20 Literacy Strategies to Meet the Common Core:
Increasing Rigor in Middle & High School Classrooms
By Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins and Allyson J. Burnett
(Solution Tree Press, 2013 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Anne Anderson   

20 Literacy Strategies to Meet the Common Core is built on the Common Core Anchor Standards for Reading, Grades 6-12. Elaine McEwan-Adkins and Allyson J. Burnett lay out a blueprint for ELA and other content-area teachers to follow. (Be sure to read the preface to discover how these two instructional experts met and then collaborated to write this book.)

My goal in this review is to provide a level of detail that will help teachers and others in instructional leadership roles decide whether to invest in this CCSS resource.

Preface and Introduction

The authors’ goals for writing 20 Literacy Strategies to Meet the Common Core include providing secondary teachers and administrators with:

• strategies aligned to CCSS for reading informational text
• encouragement & support to teach all students how to read to learn
• topics for discussion & reflection in PLCs and teacher teams

Those goals (page xiii), along with their suggestions for How to Use This Book to Advance Schoolwide Content Literacy (pages xiv-v), support a school in moving forward with the literacy demands of the Common Core.

For my non- ELA teacher friends who may be nervous about the literacy demands of the Common Core, the authors provide practical support throughout the book.

McEwan-Adkins and Burnett have packed so much of value into these strategy lessons. The arrangement of the 20 strategies into four sections based on the four broad categories of the CCCC Anchor Standards for Reading is also beneficial to a teacher. I am pleased that the strategy lessons are formatted the same throughout the book.

An Overview of a Strategy

Each of the 20 literacy strategies includes these six components:

Strategy Name – The names are usually self-explanatory – Strategy 2: Show You Know; Strategy 3: Prove It; Strategy 7: Snapshot Summary; Strategy 14: Identify-Analyze-Relate (Problem-Solution) or Strategy 17:  Navigate-Integrate-Evaluate.  But don’t be fooled by the seemingly “simple” strategy names. The strategy lessons require ample preparation time for in-depth understanding by both teacher and student.

Gist Statement and College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards – This is a short description of the strategy along with an extension or enhancement activity called the +feature. The +feature pushes students to higher-level thinking and writing as a response to text. I was pleased that the complete standard is included in each chapter; the part of the standard addressed in the strategy is italicized.

Background Knowledge – Here teachers find detailed explanations regarding the processes used in the strategy.  For example, in Strategy 13: Weigh the Words, the focus is on interpreting and analyzing word choice (Anchor Standard 4 for Reading). The authors provide background information on technical vocabulary, connotative vocabulary, and figurative language. McEwan-Adkins and Burnett tell readers on page 12 that the Background Knowledge “may not be essential to your implementation of the strategy, but having it will help you make connections to things you have read about and done in the past.”

Understanding How the Strategy Works – This section contains a sample text, complete with Flesch-Kincaid grade level, and a sample organizer. The organizer, which is completed, is designed to lead the teacher through the process of reading the sample text and understanding the strategy. Do not miss the statement on page 12:  “These resources are intended for you, not your students.” This is your preparation prior to teaching the strategy.

Items to Prepare – The handouts needed for the strategy are downloadable from http://www.solution-tree.com/literacy-strategies-common-core.html Each strategy includes a page of student-friendly definitions for the strategy and an organizer. Most strategies require two or three reproducible resources; however, Strategy 12: Quick-REACH Vocabulary Toolkit has seven reproducible pages. It is important to note that this preparation is continued in Step 1 of the lesson plan.

Lesson Plan – The lesson plan contains seven steps along with annotations or reminders to guide you in the lesson.

Lessons Step by Step

Now let’s take a closer look at the lesson planning steps.

Step 1 in each strategy is critical; the teacher must “select content-specific and standards-aligned text from his/her content to use in teaching the strategy.” Once selected, the teacher will need to “chunk, highlight, or number sentences in the text as directed in the lesson plan.” The selected text is chunked into three sections which is central to Step 4 of the lesson plan. In addition, teachers may need to photocopy the text along with other reproducible resources required in the lesson.

In Step 2, the teacher identifies the related content standard(s), whether from the Common Core or other appropriate source.

Step 3 of the Lesson Plan includes an advance organizer (a hook) for the strategy.  This involves reviewing the student-friendly definitions and sharing a brief anecdote.  In Strategy 5: Question Like an Investigative Reporter, the advance organizer references mild-mannered Clark Kent who had a nose for news when he wasn’t busy being Superman.

The bulk of the instruction is found in Step 4. Here you model your thinking with the first chunk of text.  In other words, think aloud so your students can see and hear how a reader processes informational text. Gradually release responsibility to students with Chunks 2 and 3.  The goal is for students to understand and apply the strategy independently.  The amount of time and support required will depend on your students.

