Stenhouse Newslinks
July 9, 2008
C O N T E N T S
1) How to reflect, regroup, and refresh this summer
2) Author Conversations (Video): Debbie Diller gives you a tour of
Spaces & Places
3) PD Corner: Raising student expectations
4) Check out The Sisters' new website, The Daily CAFE
5) Teacher suspended for teaching The Freedom Writers Diary
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1) How to reflect, regroup, and refresh this summer
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"I spent too many summer days alone, reflecting on 'my' classroom.
I hadn't built any support systems that would help me work through
the clunkiness of implementing new instructional practices."
In the latest installment of our "Questions & Authors" website
series, Jennifer Allen, author of Becoming a Literacy Leader,
shares tips for a purposeful, productive summer for both seasoned
and new teachers:
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/news_92.htm?r=n143
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2) Author Conversations (Video): Debbie Diller gives you a tour of
Spaces & Places
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Haven't yet checked out Debbie Diller's new book, Spaces & Places?
Take a three-minute video tour with Debbie as she describes how
the book will help you plan and arrange your elementary classroom
step-by-step, make the best use of your walls, and organize and
store your stuff:
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/dillerweb.htm?r=n143
You can preview the introduction and Chapter 2, "Arranging Your
Room" here:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0722.asp?r=n143
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3) PD Corner: Raising student expectations
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"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."
--Henry Ford
See expectations in action at Teachers TV, a UK site that's chock-
full of high-quality professional video. "Learner Expectations" is
a 15-minute video featuring classroom footage, student interviews,
and six experts who offer their unvarnished opinions about how
teachers and schools can best raise student aspirations:
http://www.teachers.tv/video/21755
Need a list of how to make your expectations visible to students?
Part e-book chapter, part e-mail forum, Professor Ted Panitz's
"Communicating High Expectations to Your Students" provides
concrete examples of how teachers can expect more of their
students and make those expectations transparent in all they do:
http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/ebook/highexpect.html
Set higher expectations for students and they will rise to meet
them--so proves English teacher Robin Turner in a personal account
of his success with the Puente Project, a program that sets high
expectations for underrepresented students. Browse the entire text
of his book, Greater Expectations, online:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0740.asp?r=n143
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4) Check out The Sisters' new website, The Daily CAFE
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Gail Boushey and Joan Moser ("The Sisters"), authors of The Daily
Five, have just launched a new subscription-based website called
The Daily CAFE. It features professional videos, teacher
resources, articles, and useful downloads. Access free samples,
including a five-minute video on troubleshooting student behavior
with The Daily Five:
http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/department2.cfm
(Scroll halfway down the page to find The Daily Five
troubleshooting video.)
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5) Teacher suspended for teaching The Freedom Writers Diary
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"That was the pivotal moment of my life, when I saw how my
students were taken with the book, how they loved it, and then I
am told not to let them read it? I said no."
Connie Heermann, an Indiana English teacher, was suspended for 18
months for refusing to recall The Freedom Writers Diary when
directed by school officials, though copies of the book are
available in the school's library and Heermann obtained permission
slips from parents:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdheermann.htm?r=n143
(Includes a link to a four-minute CNN video story.)
For a local perspective on the controversy, check out this post at
the Advance Indiana blog:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdadvancein.htm?r=n143
And Richard LaGravenese, writer and director of the film Freedom
Writers, weighs in at The Huffington Post:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdlagravenese.htm?r=n143
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Editor, at newsletter@stenhouse.com or call (800) 988-9812.
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