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Stenhouse Newslinks
August 26, 2004

C O N T E N T S

1) Preview our new fall titles
2) School-based coaching
3) PD Corner: Bringing Reading to Life
4) College textbook prices continue to rise
5) Why teachers love depressing books

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1) Preview our new fall titles
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Get a sneak preview of four new books and two new video programs 
to be published by Stenhouse this fall! You can order on our Web 
site now and we will ship each title to you as soon as it becomes 
available. And look for our new catalog which will be arriving in 
your mailbox in the next week.

Note that all new Stenhouse books will be posted on our Web site 
in their entirety. We've just posted the full text of Growing 
Readers (see the link below).

Bringing Reading to Life: Instruction and Conversation, Grades 3-6
Franki Sibberson & Karen Szymusiak
4 30-min programs VHS or DVD * $395.00 * Available Now!
DVD:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0402.asp
VHS:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0392.asp
18 classroom vignettes present a vibrant portrait of readers at 
work, delving into novels and nonfiction with confidence, even as 
they grapple with increasingly difficult texts. See the PD Corner 
below for more details!

Growing Readers: Units of Study in the Primary Classroom
Kathy Collins * 296 pp/paper * $22.50 * Available in September
Review the entire text on-line now:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0373.asp
Explores the independent reading workshop and other components of 
a balanced literacy program, with units of study for a yearlong 
curriculum and examples of mini-lessons and reading conferences.

Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12
Kelly Gallagher * 224 pp/paper * $19.50 * Available in October
http://www.stenhouse.com/0384.asp
This practical book shows how students can be taught to 
successfully read a broad range of challenging and difficult texts 
with deeper levels of comprehension.

Teaching the Best Practice Way: Methods that Matter, K-12
Harvey Daniels & Marilyn Bizar * 272 pp/paper * $24.00 * Available 
in November
http://www.stenhouse.com/0405.asp
Fully updates and expands the authors' previous book, Methods that 
Matter, with seven basic teaching structures that meet best 
practice standards across grade levels and subject areas.

Writing Through the Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6
Bruce Morgan with Deb Odom * 128 pp/paper * $15.00 * Available in 
November
http://www.stenhouse.com/0406.asp
See how one school turned back to writer's workshop after becoming 
discouraged by formula writing and test preparation, and created a 
successful program that meets the unique needs of tween writers.

In the Beginning: Young Writers Develop Independence
JoAnn Portalupi & Ralph Fletcher * 30-minute VHS tape * $95.00
Available in November
http://www.stenhouse.com/0398.asp
A close-up view of a master teacher's kindergarten writing 
workshop, at a school where nearly all students enter as English 
language learners.

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2) School-based coaching
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"After years of disappointing results from conventional 
professional development efforts, and under ever-increasing 
accountability pressures, many districts are now hiring coaches to 
improve their schools. These coaches don't use locker-room pep 
talks to motivate their teams, but they do strive to improve 
morale and achievement--and raise scores--by showing teachers how 
and why certain strategies will make a difference for their 
students."

Read the rest of this article from the Harvard Education Letter, 
which provides a concise overview of school-based coaching and 
explores its successes and pitfalls:

http://www.edletter.org/past/issues/2004-ja/coaching.shtml

The Spring 2004 issue of JSD (National Staff Development Council) 
includes several articles on school-based coaching:

Coaching Moves Beyond the Gym: Successful Site-based Coaching 
Offers Lessons
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/galm252.cfm

How to Develop a Coaching Eye: Skills, Strategies, and Supports 
Coaches Need to be Successful
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/feger252.cfm

Role of the Coach: Dream Keeper, Supporter, Friend
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/herll252.cfm

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3) PD Corner: Bringing Reading to Life
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*August Quote of the Month*

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same 
level of thinking we were at when we created them."
--Albert Einstein

The books Still Learning to Read and Beyond Leveled Books have 
provided many upper elementary teachers with fresh thinking about 
the complex needs of grades 2-6 readers. Franki Sibberson and 
Karen Szymusiak present their insights in action in the new 4-part 
video series, Bringing Reading to Life: Instruction and 
Conversation, Grades 3-6, available now from Stenhouse.

Designed for use in professional development settings, the videos 
include a variety of strategies for talking with students about 
text, delving into complex genres, and fostering more independence 
in reading groups. The free Viewing Guide features writing prompts 
to prepare students for reading groups, sample student reading 
notebook entries, and workshop suggestions for professional 
development. You can download the guide here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0402.asp

This video series is available in both VHS and DVD formats. The 
DVD format includes 30 minutes of bonus footage, with interviews, 
extended play versions of a whole-class discussion and conferences 
during reading workshop, and a narrative overview of wall 
displays.

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4) College textbook prices continue to rise
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As textbook prices spiral upward, students have begun to look at 
alternative sources for books, such as half.com, booksoncampus.com 
and overseas sources, as reported in the Boston Globe:

Open your textbooks...and your checkbooks
(Free registration may be required.)

Stenhouse books remain an affordable option for instructors and 
their students. With an average price of less than $20, many 
instructors are able to replace expensive texts with several 
Stenhouse books that students can easily turn to again and again 
as they enter the classroom.

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5) Why teachers love depressing books
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"[Barbara] Feinberg, who runs an arts program for kids, was 
provoked to write this unusual hybrid of memoir and polemic by the 
trials of her 12-year-old son, Alex. She had seen him steel 
himself, again and again, for the joyless task of completing the 
assigned reading for his 'language arts' class, and she decided to 
investigate how those books could so oppress a boy who otherwise 
happily gobbled up Harry Potter novels and anything by or about 
his idol, Mel Brooks."

The new book, Welcome to Lizard Motel: Children, Stories and the 
Mystery of Making Things Up, makes provocative connections between 
glum award-winning young adult novels and the emphasis on memoir 
in K-8 writing workshops. Follow this link to the full review from 
the New York Times:

http://snipurl.com/whyteacherslove

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Editor, at  or call (800) 988-9812.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Stenhouse Publishers
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