In Step 5, the teacher is formatively assessing student work. The assessment might include a display of responses to the question prompts “how the events develop and interact” and “why the events develop and interact” in Strategy 10: What-How-Why (Events). In other lessons, the teacher might facilitate a conversation to check for accuracy on the organizer.

Teachers then have two options: continue to Steps 6 and 7 or incorporate the +feature before doing those last two steps.  In Step 6, students reflect on their learning from the text; in Step 7, they reflect on their level of understanding of the content standard(s).

In summary . . .

20 Literacy Strategies to Meet the Common Core presents research-based strategies designed to grow readers and thinkers on the secondary level. This book’s cover says it all: literacy strategies, Common Core, rigor, middle and high school! What the cover doesn’t say is how much time it will take a teacher, team or department to develop and design content-specific lessons for these strategies. However, as the national focus shifts to more challenging standards in the United States, I believe teachers will find the ideas and advice in this book worth the time investment.

Anne Anderson finally got out of the 8th grade after 24 years and 9 weeks! She spent the next 9 years sharing her expertise in literacy and writing with K-12 teachers and administrators throughout the district. She credits National Writing Project and Poetry Alive! as turning points in her growth as a teacher. She now shares her expertise nationwide as an Educational Consultant and through her bi-monthly newsletter Spotlight on Success. Subscribe at anneanderson@bellsouth.net.

Digital Storytelling: Guide for Educators
By Midge Frazel
(ISTE, 2010 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Kevin Hodgson

Midge Frazel peels back the cover on the concept of digital storytelling in this book, showing how a teacher might start to consider using video for personal narrative in the classroom setting. Digital Storytelling: Guide for Educators is chock full of short chapters on the how and why of digital storytelling, moving from step-by-step instructions for using basic software to how to create a unit of instruction that allows students to turn a critical eye on their own communities in order to tell a larger story.

Frazel doesn’t skimp on the writing elements, either, providing strategies and tools for storyboarding, script writing and more.

I appreciated the many screenshots that Frazel provides here, giving us a visual glimpse into computer workstations and programs that would be a helpful guide for wary teachers. Frazel also provides a myriad of links to online resources that teachers can follow to learn more about the art of digital storytelling, which is “a process that blends media to enrich and enhance the written or spoken word,” as Frazel notes. Personal narratives often form the heart and soul of digital storytelling, with creators using still images combined with music soundtracks and spoken narrative.

The downside to reading a book about digital storytelling three years after it has been published, of course, is that the world has radically changed. Frazel does not acknowledge, nor should we expect her to, the explosion of mobile devices as a means of communication – from multimedia-centered cellphones to iPads and devices with apps of all kinds – that now dominate the way people compose, including digital storytelling.

And a focus in one chapter around scrapbooking as a form of digital storytelling already feels a bit antiquated. Again, one can’t blame Frazel for that, given that she published the book in 2010. Perhaps she and ISTE have a second edition in the works.

An educator interested in digital storytelling would be wise to use a book like Digital Storytelling: Guide for Educators as a starting point, and then move to the Internet for updated ideas and resources. And starting points are valuable when it comes to digital storytelling — it’s a concept that still has plenty of power, even if some of the ideas in this book are now out of fashion.

Kevin Hodgson is a sixth grade teacher in Southampton, Massachusetts, and is the technology liaison with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. Kevin blogs regularly at Kevin’s Meandering Mind and tweets more often than is healthy under his @dogtrax handle.

Strategic Writing Mini-Lessons for All Students, Grades 4-8
By Janet C. Richards and Cynthia A. Lassonde
(Corwin: A SAGE Company, 2013 - Learn more)

Reviewed by Danielle McIntosh

Differentiation is the hot phrase in education. In Strategic Writing Mini-Lessons for All Students, Grades 4-8, you will find 22 thorough writing mini-lessons on a large variety of topics that include adaptations for struggling writers, English Language Learners and even advanced writers. Each lesson covers all students in your diverse 4-8 class of writers.

An essential question of this book is,

How can we set a solid groundwork so that all students, regardless of skill level, eagerly raise their hands to share their writing at the end of a class?”

To this end, each of the chapters (many written by contributors along with several by the author/editors) covers one mini-lesson with lots of background information and advice for the teacher. The structure is:

• Introduction to the Strategy
• Why This Strategy Is Important
• List of Materials Needed
• Lesson Layout including Sample Discussion
• I Write-We-Write-You-Write
• Student Reflection
• Extend the Strategy Across the Curriculum
• Resources for Further Reading

In my classroom, I found the strategies to be engaging, effective, and practical. The students really enjoyed participating and were able to apply the new knowledge to their own writing.

