Share:

1) The cure for shallow classroom discussions

What role do classroom conversations play in thinking and learning?

What skills do students need to explore an important question, idea, or topic?

What structures can teachers use to foster quality conversations in language arts, social studies, science, and other subjects?

Tapping their experiences as instructional coaches, Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford share a model for fostering effective classroom conversations in their new book, Academic Conversations. Readers will discover how to:

• build critical thinking and academic vocabulary;
• enhance content understandings far beyond what tests require;
• improve students' oral language skills—essential for academic and career success, but seldom practiced outside of school;
• assess student learning that doesn't show up in writing or on tests;
• fortify lessons with rich, authentic conversations through subject-specific methods such as history case studies, creative writing projects, and science labs.

Filled with dozens of activities and examples of real dialogue by diverse students, Academic Conversations will make your classroom a place where students independently initiate and sustain conversations that create, shape, and share important ideas. You can now preview the entire book and pre-order online:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0884.asp?r=n228w

*Special for Newslinks subscribers*
Pre-order Academic Conversations at stenhouse.com by October 31 and we'll waive the shipping charge (a $5 savings!). Just enter the discount code NLAL at the bottom of the "Summary" checkout screen.

Academic Conversations
Classroom Talk that Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings
Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford
Grades 5-12 • 240 pp • $23.50 • Available mid-November http://www.stenhouse.com/0884.asp?r=n228w

>>top>> Share:

2) PD Corner: Teaching fractions

Mathematicians make a lot of mistakes, but they keep on thinking.
—Melanie, 3rd grader, as quoted in Math Exchanges

Do your student mathematicians make a lot of mistakes with fractions? Get student groups investigating them. Read Chapter 2 of Kassia Omohundro Wedekind's new book, Math Exchanges, to understand how flexible groups help students work together to solve problems:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0826.asp?r=n228w
(Enter page 36 at the bottom of the online reader to jump to Chapter 2.)

Kassia just wrapped up a tour of four popular blogs where she responded to bloggers' and readers' questions. Get a summary with links here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/rdmathexchblogwrap.htm?r=n228w

Visit the Fraction Cafe on Fact Monster for 12 games that students can play to brush up on fraction facts:

http://www.factmonster.com/math/knowledgebox/

Abolish the teaching of fractions? If you've ever considered cutting back on fractions' share of class time, this talk by Seymour Papert, posted by Gary Stager, is worth a read. Share it with high school students as fodder for a Socratic seminar or to spark conversations with colleagues:

http://dailypapert.com/?p=632

Pies and language such as "3 out of 4" are useful for representing some fractions, but they lead to problems when students encounter fractions greater than one. "Finding Parts and Making Wholes" from Zeroing in On Number and Operations, Grades 3-4, offers more robust strategies, with sample activities and a reproducible:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0795.asp?r=n228w
(Click the Table of Contents tab and scroll down to the "Finding Parts" link.)

Visit NCTM's Illuminations site for fractions activities that get students in grades 3-5 to explain and communicate their thinking. Use the questions after the video clips to reflect on your own practice:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Reflections_3-5.html
(Videos require QuickTime Player software.)

And middle-level teachers will want to check out "10 Practical Tips for Making Fractions Come Alive and Make Sense":

http://www.nctm.org/profdev/content.aspx?id=23587

>>top>> Share:

3) A hard look at homework in the elementary grades

Making homework, distributing homework, correcting homework—I feel like sometimes the energies we put into homework we're taking away from more valuable things, like planning instruction.

Stenhouse authors Kathy Collins (Reading for Real) and Franki Sibberson (Beyond Leveled Books) recently recorded a conversation for Choice Literacy about making homework more meaningful. Kathy reflects on how her views changed as she experienced homework from the "parent side," and suggests that homework in the elementary grades should primarily aim to spur child-parent and school-home communication:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1669.cfm

>>top>> Share:

4) Get a virtual visit from Cris Tovani, Kelly Gallagher, or Jeff Anderson

How would you like to have a leading Stenhouse author join your study group, book club, or staff meeting? Enter our drawing for one of three free hour-long virtual visits by Cris Tovani, Kelly Gallagher, or Jeff Anderson, where you and your colleagues can focus on topics from their books. Deadline is October 31, and visits will be scheduled in January or February:

http://www.stenhouse.com/html/virtual-visit.htm?r=n228w

>>top>> Share: