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News Release
Oct. 26, 2006
Boise State English Professor's Books
Focus on Innovative Teaching Methods
Boise State University English professor and education author Jeffrey Wilhelm
has written a new book, “Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry,” that
focuses on an innovative, interesting way to help students learn.
The book, which is the third that Wilhelm has written or co-written this year,
instructs educators on how to ask guiding questions that help students
understand what they are being taught. By addressing problems expressed by
guiding questions, teachers can make the subject matter relevant to students.
For example, as Wilhelm writes in the book, “Would your students by more excited
to read ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to hear your commentary on it or to read it in the
context of pursuing the question, ‘What makes good relationships and what screws
up relationships?’ ”
Wilhelm explains inquiry methods to readers through quizzes, transcripts of
lessons, and other interactive features, then provides step-by-step ways to
bring those methods to the classrooms. As education author Jim Burke writes in
his introduction, “For many, too many, (school) has become a place (students) go
to learn skills in the name of standards and state tests; real learning,
however, is always more intentional, taking place in a context rich in purpose
and personal meaning … Jeff offers us all an important resource to help us
better understand what ‘inquiry’ means and, more to the point, how and why we
should make it the guiding principle in our teaching.”
“Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry” comes on the heels of “Teaching
Literature to Adolescents,” which Wilhelm wrote with Richard Beach, Deborah
Appleman and Susan Hynds. The book explores methods of teaching literature.
Topics include tools for responding to literature, teaching interpretive
strategies, teaching critical lenses and media analysis and evaluating and
reflecting on teaching literature.
“Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry” is published by Scholastic Teaching
Resources, and “Teaching Literature to Adolescents” is published by Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates. The books are available through the Boise State Bookstore,
through their publishers (http://teacher.scholastic.com
and www.erlbaum.com, respectively), or
through
Amazon.com.
Wilhelm is an associate professor whose research focuses on developing readers
at the middle and secondary levels. He has written more than a dozen books and
worked on four textbook series. He is also the director of Boise State’s
National Writing Project. Now in its 30th year, the National Writing Project is
dedicated to improving instruction in the nation’s schools.
Boise State’s NWP offers an annual summer program for teachers at all levels,
from kindergarten to university, and in all subjects. The program offers six
hours of graduate credit; graduate tuition is covered and resident stipends are
available.
Wilhelm will be the keynote speaker during Inquiry Night, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Nov. 14 in the Student Union Barnwell Room. During Inquiry Night, teachers who
have participated in the Writing Project will give presentations on how to keep
students engaged in learning. For more information, contact Wilhelm at (208)
426-1199 or jwilhelm@boisestate.edu.
“Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry” by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm.
ISBN: 0439574137
Scholastic Teaching Resources, $21.99
“Teaching Literature to Adolescents” by Richard Beach, Deborah Appleman, Susan
Hynds and Jeffrey Wilhelm
ISBN: 0805841954
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, $34.50
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Contact: Jeffrey Wilhelm, English, (208) 426-1199,
jwilhelm@boisestate.edu
Media Contact: Julie Hahn, University Communications, (208) 426-5540,
juliehahn@boisestate.edu
Where you see blue, we see the largest institution of higher education in
Idaho. For the ninth time in the last 10 years, Boise State University has set
an all‑time state record with a fall enrollment of 18,876 students. Since 1996,
Boise State’s student population has increased 25 percent.
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Boise Idaho 83725-1030
Located in Capitol Village, 2225 W. University Drive
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Last reviewed on
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
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