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Stenhouse Newslinks
September 12, 2005

C O N T E N T S

1) Teaching for Deep Comprehension
2) PD Corner: Mental Models
3) Author Conversations: Alfred Tatum
4) Investing in parents during the first six weeks of school
5) Stigmatizing non-readers

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1) Teaching for Deep Comprehension
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  What can teachers do to promote comprehension? The most
  important tool is the language teachers use to engage
  students in talking about books. Our classrooms must be
  alive with literate talk--rich conversations about books
  that apprentice students into deeper comprehension.

--from the Introduction of the new book, Teaching for Deep 
Comprehension

How can teachers use the cognitive and social contexts of reading 
workshop to promote deep comprehension? In their new book, Linda 
Dorn and Carla Soffos align comprehension theory and research with 
everyday practice, explore the steps that students go through as 
they acquire comprehension strategies, and provide practical 
guidance on how to teach comprehension in readers' workshop.

The book includes an 85-minute DVD with classroom examples of 
comprehension strategies during shared reading, author studies, 
mini-lessons, one-to-one conferences, literature discussion 
groups, and teacher book clubs.

Teaching for Deep Comprehension will be available in print later 
this month, but you can browse the entire book on-line now:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0403.asp?r=n75

* Special for Newslinks subscribers *
Pre-order Teaching for Deep Comprehension on our Web site by 
September 26 and we'll waive the shipping charge (a $5 value!). 
Just enter the discount code NL75 at the "Address" checkout 
screen.

Teaching for Deep Comprehension: A Reading Workshop Approach
Linda J. Dorn and Carla Soffos
200 pp/paper & 85-minute DVD * $25.00 * Available late September
http://www.stenhouse.com/0403.asp?r=n75

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2) PD Corner: Mental Models
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*September Quote of the Month*

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big 
difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, 
over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
--Marian Wright Edelman
 
In "I Think, Therefore I Am Resistant to Change," Francis Duffy 
looks at the research base and practical implications of mental 
models, or sets of opinions and perceptions, that are the biggest 
impediments to change in schools:

http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/duffy241.cfm

For a close-up view of teachers and school leaders in the midst of 
changing their mental models, check out Results That Last, the 
video series by Linda Dorn and Carla Soffos that documents the 
implementation of new literacy practices in Arkansas elementary 
schools. Follow this link to download the Viewing Guide and view 
sample video clips:
 
http://www.stenhouse.com/0362.asp?r=n75

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3) Author Conversations: Alfred Tatum
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Are there any "black male" reading strategies? Alfred Tatum, 
author of Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males, responds to 
this question in the latest installment of our Author 
Conversations series:

http://www.stenhouse.com/conversations.asp?r=n75

Follow this link for more information about Alfred's book:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0393.asp?r=n75

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4) Investing in parents during the first six weeks of school
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In many schools the first parent conference doesn't take place 
until November, but teachers can begin early to build a positive 
relationship with parents. The August issue of the Responsive 
Classroom newsletter includes the article, "Investing in Parents 
During the First Six Weeks of School":

http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/17_3NL_1.asp

This article was adapted from the new book, Parents & Teachers 
Working Together, published by the Northeast Foundation for 
Children and available from Stenhouse. Follow this link to read 
Chapter 1, "Working with Families of Different Cultures":

http://www.stenhouse.com/8915.asp?r=n75

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5) Stigmatizing non-readers
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"I think there are plenty of people out there who don't read books 
and who are none the worse for it...for someone to say they don't 
care for reading labels them as some kind of thickie pariah, fair 
game for any insult. To decide any such thing on the basis of one 
single trait seems both sweeping and snobbish."

Read more of Hester Lacey's provocative commentary in a recent 
issue of The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1550326,00.html

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