Four dedicated educators pull in the current big ideas in teaching — formative assessment, backward design, inquiry learning, strategic teaching, metacognition — and put them together in a way that makes sense. Pulling Together shows how this collaborative process is reflected in all aspects of the literacy learning process, from unit planning to the inquiry process to linking assessment to responsive lesson design. The book explores working together with students to develop and explore essential ideas and practices, including: responsive teaching and assessment; reading as a personalized and meaningful experience; critical literacy. Complete with diagrams, graphic organizers, classroom examples, assessment tools, and lists of core understandings, this timely guide presents a comprehensive answer to the big questions about teaching English language arts