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Stenhouse Newslinks
March 23, 2007

C O N T E N T S

1) Using mentor texts to model writing in K-6
2) PD Corner: Working with parents and families
3) The highs and lows of teaching middle school
4) Cheryl Dozier on responsive literacy coaching
5) Stenhouse authors online and on the road

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1) Using mentor texts to model writing in K-6
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Mentor texts serve to show, not just tell, students how to write 
well. They help students learn how to read like writers and become 
more independent as they notice what skilled authors do and try it 
out in their own writing.

In their new book Mentor Texts, Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli 
draw on their experiences as writing teachers and lovers of 
children's literature to help teachers cultivate confident, 
accomplished writers.

Organized around the key writing traits, Mentor Texts shows you 
how to choose and introduce mentor texts, share and model with 
your own writing, and go beyond mini-lessons when necessary to 
help students fully develop writing techniques with "Your Turn" 
lessons provided at the end of each chapter. The book also 
features a comprehensive list of children's books organized around 
the key traits.

Mentor Texts is available now, and you can browse the entire text 
online!

Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6
Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli
326 pp/paper * $22.50 * Available now
http://www.stenhouse.com/0433.asp?r=n108

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2) PD Corner: Working with parents and families
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"Together a community can do a whole lot more than any one school 
ever can."
--Carole Davis and Alice Yang, from their book Parents and 
Teachers Working Together

We've all heard it takes a village, but how many of us struggle 
with bringing that village into our schools? The National School 
Board Association offers an annotated list of resources for 
increasing community involvement:

http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/ComRes.cfm

Edutopia's Community Partnerships page has a collection of 
articles and videos that highlight successful K-12 programs from 
across the country:

http://www.edutopia.org/php/keyword.php?id=189

"Working with Families of Different Cultures" (Chapter 1 of the 
book Parents and Teachers Working Together) reminds us that in 
order to teach we must know our students, and provides a list of 
practical strategies for dealing with multicultural families:

http://www.stenhouse.com/8915.asp?r=n108

All of us have had our share of in-your-face encounters with 
parents. The challenge for both teachers and administrators is 
staying focused and creating cooperative environments. Suzanne 
Tingley provides some common-sense guidelines in her article 
"Working With Difficult Parents" (1st link below) and injects some 
humor as she classifies the toughest parents ("The Intimidator," 
"Pinocchio's Mom") while giving practical tips for handling them 
(2nd link):

http://www.stenhouse.com/rdtingley1.htm
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdtingley2.htm

And follow this link to browse parent involvement books and videos 
from Stenhouse:

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

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3) The highs and lows of teaching middle school
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"Middle school is like Scotch. At first you try to get it down. 
Then you get used to it. Then it's all you order."
--JoAnn Rintel Abreu, Seth Low Intermediate School, Brooklyn, NY

"The Critical Years," an ongoing series in the New York Times, 
explores the question of how middle school should be taught. The 
first article examines the problems middle schools face and 
alternative approaches being tried; the second looks at the pros 
and cons of K-8 schools; and the third considers the challenges of 
being a middle school teacher. Follow this link to access the 
series:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/education/
(Scroll down to "The Critical Years" under Multimedia in the 
middle column and click on the "Related Article," "Part 1," and 
"Part 2" links; free registration required.)

Any educator at the middle level will find the website MiddleWeb 
to be indispensable. Its copious content includes links to 
diaries, blogs, and listservs, hundreds of online resources 
(including a special section for new middle grades teachers), and 
the free biweekly e-newsletter "Of Particular Interest":

http://www.middleweb.com

Rick Wormeli's books Meet Me in the Middle and Day One and Beyond 
are essential survival guides, offering both veteran and new 
teachers an engaging and practical tour of middle-level topics: 
differentiating instruction, teaming, motivating students, 
discipline, homework, and more. Follow this link for details and 
to read sample chapters:

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

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4) Cheryl Dozier on responsive literacy coaching
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"In many schools, teachers are being asked to engage in 
instruction that is prescriptive. Teaching is complex and cannot 
be simply reduced to scripts. I've heard from readers that the 
book has sparked renewed interest in and support of their 
professionalism."

Read more from Cheryl Dozier's recent interview with EdNews on her 
new book Responsive Literacy Coaching:

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

And browse the entire text of Responsive Literacy Coaching here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0463.asp?r=n108

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5) Stenhouse authors online and on the road
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***Debbie Diller is hosting a summer institute on literacy work 
stations and small group instruction in Houston on July 13 (for 
3rd-6th grade teachers) and July 14 (for K-2nd grade teachers). 
Get details and also explore Debbie's new website here:
http://www.debbiediller.com/index.cfm?ThisPage=whatsnew#new3

***Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn recently interviewed another 
Stenhouse author--Jeff Anderson--at the Dublin (Ohio) Literacy 
Conference. Read it on their blog:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdsibhahn.htm

***Stephanie Harvey's 6th annual K-8 reading comprehension 
institute, "Reading Is Thinking," will take place June 26-27 in 
Arlington Heights, Illinois and July 24-25 in Seattle:
http://www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/RITChicagoFlyer07.pdf
http://www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/RITSeattleFlyer07.pdf

***Check out Monica Edinger's new blog "about teaching, 
literature, history, Africa (especially Sierra Leone where I was a 
Peace Corps Volunteer), and other sundry topics." A recent post 
describes her fourth graders writing historical fiction:
http://medinger.wordpress.com/

***Janet Allen's Reading for Life Nonfiction Reading and Writing 
Institute will be held at four locations this summer: Bradenton, 
FL; Nashville, TN; Las Vegas, NV; and Concord, NH. Details and 
dates can be found at Janet's website:
http://www.janetallen.org



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