ABSTRACT
The hands-on literacy book series was developed during the author’s teaching career as lessons in his literacy and gifted and talented classrooms. In an effort to engage students who show their strengths through language as well as those who might otherwise not, lessons and units evolved to encourage critical thinking through video, discussion, public speaking, improvisation and acting, creative responses, graphic design, building and modelling, art, and music. No matter what methods were used, literature, ideas, and academic standards remained at the center of the interactions. The hands-on literacy series will engage students from diverse backgrounds, English language learners, gifted and twice exceptional learners, and any students with backgrounds or mindsets or ways of interacting with the world which do not provide them comfortable access to words.
