Reading Zone, 2nd Edition

2015 Global Teacher Prize winner Nancie Atwell and educator Anne McLeod Merkel share strategies for helping students become skilled, passionate, habitual, and critical readers. This new updated edition includes Atwell's latest thinking about the real meaning of close reading, collaborative, literary discussions, teacher-student reading conferences, the content-rich nature of fiction, and features links to expert-tip videos.

"Donald Graves sits on the shoulder of every teacher of writing. Nancie Atwell sits on the shoulder of every teacher of reading. Every book, blog, or tweet about reading in our classrooms has its roots in Nancie's work. With eloquence, Nancie and Anne continue to show the commitment, the joy, and the intellectual energy students bring to, and take from, reading when offered choice." --Linda Rief, Middle School English teacher and author of "Read, Write, Teach" Provided via Amazon Vine, "Excellent approach to reading strategies especially for children between 5 and 10. They also have ideas for older kids, but the main focus would be elementary, especially around 3rd grade, which is the most important grade when it comes to reading. This is a great text for educators and parents alike. I'd suggest you reading it!" --Benjamin Provided via Amazon Vine, "For those of us who think schools have been culpable in killing young readers, The Reading Zone is an essential resource. Nancie Atwell and Anne Atwell Merkel offer a clear, concise blueprint to building reading lives that last: surround students with good books; give them choice; give them time to read; and stop drowning them in silly worksheets and quizzes. If we are serious about inspiring young readers, our first step is to have every teacher, administrator, and school board member read this book." --Kelly Gallagher, High School English Teacher and author of "In the Best Interest of Students" Provided via Amazon Vine, "Nancy Atwell has long been on top of the reading instruction world. I remember studying her in school over ten years ago. The Reading Zone continues her work in reading instruction and focuses on specific techniques primarily for primary schools. Focusing on independent reading, Atwell fights to include time for students to just sit down and read. Included are parent letters with arguments for why this quiet reading time is essential for students of all ages. On top of that, there are strategies, especially with questioning and inferring that help to focus the young reader on staying involved in the literature that they are reading. Not only does Atwell help to guide a student into the reading zone, but also makes a strong case for leaving them alone once you find them immersed in a book that they love." --Jennifer Miller Provided via Amazon Vine, "Over and over, Nancie and Anne make us believe that they literally couldn't survive without books. They read insatiably and share their love of books with their students. And those lucky kids catch their passion for a lifetime of reading. Run, don't walk, to grab this book. Take the plunge, dive in deep. You will be happy you did." --Steph Harvey, Literacy Consultant, co-author of "Strategies That Work" Provided via Amazon Vine

A teacher since 1973, Nancie Atwell founded the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in 1990. She is the recipient of the inaugural Global Teacher Prize, and is the first classroom teacher to receive the major research awards in the field of language arts, the M.L.A. Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize and NCTE's David H. Russell Award. Atwell is the author of the classic text for teachers In the Middle. Anne McLeod Merkel, is a teacher of grades 7-8 writing, reading, and history with the Center for Teaching and Learning since 2013. Merkel taught sixth grade in the Washington, D.C. public school system and taught grades 6-8 at Friends Community School in College Park, MarylandAnn Merkel has been teaching at the Center for Teaching and Learning since 2013. Merkel is a Graduate from Amherst College. She coordinates the Center for Teaching and Learning's intern program for visiting teachers who wish to adopt the CTL's award-winning methods for teaching and writing. Merkel presents about her work across the country.