For example, in the mini-lesson “Creating Rounded Characters Through Cartoon Connections,” author Krishna Seunarinesingh has students create a concept map of a popular cartoon character, in this case SpongeBob SquarePants. She asks her class about how he looks, his personal characteristics, and his relationship with others.

By using a well known character from TV, my class was easily able to brainstorm all sorts of character traits, what characters look like and sound like, how they would react in a specific situation and how they get along with others. When creating a story, students were able to bring so much more life to their characters, and they enjoyed writing about them. At times my students just wanted to list the traits, so we discussed how to weave them into the story or how to “show” instead of “tell.”

Thoughtful adaptations

As a teacher, I found the adaptations part of each lesson to be a true treasure. Oftentimes, adaptations for lower level learners or ELL students can easily be found, but it’s so helpful and unique to find adaptations for advanced writers. I shared my copy of the book with colleagues in general education classrooms and they, too, were impressed with the lessons and the adaptations.

This is not a comprehensive writing curriculum, nor was it intended to be. However, the lessons cover several genres of writing, including persuasive, expository, and narrative. It also touches on prewriting, drafting, revising and editing.

On the front inside cover of the book, there is a handy chart showing the writing Common Core Standards and which mini-lessons cover which standards.

The ideal audience for this book is wide. Whether you work primarily with struggling learners, like me, or your classroom has the typical gamut of learners, you will find lessons and techniques to add to your lesson plans tomorrow.

Danielle McIntosh is a middle school special education teacher at North Tapps Middle School in Lake Tapps, Washington. Her passion for struggling learners in the middle level is evident in her classroom every day. She loves blogging, reading, laughing, and spending time with her husband and two daughters. 

Assessing 21st Century Skills: A Guide to Evaluating Mastery and Authentic Learning
By Laura Greenstein
(Corwin, 2012 – Learn more)              

Reviewed by Cindy Musselwhite

Assessing 21st Century Skills by Laura Greenstein is a comprehensive guide for evaluating students beyond the use of paper and pencil testing. This book gives an overview of the demands placed on educators in the 21st century in regards to evaluating student progress and mastery. It also provides detailed models for creating assessments and describes the skills needed for students to be successful in the 21st century. This book, which aligns with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), addresses progressive new ways to assess learning and gives educators a fresh approach for tackling the growing demands of accountability.

Greenstein considers assessment fundamentals in a straightforward Common Core State Standards format. She links the requirements of the CCSS with 21st century assessments that are responsive, flexible, cohesive and informative, balanced, varied, and technologically sound. She also addresses assessment strategies in a clear, detailed manner, listing types and examples.

What’s inside the book

The heart of Assessing 21st Century Skills revolves around assessing the necessary skills for thinking, living, and taking action. They include: critical thinking, metacognition, communications, collaboration, visual and technology literacy, civic and citizenship skills, global understanding, leadership and responsibility, and college and career skills. All these skills are components of a successful 21st century life and are the foundations of Greenstein’s assessment formats.

Each skill is addressed in detail, and the author provides examples of rubrics for scoring assessments as well as examples of success plan checklists and lesson plans.

In addressing multipurpose assessments, Greenstein gives detailed accounts of student projects that can be evaluated using 21st century criteria. These projects include student-focused assessments and group oriented initiations involving peer-to-peer reviews as well as reflection and teacher reviews.

Greenstein, who draws heavily on the work of Robert Marzano and John Hattie and their “high yield strategies of clear goals, questioning, summarizing, and feedback,” also urges the use of student portfolios including paper and electronic works and samples of projects and display materials.

As Greenstein notes, her book leans in the direction of the secondary grades, about which she says:

During the elementary grades, it is reasonable to introduce critical thinking and concepts such as comparing, synthesizing, and reflecting. At the secondary level, it is more feasible and realistic to expand these building blocks to include higher-level thinking, metacognition, media literacy, and global awareness.

Assessing 21st Century Skills calls for reform of student evaluation in a time when this revision is much needed.  It is a must-have for any educator wishing to assess students beyond the knowledge-based level. This innovative book addresses the needs of all educators looking to fulfill the requirements of assessments that focus on the Common Core State Standards.

Cindy Musselwhite is the Band Director at Ethel High School in Ethel, MS. She is currently in her 18th year as a music educator. She has taught in Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida and is currently completing a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education from Mississippi State University.

