Stenhouse Newslinks
June 29, 2007
C O N T E N T S
1) Author Conversations: Kelly Gallagher
2) Four reasons why some students test poorly
3) Want to get published?
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1) Author Conversations: Kelly Gallagher
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"I had a ninth-grade class this year, and of my 22 students not
one of them could tell me who the vice president of the United
States is...we're producing test takers who have no vision of
what's really happening in the world."
We sat down earlier this month with Kelly Gallagher, who said he
plans to focus next year on doing more real-world reading and
writing with his students to build their background knowledge:
http://www.stenhouse.com/gallagher.asp?r=n116
Kelly is the author of the books Reading Reasons, Deeper Reading,
and Teaching Adolescent Writers, as well as the DVDs Building
Adolescent Writers and Twenty Questions Homework. Browse them
here:
http://www.stenhouse.com/gallaghertitles.asp?r=n116
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2) Four reasons why some students test poorly
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In this recent commentary, Lloyd Bond, who specializes in
educational measurement and testing at the Carnegie Foundation,
proposes four possible causes of poor standardized test
performance by students who otherwise do well in their schoolwork:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdpoortest.htm
Two of Bond's candidates, lack of "test-wiseness" and test
anxiety, are addressed directly by Glennon Melton and Amy Greene
in their new book Test Talk: Integrating Test Preparation into
Reading Workshop. You can browse the entire text of the book
online:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0461.asp?r=n116
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3) Want to get published?
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The June issue of Phi Delta Kappan provides excellent advice on
getting published in an education journal and presents the results
of a survey of 31 journal editors assessing 12 variables including
the percentage of research articles, rejection rate, required
style, and communication preference:
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v88/k0706hen.htm
How do you avoid being a bad author? Get some unvarnished advice
from a former editor at Oxford and Duke University Presses:
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/06/2007062901c/careers.html
Lots of teachers have thought from time to time of sharing their
teaching experience and knowledge by writing a book. But many
don't even try because it all seems so daunting, mysterious. From
the beginning, Stenhouse has sought out practicing teachers who
are interested in writing on their own or in collaboration with
colleagues. Classroom teachers have a voice and perspective that
give their reflections and ideas genuine authority. A large
portion of our books come from teachers, including most recently
Glennon Melton & Amy Greene, Lynne Dorfman & Rose Cappelli, Gail
Boushey & Joan Moser, and Jeff Anderson.
Here are some guidelines that will give you a good idea of how the
process works and whether it's one you'd like to undertake:
http://www.stenhouse.com/propletr.asp?r=n116
And of course we're always here to listen. So feel free to call
and talk to one of our editors. We'd love to hear your ideas and
there's no better time than the summer to take that first step!
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