Veteran ELA teacher Lisa Belcher finds Disrupting Thinking to be a fabulous reminder that our students need teachers to be their guides to finding intrinsic motivation to read for more than simply finding answers to questions. Beers and Probst include helpful tools.
By differentiating reading choices and inviting students to discuss diverse texts using student-led conversations, you can heighten their ability to analyze texts and hone their critical thinking skill. Reading expert Laura Robb discusses set-up and assessment.
Reading Nancie Atwell and Anne Atwell Merkel’s The Reading Zone, 2nd edition, is like getting a letter from a good friend and mentor, says ELA teacher Amy Matthes. Find reading workshop case studies to help readers become passionate, skilled, and habitual.
Standardized Test Preparation / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 04/16/2017 · Last modified 11/18/2019
Without turning his classroom into “test prep central,” teacher Kevin Hodgson is working to anticipate what his state’s evolving standardized tests will contain and how best to help his sixth graders prepare themselves with plenty of reading and writing strategies.
If bibliotherapy is an effective way to ease the growing pains of adolescents, writes 7th grade teacher Laurie Lichtenstein, The Outsiders is “the gold standard of therapy in middle grades literature.” It’s the only whole class novel she teaches each year.
In “Read Talk Write” Laura Robb provides strategies that can grow students’ ability to have rich, accountable conversations, leading to productive, engaging writing. Reviewer Linda Biondi especially appreciates the mentor texts, detailed lessons, and reproducibles.
Sibberson and Szymusiak are back with a fresh look at reading instruction in the early middle grades. Literacy coach Pam Hamilton says “Still Learning to Read” will help teachers fine-tune classroom libraries, organize groups, and support still-developing readers.
Nancy Dean’s “Finding Voice” will help teachers in grades 4-6 supplement their studies of complex text using brief, compelling mentor texts as they study word choice, detail, imagery, figurative language and tone. Reviewer Linda Biondi likens it to “a GPS system.”
Reviewer Mary Langer Thompson believes every writing teacher needs Meigs-Kahlenberg’s The Author’s Apprentice, whether to expand their thinking of what writing can be or to put a year’s worth of strategies and ideas into action now. Writing novels with 7th graders?!
Always on the lookout for opportunities to enrich her 4th graders’ learning, Mary Tarashuk made a test run with the Global Read Aloud’s 2016 choice, “Pax,” and is ready with added resources for October/November’s worldwide immersion in Sara Pennypacker’s book.
