Book Reviews / Common Core State Standards
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/16/2014 · Last modified 11/16/2019
Common Core Literacy for ELA, History/Social Studies and the Humanities deserves a place on the bookshelf of all educators in the Humanities, says reviewer and rookie SS teacher Michael DiClemente. The book offers detailed strategies and timely tech advice.
The Common Core experience may leave a sour taste on some educators’ palates, middle school ELA teacher Amber Chandler concedes. But she and her colleagues are coping with new challenges and limited resources by making their own brand of CCSS lemonade.
Book Reviews / Common Core State Standards
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/03/2014 · Last modified 11/18/2019
“Common Core in the Content Areas” not only makes a convincing case that content-area teachers can be “literacy teachers” when it serves their purposes, says reviewer Sarah Goodis-Orenstein, it also provides “a bunch of teaching and planning tools” and collaborative learning tasks.
Book Reviews / Common Core State Standards
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/25/2014 · Last modified 12/02/2019
Sean Ruday tackles some of the more challenging grades 6-8 ELA standards, giving detailed explanations using mentor texts in mini-lessons to gradually build student understanding, says reviewer Rebecca Crockett. He has also written for grades 3-5.
What do your students need to succeed in close reading? Literacy consultant Nancy Boyles outlines 10 steps in this article, drawn from her recent Corwin book “Closer Reading.” She also includes five questions to consider before students get started.
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.
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.”
New teachers will find Teaching Students to Think Like Scientists full of ideas for modeling the scientific method and integrating literacy & science in grades K-6. But independent school educator Tracey Muise felt the Common Core focus was overdone.
Reviewer Tyler McBride says the authors of Uncommon Core draw on research and their classroom experience to help teachers and administrators avoid some “absurd” teaching practices implied in the Common Core standards and get CCSS implementation right.
Activators: Classroom Strategies for Engaging Middle and High School Students brings a new and valuable perspective to a familiar teaching strategy, says reviewer Sarah Grieb. And the authors understand what’s it like to work in real classrooms with real kids.
