The Missouri Reader Vol. 37, Issue 1 | Page 46

unit. Fourth-grade teacher Lori Elliott completed her unit on cowboys with an after-school campfire cookout on the playground. She invited her students and their families to come dressed for the occasion. This certainly created a lasting impression on everyone involved. It helped to cement in the minds of her students all the reading, writing, and learning they had accomplished during the unit. Zinsser (1994) told us that ―every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought he or she didn‘t have before. Not two thoughts, or five—just one. So decide what single point you most want to leave on your reader‘s mind‖ (p.53-54). What lasting impression do you want to leave on your readers? Perhaps you want to leave them with specific suggestions for how to write a thematic unit. We want to leave you with the confidence to write the article you have dreamed of writing. Sometimes the hardest part is believing you can do it. In writing an article you are doing what you know how to do—you are teaching. You know how to teach—so go ahead and use that knowledge. Special Note: Hurst, B., & Camp, D. (1999/2000). ―If you can write a lesson plan, you can write an article‖. The Reading Teacher, 53(1), 22-23. This material is reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. References Armbruster, B.B., & Nagy, W.E. (1992). Vocabulary in content area lessons. The Reading Teacher, 45, 550-551. Betts, E.A. (1946). Foundation of reading instruction. New York: American. Blanton, W.E., Wood, K.D., & Moorman, G.B. (1990). The role of purpose in reading instruction. The Reading Teacher, 43, 486-493. Burns, P.C., Roe, B.D., & Ross, E.P. (1996). Teaching reading in today‘s elementary schools (6th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Cunningham, P.M., Moore, S.A., Cunningham, J.W., & Moore, D.W. (1995). Reading and writing in elementary classrooms: Strategies and observations (3rd ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman. Davey, B. (1983). Think-aloud—Modeling the cognitive processes of reading comprehension. Journal of Reading, 27, 44-47. Hunter, M. (1984). Knowing, teaching, and supervising. In P.L. Hosford (Ed.), Using what we know about teaching (pp.169-192). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Reutzel, D.R., & Cooter, R.B. (1992). Teaching children to read: From basals to books. New York: Macmillan. Smith, F. (1975) Comprehension and learning: A Conceptual framework for teachers. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Stevens, K.C. (1982). Can we improve reading by teaching background information? Journal of Reading, 25, 326-329. Wyrick, J. (1979). Steps to writing well. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. Zinsser, W. (1994). On writing well (5th ed.). New York: Harper Perennial. Resources for implementing the ELA Common Core Standards The International Reading Association offers a variety of tools to help you in the process of implementing the ELA Common Core State Standards. You can link to books and journal articles, resources from Reading Today, and our members-only section. They also offer professional development opportunities such as webinars and live events, community conversations, and non-IRA websites that contain quality information. Please visit http://www.reading.org and click on Common Core. ©The Missouri Reader, 37 (1) p.46