Literacy in the Middle Grades

About our authorsGail E. Tompkins earned her master's degree and then her doctorate in Reading/Language Arts from Virginia Tech. She began her teaching career at Miami University in Ohio, then transferred to the University of Oklahoma and finally taught at California State University in Fresno. Because of her work with preservice and practicing teachers she received numerous awards for her teaching, including the Provost's Award of Excellence in Teaching at Cal State, Fresno, and was inducted into the California Reading Association's Reading Hall of Fame. She has been writing college textbooks for over 30 years, all focused on anticipating the questions teachers might ask and providing information to make her text users the most effective teachers. Other titles she has written include Language Arts: Patterns of Practice, 9th Edition; Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach, 6th Edition; Literacy for the Early Grades: A Successful Start for PreK to 4 Readers and Writers, 3rd Edition; Literacy in the Middle Grades, 2nd Edition, and 50 Literacy Strategies, 4th Edition.Pat Daniel-Jones earned her PhD in Language Arts Education in 1991. Pat taught 5th through 8th graders for 12 years while she lived in Oklahoma. Since earning her PhD, Pat has taught at the university level at the University of Houston-Victoria, Western Kentucky University, and over 20 years at the University of South Florida, where she serves as the Founding Director of the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project (TBAWP). However, she spends many hours on school campuses working with teachers and their students. Pat has been awarded numerous teaching awards, including Teacher of the Year at Bethel, OK Schools, and Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award at the University of South Florida three times. Dr. Daniel-Jones has written numerous articles for the English Journal, Language Arts, The ALAN Review, Equity and Excellence in Education, Teaching and Change, Teacher Education and Special Education and The Qualitative Report.