Resources

As concerned educators interested in topics such as social and emotional learning, character education, service learning, citizenship and critical thinking, appreciation for diversity, environmental stewardship, academic motivation, self esteem and caring, etc., we desire to provide a place for colleages to find and share useful material for use in developing literacy.

Are their instructional strategies, people, programs, professional literature, children/adolescents' literature, articles, research, website links, or other information which you think every educator should know about? If so, we invite you to share your work (or recruit someone to share their work) so that readers in our audience can access that valuable information. Email your item(s) to our website manager, indicating that it is a resource for the IRA Literacy and Social Responsibility SIG Resource List. Or, contact our secretary to share your ideas for building this resource bank.

Jump to:

• Children's / Adolescent Literature
• Inclusion
• Instructional Strategies by Beth Breneman
• Other Professional Literature
• Roadmaps for Social Action
• Teaching Caring, Discipline, and Tolerance
• Effective Academic Habits
• Other Weblinks
  

Children's /Adolescent Literature

• ILA L/SR SIG Social Justice Literature Award Program Program established in 2013 by this SIG to honor books that address social responsibility towards individuals, communities, societies, and/or the environment as well as invite reflection and socially responsible action by the reader
  
  
• Notable Books for a Global Society (ILA CL/R SIG)
  Selects the most outstanding 25 books annually (K-12) which promote understanding of cultures/perspectives different from one's own as well as celebrating commonalities among the human community. This link connects to the NBGS main page of the Children's Literature and Reading SIG of ILA. To reach the booklists, click on the NBGS Book Lists button. Recent list titles are presented, and there are links to printable lists.
  
  
• Literature for Social Justice Reviewed by Aimee Rogers
  Reviews of January 30, 2011
  Reviews of July 7, 2010
  Reviews of June 28, 2009
  
  
• Rich, Diverse Children's Resource List, selected by Patricia K. Dean, Ph.D.
  
  
• Windows and Mirrors: Literature for Children to Promote Cultural Validity (Mirrors), Learning (Windows), and Acceptance, by Patricia K. Dean, Ph.D.
  

Inclusion

• Foxfire
  Foxfire has helped teachers teach and learners learn, while also being firmly rooted in the culture of the community. Resources include The Foxfire Magazine, The Foxfire Book series, a museum and visitor center, teaching resources, etc.
  
  
• Hicks, Deborah. The Road Out: A Teacher's Odyssey in Poor America . Recounts Hicks' journey teaching reading to Appalachian girls in Cincinnatti and of seven of her students coming of age in one of America's poorest communities. She is currently a research scholar at Duke University and the founding director of PAGE, a partnership focused on creating educational access and opportunity for Appalachian girls and young women. See flyer.
  
  
  

Instructional Strategies - by Beth Breneman

• KWL + Prosocial Twists
  
  
• Literature Circles + Prosocial Twists
  
  
• RAFT + Prosocial Twists
  
  
• Reading from Different Perspectives + Prosocial Twists
  
  
• Inquiry for Social Responsibility Using Young Adult Literature + Prosocial Twist
  
  

Other Professional Literature

• Professional Literature You Don't Want to Miss, selected by Particia K. Dean, Ph.D.
  
  

Roadmaps for Social Action

• A Curriculum of Peace: Selected Essays from English Journal that includes "Giving Peace a Chance: Gandhi and King in the English Classroom," which describes how one high school English teacher developed and taught a unit that would give students the opportunity to see how violence and nonviolence affects their lives.
  
  
• It's Our World, Too: Young People Who are Making a Differenceby Phillip Hoose, foreword by Pete Seeger. (Macmillan)
  
  
• Literacy and Service Recognition Award established in 2011 by this SIG which honors students making a difference
  
  
• NCTE's "It's Our World Too": Socially Responsive Learners in Middle School Language Arts explores ways to use significant social issues such as race, class, and poverty to invigorate teaching of literacy and communication skills. To learn about the ties between active learning and active citizenship, read chapter one of the text
  
  
• Outdoorsy's Guide to Environmental Conservation provides generous information and helpful tips on how we each can do our part to conserve the environment and make it sustainable to last for future generations
  
  

Teaching Caring, Discipline, and Tolerance

• Charney, Ruth. Teaching Children to Care
  
  
• Child Development Project
  A research-based, multi-faceted school-change program focused on creating caring, supportive learning environments that foster students' sense of belonging and connection to school including cooperative learning approaches, classroom and schoolwide community-building activities, engaging curriculum, and an emphasis on literacy development.
  
  
• Notable Books for a Global Society (ILA CL/R SIG)
  Selects the most outstanding 25 books annually (K-12) which promote understanding of cultures/perspectives different from one's own as well as celebrating commonalities among the human community. An article annotating the year's winning titles appears annually along with teaching suggestions in The Dragon Lode, a juried journal of the ILA Children's Literature and Reading SIG.
  
  
• Teaching for a Tolerant World, Grades K-6 Essays and resources collected/edited by Judith P. Robertson that address crucial questions regarding how children should learn about genocide and intolerance and the literature used in teaching these topics.
  
  
• Teaching for a Tolerant World, Grades 9-12. Carol Danks, Leatrice Rabinsky, National Council of Teachers of English, Committee on Teaching About Genocide and Intolerance.
  
  
• Teaching Tolerance. Founded in 1991 as a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Provides to educators a variety of free educational materials that promote respect for differences and appreciation of diversity. Sign up for their newsletter.