College @13: Young, gifted, and purposeful
By Razel Solow and Celeste Rhodes
(Great Potential Press, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Linda Rummell

Grade skipping – otherwise known as acceleration – has always been a controversial issue. People ask is it best practice to allow gifted students to skip grades? If you are a teacher, an administrator or a parent, I am sure you have your personal opinions on this topic.

The book College @13 explores the lives of 14 girls who skipped two to four years of high school to attend an early college entrance program at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. The purpose of this program, known as PEG or “Program for Exceptionally Gifted,” was to help these students find “purpose” locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

The title of this book is misleading, however, because only three of the 14 students were actually age 13 when they entered the program. Six of the young women were 14, two were 15 and three were 16. I found this book interesting but at 249 pages, it became long-winded and sometimes repetitive. I think the authors’ messages are important, but they probably could have gotten their points across in 150 pages.

I did like this book because it not only showed the strengths of these girls, it also showed that they had to deal with struggles just like any other adolescents. One girl experienced ADHD, another dealt with a chronic illness, and another dealt with racism. As a teacher of gifted students, my question was: “How did this program meet the social, academic and emotional needs of these teenagers.” I could not imagine throwing 13-year old girls in a setting with 18 and 19 year olds.

The authors explain that the key to the program’s success was the social and emotional guidance that the students received from counselors and mentors who were trained to work with gifted females. The students also lived together in a special residence hall. This was an emotionally safe environment where the students were able to learn to their hearts’ content. The authors added that, yes, this situation was different than the typical American high school experience, but that the students reported feeling “normal” for the first time.

The usual thoughts on acceleration…

Pros – Some people think that a student who shows that they are capable and eager for a challenge should be allowed to move ahead.

Cons – Others feel that socially these students will miss normal “peer friendships” and social growth.

The book’s focus is on how many schools fail to meet the needs of exceptionally gifted children and because of this, these children are bored and frustrated and often rejected by their peers.

My recommendations

I would recommend this book to parents who are trying to understand their gifted child, to teachers who have gifted students in their classrooms, and to administrators and board members who are responsible for making “best practice” decisions.

In my opinion, the section titled “Four Misconceptions of Gifted Students” should be printed out and handed to every college student who plans to be a teacher. Also, every teacher who teaches gifted students should include in their curriculum the section of this book that covers the “Social Responsibilities of the Gifted.”

I also would recommend every gifted child have access to the book’s epilogue. It sums up several of the girls’ thoughts on being gifted and how to approach life. For example, one girl stated:

Before PEG, I wanted to walk a mile in everyone else’s shoes. I knew that amazing experiences were out there, but they seemed like things that happened to other people. This program gave me the strength to do the unexpected. I learned not just to weather change, but to love it. Change is another word for opportunity. I realized that life is not something that is happening to me; I’m the one living it.”

After reading this book and working with gifted students, I can definitely see the need of acceleration, and I can see the importance of having students attend a special program or special school. I also realize that acceleration will not work without the students feeling like they have a peer group and without the support of trained teachers and counselors.

Linda Rummell currently works as a gifted education specialist at a middle school in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. She writes: “I am lucky because I have experienced two different careers. First I worked as a media writer in a marketing department. Later I took time off to raise my three sons. My sons’ preschool and elementary years were spent at a Montessori School. As they attended there, I worked as a teacher’s aide. This wonderful experience led me to return to college and graduate with an MAE in gifted education.”

Dear Visitors,

Since we began our MiddleWeb book review program in July 2012, we’ve posted 100+ reviews of professional books of interest to middle grades teachers and school leaders. Who’s writing the reviews? Middle grades educators themselves. Who knows better what colleagues want to hear?

Read on to learn how you can become a MiddleWeb book reviewer. If you enjoy the experience and our readers respond to your reviews, we hope you’ll become a regular here. If you’re a publisher, contact us about submitting books for review. (Of course, the opinions of reviewers are their own.)

Read a professional book this summer!

Our Book Review Guidelines

Our books are provided by interested publishers at no cost to us. We don’t endorse the books, just offer them for review. We pay the postage to send them to you ourselves, so please ask for books only if you intend to review them! You may keep a book or give it away to a colleague.

How to Obtain Books to Read & Review

1. Visit our current list of books available (Google Doc). This list is updated daily, so we recommend you get in touch quickly if you see something you’d like to review. (If you have difficulty accessing the Google Docs list, let us know.)

2. In our current list, click on titles to find out more about the books. (Please make sure the book is one you are likely to review.)

4. Select one book you’d like to request. You can include an alternate choice if you like (our review books are claimed quickly!). Once you’ve reviewed your selected book, you’ll be welcome to select again!

