The Article
Produced by the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA), this guide written by Professor Susan Florio-Ruane and her colleague Taffy Raphael (University of Illinois, Chicago) is designed to support teachers’ inquiries into aspects of early literacy instruction.

Discussion
The guide consists of a series of 10 fictional vignettes, or cases. Each of the cases relates to the various topics outlined in an earlier CIERA publication, Teaching Every Child to Read. The 10 topics range from helping to get students ready for reading and helping children improve their comprehension to creating literacy-rich text environments for children and assessing children’s early reading achievement. Accompanying each case is a set of questions, created to prompt discussion and inquiry. Florio-Ruane and Raphael note that the guide is designed to help generate discussion in many types of groups. As such, the cases are not intended to describe a single, right way to implement ideas, nor are the questions written with a “correct” answer in mind. “Rather, each case provides a window on one teacher’s or group of teachers’ work, lends insight into their thinking, and offers a sense of the kinds of challenges that we face both individually and collectively, as educators.”

What It Means to You
The guide is especially useful for teacher study groups or in classes for interns and/or mentors. It accompanies the CIERA publication, “Teaching Every Child to Read.”

For More Information
Florio-Ruane, S. & Raphael, T.E. (2002). Teaching Every Child to Read: Professional Development Guide. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement. You can request a copy of the guide through the CIERA Web site at www.ciera.org .

< back to 2005 ed-research reports