Friday, May 30, 2014

As school comes to a close, here is a great list of summer reading for teachers. Enjoy! Courtesy of ASCD SmartBrief!


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Summer Reading List for Educators
Create your own summer reading list
for professional development!
With the traditional school year ending, ASCD wants to help educators improve their practice during the summer. We've created a Summer Reading List for Educators with 10 suggested books that will help you
  • Improve teaching and learning.
  • Stay on top of the common core.
  • Get organized and energized for the next school year.
Take a cue from your summer assignments to students and create your own summer reading list—for professional development!
 
Featured Title

Learning in the Fast Lane book cover
Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 Ways to Put ALL Students on the Road to Academic Success
 
Veteran classroom teacher and education consultant Suzy Pepper Rollins identifies eight high-impact, overarching practices to foster academic achievement, including increasing students' vocabulary, building students' motivation, and addressing gaps within the context of new learning.
 
 
 
Summer Sale

We've slashed prices on more than 200 books and DVDs in the ASCD Online Store. Browse our summer sale now and find resources you need on topics including
  • Assessment
  • Brain and Learning
  • Classroom Instruction
  • Curriculum Mapping
  • Leadership
  • Problem-Based Learning
  • Understanding by Design®

Sunday, May 11, 2014

This time of year teachers and students both are facing the "effort" challenge. This article by Dr. Power is excellent and so are the other articles attached. We always struggle with understanding why students don't seem to "try." Below you will find some great answers. Courtesy of the Choice Literacy.



The Big Fresh Newsletter from Choice Literacy
May 10, 2014 - Issue #382
Benny

The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.

                                                        Henry Ward Beecher
                                                             
When I was 16 years old my passion was playing my clarinet in the high school band, and my hero was Benny Goodman. Yep, in the mid 1970s while all the other 16-year-olds were listening to Deep Purple, I was bopping to "Sing Sing Sing with a Swing." That's some high level of geekitude in my teenage years.
In the fall of 1976 I discovered Goodman was going to do a concert in downtown Buffalo, not far from where we lived. By the time I heard about the concert it was only a few days away. (This was before everyone was on the Internet, so Benny wasn't tweeting and I couldn't friend him on Facebook to learn about these things in advance.) There were only a few standing-room-only tickets left. And that was all my family would have been able to afford anyway, because my dad had just started a new business and my parents had sunk their life savings into it. We'd never had a more frugal time in our family, but when I asked my mom if we could go she didn't hesitate, especially when she heard the seats were so inexpensive.
We went to the will-call window to pick up the tickets an hour before the concert began and the clerk said, "We just discovered we can add two rows of chairs to the orchestra pit. If you'd like to pay for an upgrade, we can give you two of those seats." 
I felt terrible for my mom because I knew we couldn't afford the upgrade, and I opened my mouth to tell her it was okay, I was just so happy to be there. At the same moment my mom said to the clerk, "Sure, I'll pay for the orchestra seats." It was incredible -- we were so close, we could see the sweat fly off his brow as he played. Benny Goodman quit touring not long after that, so it turned out to be my one chance to see him live. 
I always tear up a bit when I think of that concert, especially around Mother's Day.  The moments in a child's life when their passion is acknowledged and supported by an adult, especially when a sacrifice is involved, are the moments they carry with them forever.
It's probably appropriate that the last days of school are sandwiched between Mother's and Father's Days, even if these are only made-up holidays that were invented by greeting card companies. End-of-year school rituals -- creating keepsakes and taking field trips and celebrations -- are all time-consuming, sometimes exhausting, and involve no small sacrifice on the part of teachers. Why do we do it? Because kids will see the sweat on our brows, and they will know how much they mattered to us.
This week we look at student work ethic late in the school year. Plus more as always -- enjoy!
Brenda Power
Founder, Choice Literacy


Free for All

[For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook:
 
Here are two features from the Choice Literacy archives to help you think about effort in fresh ways.
What does it mean to "challenge" skilled students? Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan consider the issue in Challenging Advanced Young Readers: Harder Texts Aren't Always the Answer:
"You can't expect any work from seventh graders after 2 p.m. -- it's a scientific fact." Erin Ocon hears these words from her student Aaron, and realizes she needs some new strategies for dealing with this resistant writer:
  
Katherine Sokolowski reflects on her blog about times when adults and children choose not to give their best effort:

 
Franki Sibberson leads the online three-week course Becoming a Tech-Savvy Literacy Teacher June 5 - 16. This interactive course includes three webinars, Franki's newest book, a professional development DVD, and an introduction to scores of resources on the web. For more details and to register online, visit this link:
Will you join us July 16-17 in Wrentham, Massachusetts for the Coaching the Common Core Workshop? The two-day event includes presentations by Jennifer Allen, Clare Landrigan, Tammy Mulligan, and Jason DiCarlo. For details and to download an informational brochure, click on this link:

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Here is a great book on developing language in young children. PS It is cheaper on Amazon.com:) Enjoy:)

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One of the keys to early literacy is background knowledge. Let's Find Out! shows you how to achieve extraordinary results by strategically using 20 teaching tools such as observation, dramatization, talking, and movement to ensure all kids develop the content knowledge they need. Includes 45 minutes of online video. Preview the entire book online!