5. Email us. Include: the title of each book, a reason why each book interests you, a target deadline for each review, and your postal mailing address. (We recommend a deadline of 3-6 weeks.) Janice, our Outreach Coordinator, will let you know about availability. If we don’t have your first choice, we’ll invite you to revisit the current list. Again, the email address for book requests is: middleweb.review@gmail.com

We cannot send you books unless you include your complete postal mailing address! (Sorry for shouting, but some folks forget this essential piece of information.)

Reviewing the Book (important guidelines)

1. Include book information at the top of your review, in this format:

Title/Subtitle:
Author/s:
Publisher:
Year published:

2. Include a 50-75 word bio about yourself and a photo or avatar image, suitable for a small headshot (200 dpi or less preferred). Here’s a sample bio (55 wds) — feel free to write yours using your own style and voice. Be sure to mention your professional work. Honors and accomplishments are encouraged. Embedded links are welcome.

3. We’re often asked how long the review should be. We recommend 500-1000 words. If you don’t like a book and can say why succinctly, fewer than 500 words is okay. Please use a block paragraph style (no indents) with a space between paragraphs. Our #1 tip for a good review: tell readers what’s in the book. Good example.

4. Send us an email with My MW Book Review as the subject line. Attach the book review as an MS Word or RTF document. Be sure to include your short bio and attach your photo. If you prefer to post your draft review in Google Drive/Docs, be sure to invite our editor John Norton to the draft using THIS address: johnnort@gmail.com. (Why? This way all the reviews end up in the same GDocs table of contents. Big help!)

5. Please give us 1-2 weeks to acknowledge your submission and provide feedback. Unless major changes are necessary, we may just make minor edits, add subheads, and post your review. Depending on the # of reviews in our queue, it could take up to a month for the review to appear. We’ll publicize your review via Twitter, Facebook and in MiddleWeb SmartBrief (so be sure to subscribe: http://bit.ly/mw-sb-sub). We’ll also send you the page link when your review is posted.

Some Writing Tips

1. Look at some reviews on our site or in other publications you respect.

2. Don’t obsess about length — we suggest 500-1000 wds but if we feel you’ve written too much or too little, we’ll suggest ways to expand or contract.

3. Write in a relaxed, personal voice. Be professional but don’t feel compelled to write your review as formally as you might in a grad school class or for journal publication. Humor is good. Multimedia might be appropriate. Even an emoticon (limit of one per review – smile).

4. If you don’t like the book, or don’t like parts of the book, or think the book is pretty good but could be better with some changes/additions, please say so. Avoid sarcasm, personal attacks, etc. but feel absolutely free to criticize ideas or delivery. If you totally love the book, gush if that’s your style. Or just be cool, collected and complimentary.

5. Feel free to tell stories from your own experience as an educator (or learner or parent, etc.) and relate those stories to the author’s messages and the book content. This will engage readers!

6. Tell our readers what YOU would want to know if you were reading the review. Think about who this book might benefit, and why and how, and address those points. It’s not much fun to read a review in which the reviewer is mostly swimming in his or her own fishbowl and isn’t tuned in to the audience.

Writing questions? Send them to editor John Norton at johnnort@gmail.com

Overcoming Textbook Fatigue: 21st Century Tools to Revitalize Teaching and Learning
by ReLeah Cossett Lent
(ASCD, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Susan Shaver

I enjoy teaching, sharing and following the interests of students in and out of the classroom — experiencing the rapidly changing world of technology right along with them. But when a student tells me, “Mrs. Shaver, this book is boring,” and then when asked why, she proceeds to explain that it’s about old stuff that happened a long time ago…well, it gives me pause.

I liked the book she’s reading because the setting is in the 60’s and I grew up then. But she has no connection whatsoever with that decade. I have to stop and think, especially when the whole class nods in agreement with her. How do I make a book involving a 7th grader living five decades ago relevant to 7th graders in 2013 – middle school students who don’t know the name Walter Cronkite or know about transistor radios, but who have cell phones, video games and Internet?

Even though the book this class is reading is historical fiction, not non-fiction, the problem of keeping students engaged is the same for both kinds of texts. How do I create a desire in my students to read, study literary elements, or make connections within fact-filled prose?

Each year the challenge is greater than the last. Attention spans continue to get shorter. Sitting still in the classroom has become even more difficult. Technology distractions abound and are here to stay. Teachers like myself –using methods which perhaps once worked with students reading classroom textbooks, non-fiction and literature — face the decision to adapt traditional formats to modern technology and new engagement strategies and to offer content that will earn and hold student attention.

Overcoming Textbook Fatigue: 21^st Century Tools to Revitalize Teaching and Learning is just the book to benefit teachers who feel the urgency to create more relevant lessons and revitalize classrooms for today’s students.

