Are your students ready for Common Core ELA assessments? Using the PARCC as a springboard, literacy consultant Sarah Tantillo details a 10-lesson strategy to prep for the Literary Analysis Writing Task and links to other preps at her blog. Teachers in non-PARCC states may also find the ideas helpful.
Self-check classroom and school “real estate” to make sure you’re organized to showcase, celebrate, and convey messages and content that invite all learners to joyfully learn more, writes author Regie Routman. In particular, critically examine your classroom libraries.
Close Reading the Media / Literacy and Film
by Frank Baker · Published 11/28/2017 · Last modified 11/28/2019
Film, video and television media are powerful engagement tools for literacy teachers. Author and media consultant Frank W. Baker shares lots of ideas about using screenplays, closed captioning, and media-related projects to boost reading and other literacy skills.
Sixth grade ELA and social studies teacher Kathee Lamberies expects she will be using Teaching Literacy in the Visible Learning Classroom from Fisher, Frey, Hattie and Thayre and tabbing its pages for years to come. It is likely to become her new “bible” of teaching!
“Since many students are in my class multiple times,” writes ELL teacher Wendi Pillars, “I’m always seeking new topics to tie literacy skills together.” This year one theme was “Zero Hunger” through sustainable agriculture. A perfect hook for a unit on eating insects.
Emphasizing content-rich curriculum, traditional literacy activities, and soundly structured lessons, Mike Schmoker’s “Leading with Focus” provides a guide for teacher leaders, principals, and others that can improve student achievement, says principal Matt Renwick.
If you are looking for ways to connect your classroom or school to parents in nonthreatening, collaborative, and productive ways, you’ll love Alisa Hindin and Mary Mueller’s book, Getting Parents on Board, says teacher/librarian Rita Platt.
Gerard Dawson packs his brief book about literacy with hacks (fixes) to implement immediately and have a positive impact on classroom reading culture, says educator Laura Von Staden. He includes five problem-solving blueprints and ways to overcome pushback.
In her blended classroom, reviewer Nicolette Lesniak finds the tools included in DIY Literacy – demonstration notebooks, teaching charts and visual note taking – help students recall what was taught and motivate them to work harder, to the best of their abilities.
Team-wide Literacy / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 12/26/2016 · Last modified 11/15/2019
More and more, state and national standards call on all educators to become “teachers of literacy.” ELA teacher Kevin Hodgson shares how he and his 6th grade colleagues in science, social studies and math are figuring out what this will mean in their classrooms.
