In their book Engaged, Connected, Empowered, Ben Curran and Neil Wetherbee examine five major shifts needed in education to provide students with 21st century skills. Reviewer Laura Von Staden found their work easy to follow with lots teachers can use right away.
When students are challenged to “close read” a movie, they must not only learn how to deconstruct the story, they must also understand the many techniques that are used by filmmakers to create the total effect, says expert Frank Baker.
“I’ve been accumulating guiding principles for creating highly motivating homework assignments for many years,” writes expert Rick Wormeli. “Here are a baker’s dozen. Choose the ones most appropriate for students’ learning goals and your curriculum.”
Sarah Tantillo has taken her 2012 book, The Literacy Cookbook, to the next level, adding flavor-enhancing Common Core ingredients to the mix. Reviewer Linda Biondi reports Literacy and the Common Core: Recipes for Action “deserves a five star rating.”
After lots of looking reviewer Judi Holst has found just the book she needs to learn how to flip effectively in her English classes. She highly recommends Troy Cockrum’s new book for its easy-to-follow steps and adaptable lesson plans.
David Booth’s Caught in the Middle is one of those rare books that truly has the capacity to help a teacher carve out a roadmap for a successful year of working with middle school readers and writers, says reviewer Jenni Miller.
A week of sitting in a teaching seminar has left Sarah Cooper inspired but also thoughtful about how students experience daily classroom life. “I felt new empathy for having to follow teachers’ instructions all day long.” Read her 10 takeaways.
Advertising: it’s everywhere. As media literacy educators work to engage students in conversations about commercial marketing, we have to consider the close reading of print and video ads. Frank Baker provides starting points and resources for teachers.
For consultant Ruth Catchen, a good STEAM program addresses all the skills related to Arts & STEM subjects to make students career and college-ready. “Use cross-curricular experiences, deep content, and real world activities to maximize learning.”
Book Reviews / Vocabulary Instruction
by MiddleWeb · Published 06/22/2014 · Last modified 11/23/2019
No matter how long or in what content area you have been helping students learn vocabulary words, reviewer Anne Anderson expects you will find Mariliee Sprenger’s Vocab Rehab a whole lot of help packed into a tightly focused book.
