Accelerated Literacy & RTI

Accelerated Literacy is a supplemental, elective course focused on accelerating the rate of development of students’ reading skills so that they can more successfully participate in grade-level instruction.

Mosaic of Thought: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction, Second Edition, by Ellin Oliver Keene & Susan Zimmerman

Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition, has been carefully revised and reflects Keene and Zimmermann's latest thinking. It's designed to help teachers implement practical, thoughtful ideas for teaching comprehension in contemporary classrooms through the seven core strategies that successful readers use to engage with texts.

Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement, by Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis 

Strategies That Work has become an indispensable resource for teachers who want to explicitly teach thinking strategies so that students become engaged, thoughtful, independent readers. In this revised and expanded edition, Stephanie and Anne have added twenty completely new comprehension lessons, extending the scope of the book and exploring the central role that activating background knowledge plays in understanding.

The Reading Strategies Book: Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo 

​In The Reading Strategies Book, the author collects 300 strategies to share with readers in support of thirteen goals-everything from fluency to literary analysis. Each strategy is cross-linked to skills, genres, and Fountas & Pinnell reading levels to give you just-right teaching, just in time. Whether you use readers workshop, guided reading, whole-class novels, or any other approach, The Reading Strategies Book will complement and extend your teaching. Rely on it to plan and implement goal-directed, differentiated instruction for individuals, small groups, and whole classes.

Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers, by Penny Kittle

Penny Kittle wants us to face the hard truths every English teacher fears: too many kids don't read the assigned texts, and some even manage to slop by  without having ever read a single book by the time they graduate.  In Book Love Kittle takes student apathy head on, first by recognizing why students don't read and then showing us that when we give kids books that are right for them, along with time to read and regular response to their thinking, we can create a pathway to satisfying reading that leads to more challenging literature and ultimately, a love of reading.

Reading Unbound: Why Kids Need to Read What They Want - and Why We Should Let Them by Jeffrey Wilhelm & Michael W. Smith with Sharon Fransen

​The authors explore what we can learn from teens' pleasure reading and the implications for instruction in this era of Common Core State Standards.  They also suggest ways to make pleasure more central to the work we do in schools.

From Striving to Thriving: How to Grow Confident, Capable Readers, by Stephanie Harvey and Annie Ward

Literacy specialists Stephanie Harvey and Annie Ward demonstrate how to “table the labels” and use detailed formative assessments to craft targeted, personalized instruction that enable striving readers to do what they need above all - to find books they love and engage in voluminous reading. Loaded with ready-to-go lessons, routines, and “actions,” as well as the latest research, this book is a must for any teacher who strives to make every reader a thriving reader.

The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, by Donalyn Miller

​Miller's approach dispenses with drills and worksheets that make reading a chore.  She helps students navigate the world of literature and gives them time to read books they pick out themselves.  The book includes a dynamite list of recommended "kid lit" that helps teachers find the books that students really like to read.

Reading Ladders: Leading Students from Where They Are to Where We'd Like Them To Be, by Teri S. Lesesne

Many of us are searching continually for that just-right book for each and every one of our students.  It is my hope to help you find those books.  More importantly, I hope to help you guide students to the next great book and the one after that.  That is the purpose of Reading Ladders. --- Teri Lesesne

When Kids Can't Read, What Can Teachers Do: A Guide For Teachers 6-12, by Kylene Beers

Beers offers teachers the comprehensive handbook they've needed to help readers improve their skills, their attitudes, and their confidence.  Filled with student transcripts, detailed strategies, reproducible material, and extensive booklists, this much-anticipated guide to teaching reading both instructs and inspires.

Deeper Reading by Kelly Gallagher

​In Deeper Reading, Kelly shares effective, classroom-tested strategies that enable your students to: accept the challenge of reading difficult books; move beyond a "first draft" understanding of the text into deeper levels of reading; consciously monitor their comprehension as they read; employ effective fix-it strategies when their comprehension begins to falter; use meaningful collaboration to achieve deeper understanding of texts; think metaphorically to deepen their reading comprehension; reach deeper levels of reflection by understanding the relevance the book holds for themselves and their peers; use critical thinking skills to analyze real-world issues.

Erin O'Brien

Accelerated Literacy Network Coach

OBrienE@sfusd.edu