"There is power that resides in outstanding culturally diverse literature--a power that has the potential to engage students in reading and teach them about the art and craft of writing."
--Ruth Culham
We dream of a time when all students will be confident, capable readers and writers. When we teach students to read as writers using mentor texts, we awaken that dream and make it real. Imagine the power of providing students with books that show them their faces, their culture, their lives on every page. And imagine how every classroom's collection of mentor texts can grow by adding books that celebrate diversity.
In
Dream Wakers: Mentor Texts That Celebrate Latino Culture, Ruth Culham focuses her love of children's literature--and her decades of work developing the traits of writing--on books that celebrate Latino life and culture. She provides a wide variety of ideas to teach writing using some of the richest and most beautiful children's books available.
Dream Wakers gives you:
- An annotated list of more than 120 books with do-it-today lesson ideas for teaching the traits of writing--Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions. More than half of the books listed are bilingual or offer English and/or Spanish editions.
- Eleven original, insightful essays by renowned children's authors of some of the featured books
- A handy reference chart that helps teachers locate books quickly by trait, genre, language, and author/publisher information.
Ruth encourages all of us to make sure students of all backgrounds have access to high-quality, culturally diverse texts and recognize the difference those texts will make in their reading lives, as well as in their perception of themselves as a thinkers, learners, and citizens.
Culham, Ruth: -
Ruth Culham, EdD, launched a writing revolution with the publication of her book 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide, Grades 3 and Up, followed by 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades and Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School, winner of the 2011 Teacher's Choice award. Her groundbreaking work with the writing traits is the culmination of 40 years of research, practice, and passion. Most recently, Ruth has published the bestselling The Writing Thief: Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing that demonstrates how to read with a writer's eye to lift the best writing techniques from favorite authors. Ruth has also penned What Principals Need to Know About Teaching and Learning Writing for all school leaders and literacy coaches. Ruth's professional books have illuminated both writing and the reading-writing connection for countless educators around the globe.
Her many professional resources include the immensely popular, grade-specific Trait Crates that use beautiful children's literature titles to spotlight and teach each writing trait and drive home the reading-writing connection. And, Ruth's ground-breaking, all-in-one curriculum Traits Writing: The Complete Writing Program for Grades K-8 aligns the traits with writing process and writing workshop--and enhances teachers' professional understanding of writing as it elevates the effectiveness of student writing.
Ruth is currently a contributor and Writing Department Editor for the professional journal Reading Teacher. She's president of the Culham Writing Company and former Unit Manager of the Assessment Program at Education Northwest in Portland, Oregon. She was English Teacher of the Year in Montana, one of the highlights of her 19-year teaching career. Culham holds specialty degrees in Library Science and Elementary, Middle, and Secondary English Education.
