Educating Teachers, Children's Literature
At HWS Temple teaches courses in literacy, children’s literature, and peace studies.
His co-authored textbooks on literacy and children’s literature are widely used in teacher education courses throughout North America, and his books for children have a small but loyal following.
Overseas, Temple is one of the directors of the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) Project, and travels around the globe helping teachers learn the skills necessary to teach their students to be critical thinkers. The project, an initiative of the Open Society Institute, promotes classroom teaching practices that help students learn actively, think critically, and work cooperatively. RWCT introduces research-based instructional methods to teachers and teacher educators. These methods are designed to help students think reflectively, take ownership for their personal learning, understand the logic of arguments, listen attentively, debate confidently, and become independent lifelong learners. Temple has traveled to many of the countries involved and has been integral in building this important project, which has served 40 countries in Europe, Central and Southeast Asia, East and West Africa and Central and South America. RWCT was selected by UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education as a promising practice in peace-building.
Temple serves as consultant and trainer to a USAID-sponsored project in El Salvador that is updating the preparation of all of the primary school teachers in the country for the teaching of reading. In Argentina he is working in Misiones Province with teachers to improve literacy instruction. He is collaborating on a similar project in Haiti, as a joint initiative of the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project, Step by Step, and the Canadian International Development Agency. In Africa, Temple and an international team of trainers are assisting the Ministry of Education on a staff development project for primary, secondary, and university-based instructors. The activity, which is supported by the Open Society Institute and based on the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Project, is soon headed to Angola, Turkey, and Pakistan.
In the Balkans and in the Caucasus region he is leading projects to create multicultural children’s literature, and to improve the teaching or reading for marginalized children.
Temple in the News:
Press releases:
Publications:
Author of:
Creating Multicultural Books for Children: Guidebook for a Writers' and Illustrators' Workshop
Critical Thinking International, Inc. , 2006
Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: RWCT in Higher Education
Open Society Institute, 1998
On the Riverbank
Houghton Mifflin, Co., 1992
Shanty Boat
Houghton Mifflin, Co., 1994
Teacher Upgrade Program: Zonal Facilitators' Guide: A Training Manual for the Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Culture
International Reading Association and UNESCO, 2003
Co-author of:
All Children Read: Teaching for Literacy in Today's Diverse Classrooms
Allyn & Bacon, 2003
Cadillac
Putnam Publishing Group , 1995
Classroom Strategies: An Elementary Teacher's Guide to the Process of Writing
Heinemann, 1988
Focus on Comprehension
Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra/USAID, 2004
Helping Literacy Emerge
Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra/USAID, 2004
Intervening for Literacy : The Joy of Reading to Young Children
Allyn & Bacon, 2004
Language and Literacy: A Lively Approach
HarperCollins, 1996
Language Arts: Learning Processes and Teaching Practices
HarperCollins, 1988
Learning Actively, Thinking Critically
Open Society Institute, 2005
Merrill Spelling, Grade 8
MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, 1990
New View: A Reading and Language Arts Curriculum, K-8
MacMillan, 1997
RWCT Project: Reading, Writing, & Discussion in Every Discipline: Guidebooks 1-7
International Reading Association for the RWCT Project, 1997
SRA Writing and Language Arts
McGraw-Hill, 2003
Stories and Readers: New Perspectives on Literature in the Elementary Classroom
Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc., 1992
Teaching for Active and Cooperative Learning
Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra/USAID, 2004
The Beginnings of Writing
Allyn & Bacon, Inc., 1992
Train
Houghton Mifflin Co, 1996
Understanding Reading Problems: Assessment and Instruction
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1990
Write Idea, A Comprehensive Language Arts Program For Grades 1-8
MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, 1993
Writing and Language Arts, Grades K-6
Science Research Associates (SRA), 2003
Co-editor of:
Children's Books in Children's Hands: An Introduction to Their Literature
Allyn & Bacon, 2001
Interview opportunities and additional background information may be requested through the Office of Communications, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York. Phone: (315) 781-3540. After business hours, Communications staff members are accessible through contact information on their answering machine at that number.
Charles Temple received his B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina, and his M.Ed. (curriculum studies) and his Ph.D (reading education) from the University of Virginia. He also studied at the University of Madrid, where he taught English part time, and taught at the University of Houston-Victoria.
In 2005, he earned a prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award; the grant helps fund Temple’s sabbatical in Romania where he is helping two universities in Cluj improve teaching and change curriculum.
He is also working with teachers and psychologists from Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovakia and Slovenia to develop teaching approaches to help Roma (Gypsy) children learn to read better and stay in school longer.
The U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 scholars and professionals each year to more than 140 countries, where they lecture or conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
In addition to his teaching duties at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Temple recently co-founded and directs the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) Project, in association with the International Reading Association. RWCT is based on the idea that democratic practices in schools play an important role in the transition toward more open societies. Active in 29 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and more recently Latin America and South/East Asia, RWCT introduces research-based instructional methods to teachers and teacher educators.
His professional affiliations include the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association, the Asociatie Pentru Gindire Critice (Romania), and the Albania Reading Association.