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Stenhouse Newslinks
April 13, 2007

C O N T E N T S

1) Test prep without compromise
2) PD Corner: Researching and writing
3) A performance-pay system from expert teachers 
4) Get Teaching Pre K-8's e-newsletter
5) Did your favorite punctuation make it to the Final Four?

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1) Test prep without compromise
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How do you prepare for standardized tests without compromising 
your curriculum? In their new book Test Talk, Glennon Melton and 
Amy Greene describe how their school responded to the challenge, 
maintaining effective reading workshops and purposeful instruction 
while helping students become confident test takers.

Amy and Glennon tackle the reality of high-stakes tests by 
treating them as a genre and integrating test preparation into 
units of study that focus on key content reading skills. Classroom 
narratives and over twenty strategy lessons help students decode 
the specific language of tests ("test talk"), navigate test 
formats, and develop the stamina to endure long testing periods, 
all without the drudgery of traditional test-prep programs.

Test Talk is a practical resource that will make a real difference 
in your classroom and school. It's shipping now, and you can also 
browse the entire book online:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0461.asp?r=n110

Test Talk: Integrating Test Preparation into Reading Workshop  
Glennon Doyle Melton and Amy H. Greene
Foreword by Franki Sibberson
154 pp/paper * $16.00 * Available Now
http://www.stenhouse.com/0461.asp?r=n110
  
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2) PD Corner: Researching and writing
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"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, 
would it?" 
--Albert Einstein

Copy, paste. Copy, paste. Do those words describe your students' 
research writing skills? Need help teaching students how to 
paraphrase and cite their sources? Purdue's Online Writing Lab 
provides a plethora of resources. Check out the "Research and 
Citation" section:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Citation Machine puts an end to excuses for incorrect or 
incomplete bibliographies. Choose a style (MLA, APA, or Chicago), 
enter your source's data into the proper fields and voila--the 
proper citation is generated:

http://www.citationmachine.net/index.php?page=about

To summarize, paraphrase, or quote? Help your students decide with 
"Using the Words of Others":

http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/write_cn/parsumqt.htm

"Cite Those Sources!" from ReadWriteThink offers activities and 
Web-based resources you can use to support student researchers in 
grades 3-5:

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=158
(Look for links to four other "Research Building Blocks" lessons 
halfway down the page.)

Need to practice? Put students into small groups. Collect passages 
that link thematically to each other and to current instruction. 
Give each group a short passage and ask them to paraphrase it, 
summarize it, and quote it using correct documentation techniques. 

When you assign a research report, do you hear groans of dismay 
(including your own)? Knowing How by Mary McMackin and Barbara 
Siegel will help you bring vitality to this crucial assignment. 
Read the first chapter online:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0340.asp?r=n110

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3) A performance-pay system from expert teachers
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"We are united in our belief that teachers need to be paid 
differently...we do not shy away from the principle that teachers 
who perform at high levels and spread their expertise deserve 
extra compensation for their performance and accomplishments."

The Center for Teacher Quality has just published "Performance-Pay 
for Teachers," a report authored by a panel of accomplished 
teachers that claims to be "fair, strategic, and likely to win 
teacher support." You can access a summary of the report's ten 
recommendations and the full report here:

http://www.teacherleaders.org/teachersolutions/index.php

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4) Get Teaching Pre K-8's e-newsletter
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Each month Teaching Pre K-8's free e-newsletter offers dozens of 
classroom-tested ideas and activities you can use right away, 
along with chances to win valuable prizes for your classroom. To 
subscribe:

http://www.teachingk-8.com/signup.html

And you can get a year's subscription to the print magazine for 
only $4.00--50 cents per issue and 75% off the published rate--by 
ordering from Stenhouse using this link:

http://www.stenhouse.com/TK8S.asp?r=n110

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5) Did your favorite punctuation make it to the Final Four?
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The new book, The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of 
Everything, includes categories for Shakespearean insults, 
Scrabble words, Latin grammar, and punctuation. The Boston Globe's 
Brainiac blog recaps the punctuation results, with comma, space, 
semicolon, and period squaring off in the Final Four:

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


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