Linda Dorn and Carla Soffos describe the process of comprehension as a reflection of the mind—a window into the reader's thoughts. In Teaching for Deep Comprehension they discuss comprehension from a socio-cognitive perspective — specifically, how teachers can use the social context of reading workshop to promote deep comprehension. The book is framed around three guiding questions:

• Can comprehension be taught?
• How does a model become a barrier to comprehension?
• When does a tool become the reason for reading?

Linda and Carla mesh complex theories of comprehension with everyday practical examples in such a way as to help teachers develop a better understanding of what it means to comprehend while reading. The book's appendix contains a wealth of reproducible materials, including text maps, graphic organizers, book lists, and resource charts. Supporting the text is a DVD containing eighty-five minutes of video from a first-grade reading workshop (shared reading, author studies, share time), an adult book discussion, a fourth-grade reading workshop (mini-lesson and literature discussion groups), and other settings.

The goal of teaching writing is to create independent and self-motivated writers. When students write more often, they become better at writing. They acquire habits, skills, and strategies that enable them to learn more about the craft of writing. Yet they require the guidance and support of a more knowledgeable person who understands the writing process, the changes over time in writing development, and specific techniques and procedures for teaching writing.

In Scaffolding Young Writers: A Writers' Workshop Approach, Linda J. Dorn and Carla Soffos present a clear road map for implementing writers' workshop in the primary grades.

Adopting an apprenticeship approach, the authors show how explicit teaching, good models, clear demonstrations, established routines, assisted teaching followed by independent practice, and self-regulated learning are all fundamental in establishing a successful writers' workshop. There is a detailed chapter on organizing for writers' workshop, including materials, components, routines, and procedures. Other chapters provide explicit guidelines for designing productive mini-lessons and student conferences.

Scaffolding Young Writers also features:

• an overview of how children become writers;
• analyses of students' samples according to informal and formal writing assessments;
• writing checklists, benchmark behaviors, and rubrics based on national standards;
• examples of teaching interactions during mini-lessons and writing conferences;
• illustrations of completed forms and checklists with detailed descriptions, and blank reproducible forms in the appendix for classroom use.

Instruction is linked with assessment throughout the book, so that all teaching interactions are grounded in what children already know and what they need to know as they develop into independent writers.

This is a book about problem solving--an internal tool that shapes the cognitive development of young readers and writers. At the same time, it is a book about the role of the teacher and the curriculum in structuring problem-solving opportunities. It is a book that advocates for schools to create intellectual environments that make literate thinking a top priority for children. Finally, it is a book that presents teaching and learning as collaborative processes between many people with a common goal--literacy for children.
from the Introduction

How can teachers create a literacy curriculum that builds processing links between reading, writing, and spelling knowledge? In Shaping Literate Minds, Linda J. Dorn and Carla Soffos illustrate how processing theory can be applied to the everyday practices of classroom teaching.

If instruction emphasizes the interrelationships of these three language areas, students learn how to transfer knowledge, skills, and strategies across literacy events. This is complex theory, but the authors provide clear and practical examples to support teachers as they incorporate these ideas into their classroom practices.

Grounded in authentic experiences from primary classrooms, this book provides:

• explanations of processing behaviors among reading, writing, and spelling knowledge;
• observational tools that support teachers in noticing changes over time in specific literacy behaviors;
• guidance on creating conditions for developing self-regulated learners;
• authentic reading and writing samples and teacher/student interactions;
• figures and pictures that clearly describe how teachers can use assessment to inform and guide instruction, with links to national standards;
• details for establishing a school-based literacy model that includes team meetings, assessment walls, high standards, and a curriculum for literacy;
• appendixes with reproducible assessment checklists, report cards, task cards for literacy corners, and guided reading observation forms for team meetings.

This easy-to-read text will guide K-3 teachers as they develop a reading and writing program for all their students. An apprenticeship approach to literacy emphasizes the role of the teacher in providing demonstrations, engaging children, monitoring their understanding, providing timely support and, ultimately, withdrawing that support as the child gains independence.

Drawing on authentic classroom examples—student writing samples, class schedules, photographs, and rich transcriptions of teaching and learning interactions—the authors illustrate instruction that is aimed at children's learning zones. As children become more competent readers and writers, the instructional interactions are adjusted to accommodate their higher-level learning.

Here is a wealth of in-depth information, specific strategies, and organizational formats in literacy areas such as:

• principles of apprenticeship literacy;
• learning to read from a cognitive apprenticeship approach, including the roles of read-aloud, familiar reading, and shared reading;
• guided reading, including flexible grouping, reading and writing links, and instructional interactions that emphasize problem-solving strategies;
• helping children develop writing strategies through interactive writing, writing aloud, and revising and editing transactions;
• transitions in children's independent writing, including their relationship to modeling and coaching demonstrations during assisted writing;
• helping children acquire phonological knowledge, including activities that guide children in manipulating letters, sounds, and spelling patterns;
• a typical day of putting it all together in two apprenticeship settings: a first-grade classroom and a Title I reading program;
• using school-based professional literacy teams to support teachers in developing an effective literacy program for their children.

No detail is lost. The authors also cover such practical matters as establishing routines and organizing the classroom environment, including rotation schedules for meeting with small groups of children, lists of materials for establishing literacy corners, and literacy corner activities designed to provide the children with opportunities for independent practice.

With Apprenticeship in Literacy you can achieve a balanced literacy program that works for all your students.