Literacy coach Shawna Coppola urges us to rethink the familiar start-of-year writing activity – the personal narrative. In its place she suggests a framework of ideas to free students to write about what interests them. As we try new approaches, we also renew ourselves.
Every school has unique procedures, traditions, and personalities. What if new and transitioning teachers, starting fresh in an unfamiliar space, had a checklist to make induction easy and systematic? Author-consultant Frank Buck supplies that tool!
Accessible Algebra provides teachers a better understanding of where students might struggle, methods that can meet individual student needs, and fresh ways to teach a concept. The 30 modules can be adapted for any algebra class, says math teacher Trever Reeh.
Donna Spangler and John Alex Mazzante have “a keen understanding of a language student’s need for frequent changes, movement, playfulness, collaboration, and gentle competition,” says Spanish teacher Jane Swisher, noting this “gem of a book” is easily adaptable.
Carol Pelletier Radford’s 2017 books can help beginning teachers by giving their mentors detailed guidelines, a clearly defined schedule, and routines that allow flexibility for both mentor and mentee, says school district new-teacher liaison Michael DiClemente.
Young writers will blossom when teachers trade in their red pens for an appreciative approach to feedback, says consultant Patty McGee. As writing mentors, teachers help students achieve quality writing with originality, voice, and style. McGee includes more than a dozen teaching tools.
Book Reviews / Professional Development
by MiddleWeb · Published 07/06/2017 · Last modified 02/03/2019
The High-Trust Classroom by Lonnie Moore is a step-by-step guide to personal and professional fulfillment, says educator Laura Von Staden, adding the book is a quick read, broken into easy chunks that lay out each of the 25 essential qualities of great teachers.
With its ready-made product menus and immediate applicability, Differentiating Instruction with Menus is one of those books that won’t gather dust, as teachers will turn to it for quick reference throughout the school year, says ELA and gifted facilitator Kim Rensch.
Laurie Lichtenstein can’t let the school year end without thanking Lin Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton for his profound effect on her 7th grade American history class. Her open letter to the Founding Father shares her students’ new excitement for history’s unfolding drama.
The refreshingly clear way that Barbara Blackburn collects and presents best practices in her book on rigor and assessment should help teachers become more effective at providing well differentiated instruction in a positive classroom environment, writes Roy Palmer.
