Stenhouse Newslinks
November 30, 2007
C O N T E N T S
1) Championing literacy in your school
2) Author Conversations: Herb Broda
3) PD Corner: Encouraging editing
4) Help ELL students find success on tests
5) Reading for fun
Note: If you'd rather not receive Newslinks in the future, just forward this message to unsubscribe@stenhouse.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------
1) Championing literacy in your school
----------------------------------------------------------------
How do you mobilize everyone--teachers, parents, and students--to accomplish widespread improvement in literacy learning? The revised and expanded edition of The Literacy Principal examines the latest practices that drive successful district- and school- wide literacy initiatives, highlighting the increasing role of literacy coaches and mentoring teams.
Authors David Booth and Jennifer Rowsell show you how to infuse the entire school culture with rich literacy experiences, understand literacy principles and practices, create literacy successes, and establish balanced, student-centered assessment and evaluation.
Filled with vignettes from teachers, principals, and other leaders, this practical book will guide your efforts to manage literacy-based school change. Browse the entire text online:
http://www.stenhouse.com/8216.asp?r=n128
The Literacy Principal, Second Edition: Leading, Supporting, and Assessing Reading and Writing Initiatives
David Booth and Jennifer Rowsell
160 pp/paper * $19.50 * Available now
http://www.stenhouse.com/8216.asp?r=n128
----------------------------------------------------------------
2) Author Conversations: Herb Broda
----------------------------------------------------------------
"You can talk about the outdoors as a venue...the phrase I love the most is 'a change of pace and a change of place.' We can step outside and change the pace of instruction and also literally change the place of instruction."
Herb Broda, author of the new book Schoolyard-Enhanced Learning, speaks compellingly about the benefits of outdoor learning in our latest installment of Author Conversations. Herb offers several examples that illustrate how the outdoors works as a venue--a place to invite students to read and hold discussions--as well as a source of content:
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/brodapodcast.htm?r=n128
----------------------------------------------------------------
3) PD Corner: Encouraging editing
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Grammar and writing are so inextricably linked as to be virtually synonymous. To study one is to study the other."
--Lynn Sams
Certainly Jeff Anderson lives Sams's words in his classroom. His book Everyday Editing marries editing with instruction--reading and writing instruction. Well constructed, literature-filled daily editing lessons run from mini-lesson to writing invitation seamlessly. Anderson fluidly and practically shows us how to structure instruction to maximize student connections between mentor texts, student texts, and editing. Browse the book online:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0709.asp?r=n128
Got a few minutes? Tune in to the "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" podcast and get short, witty tips on such topics as verbification of nouns, serial commas, ending a sentence with a preposition, and more:
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
If you have iTunes, access the Grammar Girl podcast via this link:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdgramgirlitunes.htm
From abstruse/obtuse to zoology, the A to Z list of usage and grammar errors on the Common Errors in English website astounds.
According to site owner Paul Brians, "My goal is to keep my readers' writing and speech from being laughed at or groaned over by average literate people." Refer your students for concise explanations of common problems:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html
Do you worry about the English language? Cindi Rigsbee does. Her rant in Teacher Magazine, "Grammar Interrupted," bemoans current teen-speak and waxes nostalgic for sentence diagrams. Comments in response to the article (accessible from the link next to the fourth paragraph) take issue with some of Rigsbee's views:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdrigsbee.htm
(Free registration required.)
----------------------------------------------------------------
4) Help ELL students find success on tests
----------------------------------------------------------------
Standardized tests can be daunting for any student, but for English language learners, these tests can pose overwhelming language challenges. In "It's How You Ask That Counts" (September
2007 Language Magazine), Amy Greene and Glennon Melton describe how their school in Fairfax, Virginia, empowered students to view tests not as a stressful mystery, but as a challenge they were prepared to meet:
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/news_32.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------
5) Reading for fun
----------------------------------------------------------------
"At a time when books appear to be waging a Sisyphean battle against the forces of MySpace, YouTube and 'American Idol,' the notion that someone could move quickly from literary indifference to devouring passion seems, sadly, far-fetched."
In a recent New York Times article, Motoko Rich explores the mystery of what turns someone into a book lover:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/weekinreview/25rich.html
(Free registration may be required.)
The article cites a recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts (N.E.A.), "To Read or Not Read," that analyzes U.S. reading trends and concludes that voluntary reading rates among teens and young adults are in decline:
http://www.arts.gov/pub/pubLit.php
"I can't tell whether lurking is a devious violation of Web ethics or a return to luxurious nonparticipatory reading. I do know it seems indulgent. When I lurk, I relax, fall silent, become a cosseted 19th-century baroness whose electronic servants bring her funny pictures and distracting tales. I have no responsibilities.
I'm entirely on intake. If I were reading Tolstoy or Anita Shreve this way, I'd be an N.E.A.-certified exemplar of civilization."
Virginia Heffernan justifies her online "lurking" as leisure reading in her latest New York Times Magazine column:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/magazine/25wwln-medium-t.html
----------------------------------------------------------------
Please send comments and questions to Chuck Lerch, Newslinks Editor, at newsletter@stenhouse.com or call (800) 988-9812.
View archives of past issues here:
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/newlinksarchive.htm
We encourage you to forward this newsletter to colleagues. To subscribe to Stenhouse Newslinks, send an e-mail with your request to newsletter@stenhouse.com or visit our Web site at:
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/newsletter.htm
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:
unsubscribe@stenhouse.com
Stenhouse Publishers
PO Box 11020 / 480 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04104-7020
Tel (800) 988-9812
Fax (800) 833-9164
http://www.stenhouse.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2007 Stenhouse Publishers
Prices are subject to change without notice
