Twenty-five years of writing for the classroom

Hi everyone,

In 1999, my first education book for classroom teachers, co-written with BERNICE CULLINAN, was released by Scholastic Teaching Strategies. I was sixty-two and had published six books of poetry. In the twenty-five years since then I’ve often had the privilege and pleasure of teaming with educators on other books. The one just coming out is number eighteen. Here’s a list of them.

1. 2024 The Fluency Development Lesson, Closing the Reading Gap (with Lynne Kulich and Tim Rasinski)
2. 2023 Promote Reading Growth with Differentiated Instruction (with Laura Robb and Tim Rasinski)
3. 2022 Partner Poems & Word Ladders for Building Foundational Literacy Skills: Grades K-2 (with Mary Jo Fresch and Tim Rasinski) 
4. 2022 Partner Poems & Word Ladders for Building Foundational Literacy Skills: Grades 1-3 (with Mary Jo Fresch and Tim Rasinski) 
5. 2020 Guided Practice for Reading Growth, Grades 4-8 (with Laura Robb)
6. 2020 Empowering Students’ Knowledge of Vocabulary (with Mary Jo Fresch)
7. 2017 7 Keys to Research for Writing Success (with Mary Jo Fresch)
8. 2016 Rhymes for the Times: Literacy Strategies through Social Studies (with Tim Rasinski)
9. 2013 Let’s Write this Week with David Harrison (with Lauren Edmondson)
10. 2013 Learning through Poetry: Consonants (with Mary Jo Fresch)
11. 2013 Learning through Poetry: Consonant Blends and Digraphs (with Mary Jo Fresch)
12. 2013 Learning through Poetry: Rimes (with Mary Jo Fresch)
13. 2013 Learning through Poetry: Short Vowels (with Mary Jo Fresch)
14. 2013 Learning through Poetry: Long Vowels (with Mary Jo Fresch)
15. 2009 Partner Poems For Building Fluency (with Tim Rasinski and Gay Fawcett)
16. 2004 Writing Stories, Fantastic Fiction from Start to Finish 
17. 2003 Using the Power of Poetry (with Kathy Holderith)
18. 1999 Easy Poetry Lessons that Dazzle and Delight (Bernice Cullinan

I think in all but one of the titles I’ve written poetry to support various lessons and reinforcement activities. Without trying to count, the number must be several hundred poems. Twenty-five years of writing poems with specific purposes for specific grade levels has certainly furthered my education as a poet and writer. I’m pleased to say that MARY JO FRESCH and I are nominated for the 2024 ILA Diane Lapp & James Flood Professional Collaborator Award. The winners will be notified by the end of this month. Not since I was chosen as top pick for the nation-wide Community Service Award for “Sky High on Reading” literacy project in 2001 have I been nominated for anything by ILA, so I greatly appreciated TIM RASINSKI for putting us up for consideration. Tim and CHASE YOUNG were last year’s recipients.

The Fluency Development Lesson, Closing the Reading Gap

Hi everyone,

TIM RASINSKI, LYNNE KULICH, and I were pleasantly surprised last week to learn from our publisher (Benchmark Education Company) that our new book — The Fluency Development Lesson, Closing the Reading Gap — is now in the warehouse and ready for shipping. Those who wish can now order their copies from Amazon and other online sources as well as through book stories.

The book is described as The Fluency Development Lesson: Closing the Reading Gap dives deep into the components of teaching fluency and explores how to integrate them into the evidence-based Fluency Development Lesson. Kulich, Rasinski, and Harrison’s 140 lessons will help teachers move students toward more fluent and proficient reading while also promoting joyful learning.

For my part, I wrote poems for each of grades 1-5 on each of five basic themed subjects: History, Culture, Earth Science, Life Science, and People & Family. Lynne and Tim took it from there and applied their vast experience and knowledge to create a book that is both informative and highly practical in the classroom.

Version 1.0.0

I’m happy to say that the book has debuted as the Number #1 Release on Amazon in books for Adult and Continuing Education. Rasinski devised the Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) more than twenty years ago on a single sheet of paper. It has long been a staple among teachers who place emphasis on helping students improve their reading fluency. Now Tim has realized a wish he had long held — to expand Reading Fluency Lesson into a book. The result, this 456-page book, was written for children yet it is already finding an audience among adults. I couldn’t be happier!