What’s in the book

Basing her information upon research, classroom experiences, and strategies proven to work, ReLeah Cossett Lent has written the text in a conversational, informative style, scaffolding the contents into eight chapters addressing specific areas of content. She begins with learning and engagement in Chapter One, followed by background knowledge, vocabulary, reading and writing to learn, learning assessment, and how to create and use text sets. Lent finishes with a chapter designed to help teachers and schools make the difficult transition to revitalized teaching.

Each chapter in Overcoming Textbook Fatigue is full of useful examples, strategies, advice, and techniques to use in instruction. The author stresses the importance of engagement in learning, citing studies indicating how engagement in the classroom improves student outcomes, making it a critical component of good teaching today. Students engaged in the classroom have control, choice, self-direction, and hence, they take ownership of their own learning.

By promoting social interaction, facilitating collaborative learning, and creating a sense of community, Lent says, teachers can recast students as problem solvers who need to seek out information in order to find solutions. Too often we become reliant upon textbooks and then feel the need to cover all the material. It is our responsibility as teachers, she says, to target student interests and create a culture of curiosity — to establish a learning environment where students are using the textbook as a resource rather than the sole basis of the class curriculum. (Lent also stresses the value of creating connections with other teachers of grade level or content, interdisciplinary teams or co-teachers to create a network to build on teaching ideas.)

Background knowledge, vocabulary and reading/writing strategies

Other chapters examine the importance of students’ background knowledge, which is crucial in unlocking meaning. Without background knowledge, texts are difficult to understand and “boring.” Ideas for building and assessing background knowledge include using prediction guides, carousel walks, free discussions, textbook scavenger hunts, picture books, virtual field trips, etc.

Suggested vocabulary strategies include creating tiers of unfamiliar textbook words based on difficulty and familiarity, using the Frayer model, illustrating words, including examples and figures to help in understanding, etc.

ReLeah Cossett Lent

In the chapter on reading, ReLeah Cossett Lent emphasizes the need to find a reading strategy to fit the subject being taught, the importance of note taking, the value of discussion and writing, and the need to include differentiating texts.

Lent emphasizes that writing to learn means more than answering textbook chapter questions, and she provides recommendations for creating effective writing tasks, such as reflection assignments, interactive notebooks, graphic organizers, journals, blogging, and wikis. She stresses that assessing learning and checking for understanding go beyond the typical pop quiz or multiple choice test, with strategies such as evaluating learning logs, Think-Pair-Share classroom activities, “what do you think?” questions, conferences, oral responses, etc.

Creating your own text sets

In the final two chapters, Lent promotes the creation of text sets for the classroom — collections of resources about specific subjects  that include online and print materials, audio and visual items — and she includes helpful suggestions for creating them.

Lent also describes what classroom engagement looks like, sharing actual classroom settings and situations. We see what happens as teachers shift into coaching roles and students move toward becoming independent learners. With one final emphasis on making this transition, the author underscores her belief that it is not a choice, but our obligation, to give students what they need to succeed. We have to approach our teaching with a different mindset. It’s not optional.

This is an excellent resource for all subject area teachers and for all levels. The author succeeds in presenting a wide variety of useful strategies to implement in the classroom with advice in using the Common Core Standards. She provides examples we can follow and points us to websites, resource lists, and ideas for guided book group discussion.

All in all, it’s not only a useful but an exciting book.

Textbook fatigue then and now

I can still remember the thrill and excitement of my first day in 7th grade. Our social studies teacher passed out brand new textbooks! The paper was slick and clean, the edges even. No bent, torn or crinkled pages. There were brightly colored pictures throughout, with an amazing set of maps right in the middle, made up of transparent overlays depicting the growth and development of the United States. How exciting!

Or so I thought, until we had to sit down and actually read the book, discuss and answer chapter questions, and take chapter tests. Over and over again. I thought we’d never get to the end. (And I don’t think we did!) How different my junior high social studies experience would have been if teachers then had been able to utilize even a few of the strategies presented by ReLeah Cosset Lent.

Today, we have the technology and the know-how to overcome textbook fatigue. And this very useful and exciting book shows the way.

Read another review of Overcoming Textbook Fatigue

Susan Shaver is a certified K-12 Library Media Specialist and teaches 7^th Grade Reading and 7^th & 8^th Grade General Music in the Hemingford, Nebraska Public Schools.

Building Adolescent Literacy in Today‘s English Classroom 
By Randy Bomer
(Heinemann, 2011 – Learn more)  

Reviewed by Linda Biondi

“What’s wrong with kids today? They won’t listen or sit still. I have to just about stand on my head to get them to listen. What can I do to get them to read? Kids today are not like what I was when I grew up!”

