Early Literacy

As a professional organization, NCTE is committed to the development of excellent literacy education through all grade levels.  Included here is information and resources focusing on Early Literacy. 

Professional Development

Consulting Network 

Bring an experienced NCTE consultant specializing in Early Literacy to your school to engage your staff in a workshop or presentation today!  

Web Seminars
NCTE Web Seminars are a convenient and meaningful form of professional development.  On Demand Web seminars provide the recorded version of the live virtual event and include all audio, video, chat discussion, and actions within the presentation.

Books

English Language Learners in Literacy Workshops
Marsha Riddle Buly, a mainstream classroom teacher who became a reading specialist and then a specialist in bilingual/ELL education, shows how reading, writing, and language workshops can be used to help language learners in mainstream K–8 classrooms.

Becoming Writers in the Elementary Classroom: Visions and Decisions
Katie Van Sluys demonstrates how to (re)claim our professional practice to ensure that young people have the opportunity to become competent, constantly growing writers who use writing to think, communicate, and pose as well as solve problems.  

Teaching Phonics in Context
Through myriad classroom vignettes, experienced educators David Hornsby and Lorraine Wilson show just how phonics is taught and learned in literacy-rich classrooms.

Also, check out the On Demand Web seminar featuring David and Lorraine on Reading and Writing in the Elementary Classroom:  Teaching Phonics in Context. 

Learning to Read the Numbers
Phyllis and David Whitin show how critical readers dig beneath the surface of data to understand how numbers are constructed by authors to portray a certain version of reality. 

Lesson Plans 

These classroom-tested lesson plans from ReadWriteThink provide ready resources for teachers working with students from kindergarten to high school. 

Journals

• "From the Beginning . . . ," Language Arts, November 2010
• "Children's Voices about Literacy and Language," Language Arts, July 2006 
• "Writing Workshop," Language Arts, November 2004

NCTE members enjoy online access to ALL journals published more than two years ago! Search to find articles on writing instruction and share with others in your school.

NCTE Assembly  

The Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) is an NCTE assembly that supports teachers of young children with a strong emphasis on promoting thoughtful practices that enhance the teaching and learning of young children within and across diverse communities.

Related NCTE Policy Statements

• Read Together: Parent and Educators Working Together for Literacy
  Learning to read doesn't happen magically. Parents and teachers play important roles in developing young readers. Supporting a child is best accomplished when parents and teachers share common methods and basic understandings about the reading process.  
• Position Statement on Interdisciplinary Learning, Pre-K to Grade 4
  Several major national subject-matter organizations developed guidelines and outline the principles that should guide the implementation of an integrated curriculum. 

• The NCTE Squire Office on Policy Research has published several Policy Briefs which summarize and present the relevant research findings on a variety of issues important to education today.