Teaching the integrated language arts (Second edition)
Shane Templeton

This earlier book has only recently come my way and I really like it. Like all of Templeton' work, it is easy to read while at the same time, it is well grounded in research. The blurb on the back describes it as being 'a meaningful classroom teaching resource' and for once I'd agree.

The book is organised in a way that most teachers would warm to. It provides information about an aspect of spelling, then suggests teaching strategies in a section titled 'Expand your teaching repertoire'. It elaborates by providing examples of teaching and learning through observations, insights and discussions of the literature in the section headed 'At the Teacher's Desk". In other words it's 'choc-a-block' with good ideas and information.

As one would expect from Templeton, the section on spelling is very strong. Teachers looking for understandings and teaching ideas to help students move from transitional to independent spelling will find useful information here.

The explanation of derivational constancy and the kind of activities that will help students is good. Those interested in the assessment-teaching link will find Bear and Barone's Elementary Qualitative Spelling Inventory on pages 466-7. (It is also to be found in the Bear and Barrone book recently reviewed. See Bear, D.R.& Barone, D.1998, Developing literacy: An integrated approach to assessment and instruction.Boston, Houghton Mifflin.)

Another really useful aspect of the book is the fifty page Teacher Sourcebook at the back of the book. This is a sort of ready reckoner of information teachers might need to refer to quickly. There are three major sections to this:

A knowledge base for Professional Classroom Development

Teaching Resources
- Children literature
- Multimedia Resources
- Words - structure, Origins, Spelling
- Grammar - Our vocabulary for talking about language
- Learning and Teaching Study skills
- Learning and teaching handwriting

References

At a time when we are seeing the rebirth of synthetic phonic programs, it is interesting to see how Templeton sees this aspect of language being taught - as part of an integrated Language Arts program.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (1997)