Every time that I hear that, I think of the movie, Bye, Bye Birdie when Paul Lynde asks, “What’s the matter with kids today?”

Kids today are not like the kid you were when you grew up. And they shouldn‘t be. Life has changed and to be an effective educator, you must be an agent of change. According to Randy Bomer, author of Building Adolescent Literacy in Today‘s English Classroom, “Today’s English classrooms should not look like the English classes of the 1940s or even the 1980s. Student now engage in dozens of literacy activities that were unavailable just a generation ago.” These words resonated in my mind as I read this insightful text.

Bomer‘s background reads like a book itself. He is a veteran teacher, staff developer, and consultant. His list of credentials includes being the former co-director of Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, director of the Heart of Texas Writing Project and professor of preservice English teachers at the University of Texas. He is the author of Time for Meaning, co-author of For a Better World, and co-editor of The Handbook of Adolescent Literacy Research.

What’s inside the book

At first, I had high hopes that this would be a book I could read in a week or two and immediately apply in my classroom. The application was the easier part — the quick skimming for information was the harder part. As I struggled with reading the book, I realized it was because there was so much to absorb. The “light bulb moment” came when I realized what was needed! I needed to apply some of the reading strategies that I was teaching my students: chunk the information, reread and rephrase, and use Post Its to jot down questions you have and track the answers. Simple, but effective, and it worked.

Bomer’s book, based on research, experience, and best practices in literacy, follows the Readers and Writers Workshop model. He makes frequent references to research based studies, and the anecdotal stories he includes help to connect the book with the reader. However, for the most part, his writing style is very analytical and the information seems to jump around. For example, he stresses the importance of examining our reading lives in Chapter One, but then refers the reader to another section of the book to explain the strategy. The reader is left wondering whether to continue reading or skip to the referred section.

Bomer’s passion for literacy for all students is evident throughout. He addresses the need to provide literacy lessons that that are globally and technologically significant. According to the NCTE, as society and technology change, so does our literacy. Quoting the NCTE Definition of New Literacies, 21st-century readers and writers need to:

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology;
• Build intentional cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought;
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes;
• Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information;
• Create, critique, analyze and evaluate multimedia texts;
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments.

I found his chapter “Making More of Grammar” especially interesting and thought provoking. Gone are the days of worksheets and standardizing grammar with copying exercises out of a book. Bomer stresses the need to be more aware of embracing language diversity such as code-switching and dialects, and exploring the craft of writing. He embraces this philosophy throughout the book, with sidebars on how to apply the strategies with ELL students and make the lessons technologically relevant.

A resource worth the effort

This book is a great resource. However, I felt that the reader would benefit from reading the book in a book club or as part of a college course. Reflective sidebar sections ask the reader to pause and consider the practices they are currently using. The reader with a timeline in mind, hoping to read the book quickly and practice the strategies and skills, might ignore these sections, hoping to get to “the end” and skip the reflective piece. That’s a mistake. The sidebars are extremely important — not just “window dressing.” Part of being an effective teacher is reflecting on current practices. If something’s broke, we need to fix it.

Admittedly, Building Adolescent Literacy in Today‘s English Classroom is not a quick read. But it is a thought provoking book that may change the way you currently teach literacy or reaffirm your present teaching style. Even before I finished reading the book, I was sharing insights, sidebar reflections, and strategies with my colleagues. You will enjoy reading it independently or as part of a group study.

Linda Biondi is a fifth grade teacher at Pond Road Middle School in Robbinsville, New Jersey. She has been the recipient of several educational grants that infuse a literacy enriched curriculum along with an understanding of individual learning styles to help students understand bias and patterns of discrimination. She is the author of the Education World article “Dimes for Charity,” about a positive behavior program that centers on developing students’ social action and awareness.

Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better
By Doug Lemov, Erica Woolway, and Katie Yezzi with a forward by Dan Heath 
(Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2012  Learn more)

Reviewed by Renee Masterson

“Admitting Error clears the Score, And proves you Wiser than before.”
–Arthur Guiterman

The first step of improving any practice often begins with admitting that things could be done differently. In Doug Lemov’s book, Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better, teachers are thoroughly exposed to the importance of honing teaching skills inside and outside the classroom in order to more effectively serve students.

Several times in this book, teachers in the classroom are paralleled to coaches on the playing field. Both are influential in a young person’s life; however, unlike coaches, Lemov notes that teachers often fail to practice ways to enrich their methods to better facilitate student learning.

