Evidence-Based Instruction in Reading: A Professional Development Guide to Phonemic Awareness

Learn to enhance your assessment and teaching of phonemic awareness!

Finally teachers have access to a professional development series, Evidence-Based Instruction in Reading, written specifically to guide them in sharpening their understanding of the five key components to Reading First—phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. This book focuses on phonemic awareness, but each volume in the five-part series addresses one key component and presents friendly tips and strategies that teachers can take right into the classroom.

How to make Phonemic Awareness work for you!

• Consider recommendations for incorporating appropriate reading materials, fostering productive home–school connections, and promoting students’ desire to learn to read and write.
• Read about the findings of current key research studies and learn about their implications for classroom practice.
• Discover how to evaluate your current practices and create concrete plans for change.
• Start a learning community or book club and share your knowledge with colleagues.
• Access useful resources and links to extend and enrich your own learning beyond the classroom.

Teachers rave about A Professional Development Guide to Phonemic Awareness!

"I have been in reading instruction for 33 years and there are teachers in my school who have been in for three years [to] 23 years…with the variation in experience, we have a wide variety of backgrounds…this text brings all that together because of the way it is written…I would use [this book] with my lower grade Reading First teachers and with teachers in grades 2 and 3 for struggling readers. Phonemic Awareness is usually a missing piece in those students who are not on grade level by this time. We could put this information to good use and make it applicable at many grade levels.” 

                                    — Cathy Taylor, Reading First Literacy Coach, Stewart County Elementary School, Lumpkin, GA

Also available in the Evidence-Based Instruction in Reading series:

A Professional Development Guideto Phonics

© 2008 ISBN: 0-205-45630-8

A Professional Development Guideto Vocabulary

© 2008 ISBN: 0-205-45631-6

A Professional Development Guideto Fluency

© 2008 ISBN: 0-205-45629-4

A Professional Development Guideto Comprehension

© 2008 ISBN: 0-205-45627-8

Dr. Timothy Rasinski is a professor of education in the Department of Teaching, Leadership, and Curriculum Studies. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in literacy education. His major interests include working with children who find reading difficult, phonics and reading fluency instruction, and teacher development in literacy education. He has published over 100 articles and 10 books on various aspects of reading education. Dr. Rasinski is past editor of The Reading Teacher and is currently an editor for the Journal of Literacy Research. He has served as president of the College Reading Association and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. He earned bachelor degrees in economics and education at the University of Akron and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His master's degree in special education also comes from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dr. Rasinski was awarded the Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.

Nancy Padak is a Distinguished Professor of Education at Kent State University where she directs the Reading and Writing Center and teaches graduate courses in literacy education and recently received the honor of Kent State University Distinguished Professor. She was a part of the team that wrote the initial grant to fund the state literacy resource center at Kent State University-Ohio Literacy Resource Center (OLRC) and has been a middle school and high school classroom teacher and administrator in a large urban school district. She frequently works with teachers, has written or edited a dozen books and more than 100 scholarly articles. Nancy is a past College Reading Association President and a former Editor of The Reading Teacher.  She currently edits the Journal of Literacy Research. Nancy . Nancy has three grown children, Katie, Mike and Matt. Her husband, Gary is Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Kent State. She enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.

Maryann Mraz is a professor in the reading and elementary education department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She teachers graduate courses in literacy education as well as literacy methods courses. She frequently provides professional development workshops to teachers and literacy coaches, and is the author of numerous articles, chapters, and instructional materials on literacy education, including the book Teaching Literacy in Sixth Grade, coauthored with Karen Wood. Her professional interests include literacy coaching, professional development, early literacy, and content area literacy. She earned both a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in education from John Carroll University. Dr. Mraz earned her Ph.D. from Kent State University.