Shopping Cart

Home > Shopping Cart 

Stenhouse Newslinks
November 14, 2006

C O N T E N T S

1) Righting secondary writing wrongs
2) PD Corner: Literacy coaching resources
3) Stenhouse happenings at NCTE (and a coupon)
4) Literacy maps for integrating 21st century skills
5) The 65% Solution

Note: If you'd rather not receive Newslinks in the future, just 
forward this message to unsubscribe@stenhouse.com.

----------------------------------------------------------------
1) Righting secondary writing wrongs
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Though there certainly are examples of excellent teaching 
occurring in our schools, we have a long way to go overall to 
bring many of our students up to the levels of writing proficiency 
they will need to walk through those key gateways awaiting 
them...clearly, as teachers of writing, our work is cut out for 
us."

Kelly Gallagher presents a model for building strong adolescent 
writers in his new book, Teaching Adolescent Writers. Focusing on 
six key student needs--ample practice, teacher modeling, reading 
exemplary writers, topic choice, authentic purposes, and 
meaningful feedback--Kelly shares strategies and practices that 
help students sharpen essential writing skills.

Filled with student examples and engaging anecdotes, Teaching 
Adolescent Writers will help you motivate your students to write 
and give you the instructional strategies to help them improve 
their writing. The entire text of this new book is now online for 
browsing:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0422.asp?r=n100

* Special for Newslinks subscribers *
Order Teaching Adolescent Writers on our website by November 30 
and we'll waive the shipping charge (a $5 value!). Just enter the 
discount code NLA at the bottom of the "Summary" checkout screen.

Teaching Adolescent Writers
Kelly Gallagher * 208 pp/paper * Available now
http://www.stenhouse.com/0422.asp?r=n100

----------------------------------------------------------------
2) PD Corner: Literacy coaching resources
----------------------------------------------------------------
*November Quote of the Month*

"It is virtually impossible to create and sustain over time 
conditions for productive learning for students when they do not 
exist for teachers."
--Seymour Sarason

The International Reading Association and the National Council of 
Teachers of English have just launched the Literacy Coaching 
Clearinghouse (LCC). With a wealth of resources for literacy 
coaches, this site aims to create a professional learning 
community of those interested in literacy coaching:

http://www.literacycoachingonline.org/

Many districts are hiring literacy coaches. Incorporating coaches 
is just the first step toward implementing a coaching model. Nancy 
Shanklin, director of the LCC and professor at the University of 
Colorado at Denver, explores what it takes to be an effective 
literacy coach in this short article:

http://www.literacycoachingonline.org/briefs.html
(Click on the "What is Effective Literacy Coaching?" link.)

The Fall issue of Northwest Education magazine, from the Northwest 
Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), carries the theme 
"Teaming Up with Literacy Coaches" and includes an article 
featuring Stenhouse author Jeff Wilhelm:

http://www.nwrel.org/nwedu/12-01/index.php

In her new book, Responsive Literacy Coaching, Cheryl Dozier 
shares a coaching framework that empowers literacy coaches and 
teachers through conversation, sustained engagement, and 
reflective analysis. In Chapter 4, "Examining Language," Cheryl 
reminds us that our language choices as coaches and as teachers 
matter. We are challenged as readers to consider the impact and 
consequences that our language choices have on others:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0463.asp?r=n100
(Click on the Chapter 4 link in the Table of Contents.)

----------------------------------------------------------------
3) Stenhouse happenings at NCTE (and a coupon)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Browse and buy Stenhouse books at our booth (#409) at the NCTE 
conference in Nashville this weekend. You can also meet several of 
our authors who will be signing their books at the booth:

Friday, November 17
Noon-1pm  Ralph Fletcher
1-2pm  Cris Tovani
2-3pm  Teri Lesesne

Saturday, November 18
3-4pm  Mary Cowhey
3-4pm  Jeff Anderson

Sunday, November 19
10:30-11:30am  Gail Boushey and Joan Moser ("The Sisters")

Follow this link for more information, including a list of 
Stenhouse author presentations and a coupon for a free 32-page 
professional development booklet with chapters from two recent 
Stenhouse books:

http://www.stenhouse.com/ncte2006.asp

If you know any colleagues who will be attending the conference, 
feel free to forward the coupon to them!

----------------------------------------------------------------
4) Literacy maps for integrating 21st century skills
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a series of 
literacy maps for the core subjects of English, geography, math, 
and science. The maps guide K-12 educators through a wide range of 
learning skill examples that connect information and communication 
technology (ICT) to each subject. The English literacy map was 
developed in cooperation with NCTE. All of the maps can be 
downloaded here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/rdlitmaps.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------
5) The 65% Solution
----------------------------------------------------------------
"The number of bureaucrats is endless...do we need two or three 
curriculum directors in a school district? Do we need four 
directors of instruction in a particular district? We're focused 
on the bureaucracy rather than our kids and our teachers."
--Colorado state representative Joe Stengel

This recent piece from NPR explores recent state initiatives to 
force school districts to spend 65% of funds "in the classroom":

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6415422

Colorado's ballot measure to institute a 65% rule was defeated 62% 
to 38%.

The main national organization lobbying for the 65% Solution is 
First Class Education:

http://www.firstclasseducation.org/

For a summary of the arguments against the mandate, see these 
pages from the National Education Association and the National 
PTA:

http://www.nea.org/65percent/index.html

http://www.pta.org/archive_article_details_1138313002656.html


----------------------------------------------------------------
Please send comments and questions to Chuck Lerch, Newslinks 
Editor, at  or call (800) 988-9812.

View archives of past issues here:
http://www.stenhouse.com/nlindex.asp

To subscribe to Stenhouse Newslinks, please send an e-mail with 
your request to  or visit our Web site at 
http://www.stenhouse.com.

Stenhouse respects your privacy, and we never share e-mail 
addresses with anyone. If you no longer wish to receive e-mail 
communications from us, just forward this message to 
.

Stenhouse Publishers
P.O. Box 11020
Portland, ME  04104-7020
Tel (800) 988-9812
Fax (800) 833-9164
http://www.stenhouse.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2006 Stenhouse Publishers
Prices are subject to change without notice