Fall 2025      Volume 53, Number 4

Professional Development: Keeping Literacy Instruction Relevant and Meaningful
By Sophie Degener, Elizabeth Bramley, Adelfio Garcia, and Ivy Sitkoski

Document: Column  

Introductory Paragraph:  As a teacher educator of both preservice and inservice teachers, I frequently hear complaints about the literacy curriculum that their schools have adopted. These conversations are prompted by assignments I have given in class, with my students saying things like, “This assignment was great—my students were so engaged—but I could never fit this into our current literacy curriculum.”  We recognize the challenges that teachers face when they are expected to follow literacy curricula without deviating from the script. We hope that the books we have reviewed for this column provide lots of actionable ideas for making modifications, big and small, to your daily literacy instruction, to make it more relevant and responsive to students. The first book explores ways to embed cultural responsiveness into primary grade instruction, including foundational literacy skills; the second book provides ideas for fitting independent reading into the middle and high school literacy curriculum; and the final book explores writing workshop instruction that utilizes artificial intelligence in ways that are supportive to teachers and students alike.  Happy reading, and we wish you a productive and joyful 2025-2026 school year!

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.53.4.2025.52

Page Numbers:   52-55