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Stenhouse Newslinks
March 2, 2007

C O N T E N T S

1) Make the most of small-group instruction
2) Assessing your PD needs
3) PD Corner: Using video clips
4) Are you a card-carrying teacher?

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1) Make the most of small-group instruction
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Small groups are a key part of effective reading instruction. But 
how can you fit them into your overcrowded daily schedule? What's 
the best way to choose groups and encourage active learning? And 
how can you take advantage of the flexibility of small groups to 
differentiate instruction?

In her new book, Making the Most of Small Groups, Debbie Diller 
tackles these tough questions and helps you get organized as you 
teach comprehension, fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, and 
vocabulary. It's filled with practical tips, lessons, and 
templates you can use immediately in the classroom.

Making the Most of Small Groups has just been published and is 
available now. You can also browse the entire book online:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0431.asp?r=n107

Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All  
Debbie Diller * 232 pp/paper * $22.00
http://www.stenhouse.com/0431.asp?r=n107

And explore these other titles by Debbie Diller:

Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work
http://www.stenhouse.com/0353.asp?r=n107

Practice with Purpose: Literacy Work Stations for Grades 3-6
http://www.stenhouse.com/0395.asp?r=n107

Launching Literacy Stations: Mini-Lessons for Managing and 
Sustaining Independent Work, K-3 (Video)
http://www.stenhouse.com/0443.asp?r=n107

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2) Assessing your PD needs
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How can you match professional development options to the needs of 
teachers in your school? Stenhouse author Gayle Brand has created 
a Professional Development Needs Assessment form that helps her 
group teachers with similar needs and interests and learn about 
the goals and expectations of new staff members. Read more about 
how she uses the form and download a copy at Choice Literacy:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/106.cfm

Gayle is co-author (with Max Brand) of Practical Fluency. Get 
details and a link to the first chapter here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0410.asp?r=n107

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3) PD Corner: Using video clips
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"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of 
focus."
--Mark Twain

Can your students use their imaginations? Do they have enough 
experience to imagine and visualize the content you teach? With an 
LCD projector and an Internet connection, multimedia lessons are 
just a click away. Follow the links below to sites that offer 
searchable databases full of educational video and connect with 
the visual learners in your classroom. 

In "Seeing is Believing: Harnessing Online Video Clips to Enhance 
Learning" Brenda Dyck details the realm of possibilities and 
provides links to some great examples:

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev040.shtml

Annenberg Media offers a variety of multimedia resources--
everything from professional development programs to videos you 
can use to build students' background knowledge:

http://www.learner.org/view_programs/view.programs.html

Looking for a way to bridge content and popular culture? Wing 
Clips offers a diverse selection of film clips, from the American 
"Bridges to Terabithia" to the Israeli "39 Pounds of Love." A 
subscription to the site is free for educators:

http://www.wingclips.com

Imagine taking your students across the country, virtually. Video 
clips from The American Field Guide explore animals, ecosystems, 
human history, space, plants and more:

http://www.pbs.org/americanfieldguide/index.html

Current events come alive when we help students build a historical 
context for them. The video gallery at History.com can help you do 
just that with an incredible range of material, and most clips are 
under five minutes in length. Categories include great speeches, 
history's mysteries, and modern marvels:

http://www.history.com/media.do

Video is an effective component of staff development, and DVDs 
make it easy to bookmark and show short clips during staff 
meetings and other settings where time is limited. Most Stenhouse 
videos are now available in DVD format. Browse the selection (and 
view sample video clips) here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/videoindex.asp?r=n107

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4) Are you a card-carrying teacher?
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"Business cards may be a staple of the business world, but in 
education, with its strict, top-down pecking order, often only 
high-level administrators and central-office types receive them. 
School principal? Here's my card. Science teacher? Let me write my 
information on a piece of paper. Guidance counselor? Depends."

This recent article in the Washington Post examines the use of 
business cards by educators and how it reflects (and promotes) 
professionalism in teaching:

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


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