Core Instructional Routines: Go-To Structures for the 6-12 Classroom

How can a secondary teacher reconcile the heavy demands of the content curriculum with best practices while enhancing students’ literacy skills in the content areas?    Core Instructional Routines  helps you build background knowledge and literacy within and across subjects using “SWRL” (Speak, Write, Read, and Listen) routines that make learning more relevant and interactive.  Andrea Honigsfeld and Judy Dodge share ample opportunities for creative collaboration, critical analysis, meaning-making, and student engagement.  “Contrary to the belief that routines can lead to dull, repetitive, unimaginative, scripted ways of teaching,” they write, “we believe that the routines here will not only lay the framework for predictable structures, instructional consistency, and skill building, but also provide plenty of opportunity for teacher autonomy, creative expression, and nurturing the desire to learn in each child.”