Lemov offers 42 explicit guidelines for becoming a better teacher. These rules are designed to be rehearsed with colleagues; moreover, most of these improvement strategies can be carried out in as little as ten minutes each day. They include making a plan to practice, modeling and describing your teaching style, isolating a skill set, shortening the feedback loop, and creating a fun atmosphere for teachers to hone their teaching skills. Though these practices are simple (yet powerful when applied), Lemov stresses a quality work ethic because “practice makes permanent.” People may “assume that practice is something that stops when you get good. Practice implies a judgment. It assumes a lack of competence. But of course this isn’t true.”

This book allows teachers to reflect practicing before teaching, provides example plans of how to practice with fellow educators, outlines models for teaching, describes ways to constructively communicate feedback to colleagues, attempts to change the culture of schools and the attitudes of teachers, and illustrates proven ways in which educators can make the newly learned skills second nature.  The guidelines in Practice Perfect, Lemov says, must be applied and carried out in the classroom on a daily basis in order for students to personalize their learning experience and for teachers to effectively support the learning environment.

I personally appreciated the insight that this book provided for functional application within the classroom. I was able to find positive ideas that allowed me to shift my focus from one of no need to practice my skills outside the typical school day, to one that thrives on actively practicing and implementing these techniques in the classroom with the expectation of improving instruction.

Because deliberate practice to become a better teacher was essentially a foreign concept to me, this book was revelatory. And it also showed how I could practice with and learn from fellow teachers. Lemov does not just say, “Here’s a bunch of things you should and shouldn’t do as an educator. Good luck.” Thankfully, he gives a detailed outline of how I can incorporate these practices within my school and describes real-world examples of how practicing has created better educators.

In the Appendix, Lemov generously provides practice activities to carry out with other teachers. Just as students gain from feedback, teachers, too, need to receive feedback on their teaching styles from time to time. Lemov not only provides helpful hints for interpreting feedback, but also for supplying feedback to my colleagues when we practice becoming better teachers. We are all responsible for providing the best education for our students, and working together to ensure that our methods are top-notch for our students is imperative.

As a pre-service teacher, I am just beginning to see how practicing specific elements of an educator’s role will be vital to my teaching efficacy. Practice Perfect opened my eyes to the need for this profession to be practiced just as doctors need to practice their surgical skills and athletes need to practice the particulars of their respective sports. I would recommend this book to every teacher dedicated to his or her students. There is so much to be learned, and the 42 rules Lemov recommends provide an excellent framework to pursue our professional growth.

Renee Masterson, a native of Indiana, is currently a graduate student at Mississippi State University where she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Secondary Education. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences in 2012 at the same institution. Renee aspires to actively engage high school students in the learning process of various science disciplines for real-world preparation and application.

See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers
by Roxanna Elden
(Kaplan Publishing, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Kevin Hodgson

I remember getting hired as a first-year teacher just days before the school year started and completely freaking out. Along with planning what I might be doing in those first days of school (that’s about as far as I could see, to be honest), I gobbled up the classic The First Days of School by Harry Wong in hopes that some of his magic would rub off on me.

While I devoured Wong’s book (pulling it out every August for the first few years of teaching before finally handing it off as a gift to a colleague just starting out) Roxanna Elden’s See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers would have been a nice companion text. Infused with Elden’s humorous insights and featuring anecdotes from a multitude of veteran teachers reflecting on the good, the bad, and the embarrassing sides of the teaching life, this book offers up some advice in a handy format of short narratives, helpful tables and easy-to-navigate bulleted points.

I suspect that new teachers will read the book quite differently than veteran teachers. I found myself shaking my head in acknowledgement of the stories of other teachers, remembering that boy who refused to learn for most of the year, and the surprise visit by an administrator on a day when the lesson fell apart, and the words slipping off your tongue in a moment of emotion that you wish you could just take back. I also remember that girl that I reached that year when I thought all of my tricks had failed, and that comment from a parent thanking me for my work with their child. The value for a veteran teacher here is the realization that we are not alone.

Not even close.

For new teachers, Elden’s book is a valuable insider’s look into navigating the school environment – from dealing with parents, to paying attention to the politics of the administration (and colleagues), to remembering that one of the tenets of teaching is that the next day is a new day, and that can be a good thing. Elden wisely reminds principals, too, that they have an obligation to nurture and support and to have realistic expectations of new teachers.

In fact, a nice welcome gift for any brave soul dipping their toes into the classroom might be See Me After Class, partnered up with Wong’s The First Days of School. It could be one of those gestures that keeps a new teacher sane, and in the classroom, for another year.

Kevin Hodgson is a sixth grade teacher in Southampton, Massachusetts, and is the technology liaison with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. Kevin blogs regularly at Kevin’s Meandering Mind and tweets more often than is healthy under his @dogtrax handle.