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Stenhouse Newslinks
March 21, 2006

C O N T E N T S

1) Naked Reading
2) High stakes testing: a podcast interview with George Madaus
3) PD Corner: From management to student independence
4) Author Conversations: Debbie Diller, Part III
5) A rich selection of summer institutes

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1) Naked Reading
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"Natalie would dive into the walk-in closet in her room, sit down 
on her little stepstool, and continue to read. When we asked 
Natalie about this less-than-conventional style of reading, she 
promptly and earnestly informed us that she had read somewhere 
that allowing one's body to dry naturally was better for the skin. 
So, naked reading was born."

--from Teri Lesesne's new book, Naked Reading

How do we make reading accessible to reluctant tweens? Teri 
Lesesne, author of Making the Match, presents classroom practices 
and strategies that help teachers create lifelong readers in her 
new book, Naked Reading.

Tweens will reject books for younger readers as picture books, but 
many are not quite ready for YA novels designed for more mature 
readers. Naked Reading explores tweens' developmental attributes, 
interests, and the themes and plots that tweens find most 
engaging. The book includes practical classroom activities to 
spark interest in reading, and a list of over 200 outstanding 
books for tweens, with short descriptions and suggested grade 
ranges.

Naked Reading is now available in print, and you can also review 
the entire text on-line:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0416.asp?r=n85

Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong 
Readers * Teri Lesesne * 128 pp/paper * $16.00 * Available now
http://www.stenhouse.com/0416.asp?r=n85

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2) High stakes testing: a podcast interview with George Madaus
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"One of the things that legislators or governors can do is they 
can impose tests. And they don't have to worry about what goes on 
in classrooms, they don't have to get into the messy 
details...they get numbers out that are quantifiable. So it's very 
attractive. And it's cheap."

George Madaus has analyzed educational testing for over 30 years. 
He shares his insights into the science of testing, its 
usefulness, and its limitations in this podcast interview by John 
Merrow, anchor of PBS's The Merrow Report:

http://www.pbs.org/merrow/podcast/
(Free registration via Yahoo or iTunes required. Yahoo is faster--
click under "Listen on Yahoo." Or click the "Download Transcript" 
link to access a 15-page transcript--no registration required.)

Many episodes of The Merrow Report are available via streaming 
video at Annenburg Media:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series99.html
(Free registration required; more recent programs appear at end of 
the list.)

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3) PD Corner: From management to student independence
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Classroom management is an issue that never goes away for 
teachers--every year brings a new set of students, with fresh 
challenges and delights when it comes to building a community of 
kind, engaged readers and writers.

Gail Boushey and Joan Moser have developed an integrated literacy 
and classroom management system that isn't about discipline. 
Instead, the focus is on helping students learn to monitor and 
choose their own literacy tasks, so that there is a continual 
vibrant and purposeful buzz of independent learning during reading 
and writing workshops. Their book, The Daily Five: Fostering 
Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades, is now available 
in print. You can preview the entire text on-line:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0429.asp?r=n85

The starting point for thoughtful, respectful classroom management 
is teacher language--how we speak to and with children conveys our 
community norms and expectations. The Northeast Foundation for 
Children (NEFC) has a wonderful essay outlining how teacher talk 
can foster caring interactions:
 
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/15_4NL_1.asp
 
The essay is excerpted from the book, Rules in School. You can 
read Chapter 1 here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/8910.asp?r=n85

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4) Author Conversations: Debbie Diller, Part III
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What do literacy work stations look like when they are going well? 
Debbie Diller introduces her new video series, Launching Literacy 
Stations, in this clip just added to our Author Conversations 
page:

http://www.stenhouse.com/conversations.asp?r=n85

Launching Literacy Workstations is available now in both VHS and 
DVD formats. Complementing Debbie's first book, Literacy Work 
Stations, this three-part video series demonstrates how stations 
are introduced, managed, and sustained in two primary classrooms. 
You and your staff will see how literacy tasks in each station 
build skills across the curriculum and help students work 
independently.

Launching Literacy Stations: Mini-lessons for Managing and 
Sustaining Independent Work, K-3 * Debbie Diller
3 30-minute programs + Viewing Guide * $295.00
DVD (includes bonus footage):
http://www.stenhouse.com/0443.asp?r=n85
VHS:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0420.asp?r=n85

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5) A rich selection of summer institutes
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Summer is the perfect time to make lasting changes in teaching 
practice. Consider these summer institutes and conferences 
involving Stenhouse authors across the country.

Reading for Life: A National Content Literacy and Learning 
Institute, with Janet Allen
June 12-14, Bradenton, FL * June 19-21, Mobile, AL
June 26-28, Las Vegas, NV * July 31-August 2, Concord, NH
Date TBD, Caribou, ME
Topics include reading comprehension strategies; effective 
vocabulary instruction; meeting the needs of ESL/ESOL students; 
meeting the needs of special education students; literacy and 
leadership; content reading and writing; classroom 
management/community building; and differentiated instruction.
http://www.janetallen.org/index.2ts?page=alli

Reading Is Thinking Reading Comprehension Institute, with 
Stephanie Harvey
July 20-21, Redmond, WA
Appropriate for grades K-8. Provides an in-depth comprehension 
overview; explicit comprehension instruction; strategy lessons in 
fiction, nonfiction and poetry; a process to merge comprehension 
with content; teaching with short text; a variety of children's 
work samples; and suggestions for assessment and evaluation.
http://www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/RIT06.pdf

Rocky Mountain Reading Conference, with Cris Tovani
June 19-21, Englewood, CO
Appropriate for grades 4-12. Provides an overview of current 
research; comprehension strategies to enhance content coverage; 
text suggestions that encourage reluctant readers; assessment and 
small group instruction; and comprehending technical reading as 
well as narrative text.
http://www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/RMRC06c.pdf

Georgia Conference on Teaching Writing and Reading
June 14-15 * Georgia National Fairgrounds, Perry, Georgia
Keynote by David Sousa; speakers include Aimee Buckner, Kelly 
Gallagher, Stephanie Harvey, Debbie Miller, JoAnn Portalupi, and 
Franki Sibberson.
http://www.dodgelearning.com/

MidSouth Reading & Writing Institute
June 16-17 * University of Alabama at Birmingham
Speakers include Janet Allen, Diane Snowball, Alfred Tatum, JoAnn 
Portalupi, and Joanne Monroe.
http://teacherweb.com/AL/MidSouth/Manning/photo1.stm

Responsive Classroom Week-Long Institutes
June through August, 29 locations in 14 states
The Responsive Classroom is an approach to teaching and learning 
that fosters safe, challenging, and joyful classrooms and schools 
(K-8). Practical strategies bring together social and academic 
learning throughout the school day. Week-long institutes provide 
an immersion experience in Responsive Classroom practices, with 
grade-specific groups of 20 to 30 teachers.
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/prodevelop/weeklonginst.html

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