresses what every principal should know about reading.