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Stenhouse Newslinks
April 14, 2006


C O N T E N T S


1) Black Ants and Buddhists
2) PD Corner: Homework
3) Author Conversations: Kathleen Fay 
4) Coalition of Essential Schools
5) More workshops and institutes


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1) Black Ants and Buddhists
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At a time of global conflict and politically charged debate, 
primary teacher Mary Cowhey shows us how to forge a nurturing and 
caring environment where children learn to become socially 
responsible and critical. In a classroom of widely diverse 
cultures and experiences, she teaches children how to create 
community and work for peace. Her new book, Black Ants and 
Buddhists, shows what critical teaching and learning look like--
how to nurture sustained interest in questions, get students to 
challenge the status quo and investigate conflict, and encourage 
appreciation for other cultures and viewpoints.


Black Ants and Buddhists is now available in print, and you can 
also review the entire text on-line:


http://www.stenhouse.com/0418.asp?r=n87


Black Ants and Buddhists: Thinking Critically and Teaching 
Differently in the Primary Grades * Mary Cowhey
Foreword by Sonia Nieto * 256 pp/paper * $18.00 * Available now
http://www.stenhouse.com/0418.asp?r=n87


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2) PD Corner: Homework
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*April Quote of the Month*


"Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest 
of your life."
--Lawrence Kasdan


Homework wears many hats: a teaching and learning tool, a skill 
that students need to master, an element of grading, and a link to 
parent involvement. It also raises its share of controversy. Here 
are some on-line resources that may give you new ideas and 
perspectives on homework.


High school teacher Kelly Gallagher describes a more purposeful 
assignment that he believes is superior to the "dance" of 
assigning reading and then giving a quiz the next day, in his new 
video, Twenty Questions Homework--one of the brief, low cost 
videos in the new Stenhouse Close-Ups series:


http://www.stenhouse.com/0438.asp?r=n87
(Scroll down this page to the 1-1/2 minute video clip link.)


"It's hard for many children to have the right conditions at home 
for doing homework successfully. Yet teachers often must give 
homework. What are some things you do about this?" The January 
issue of the Responsive Classroom newsletter includes three 
teachers' answers to this question:


http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/18_1NL_2.asp


Should homework be graded? Rick Wormeli argues that homework 
should be a minor part of a student's overall grade in Chapter 9 
of his new book, Fair Isn't Always Equal:
 
http://www.stenhouse.com/0424.asp?r=n87
(Click on the link to Chapter 9 and scroll to page 116.)


Education World has an extensive collection of articles on 
homework, touching on a wide variety of issues including school-
wide policies, quality vs. quantity, homework clubs, and parental 
involvement:


http://www.educationworld.com/a_special/homework.shtml


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3) Author Conversations: Kathleen Fay
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Kathleen Fay, coauthor (with Suzanne Whaley) of Becoming One 
Community, talks about how important it is to slow down when 
working with students who have had few literacy experiences prior 
to starting school, reassuring teachers that it's time well spent:


http://www.stenhouse.com/conversations.asp?r=n87


"Welcome to Bailey's, a Place Where Teachers and Students Learn 
Together," Chapter 1 of Becoming One Community, was contributed by 
JoAnn Portalupi. You can read it here:


http://www.stenhouse.com/0368.asp?r=n87


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4) Coalition of Essential Schools
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The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) Web site offers a large 
collection of tools, strategies, and resources from years of work 
in the areas of school design, classroom practice, leadership, and 
community connections. Their quarterly journal, Horace, features 
examples of effective practices from CES schools across the 
country, book reviews, and Web links. Past issues are available 
on-line in their entirety:


http://www.stenhouse.com/rdhorace.htm


CES ChangeLab is an on-line database of curricula, policies, 
lessons, and rubrics on teaching and learning, school practices, 
assessment, leadership, and community connections, contributed by 
13 participating CES "Mentor" high schools:


http://www.ceschangelab.org/


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5) More workshops and institutes
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Check out these upcoming professional development opportunities 
involving Stenhouse authors.


Reading Matters is holding one-day workshops with Kelly Gallagher, 
author of Deeper Reading, next week in King of Prussia, PA 
(Wednesday, 4/19) and Lancaster, PA (Thursday, 4/20). Debbie 
Diller, author of Literacy Work Stations and Practice with 
Purpose, will present "Success with Literacy Work Stations" on May 
19 in King of Prussia (for grades K-3) and May 20 in Lancaster 
(for grades 3-6). Get details and download the registration form 
here:


http://www.stenhouse.com/RM2006spring.pdf
(Large 520KB file--may take some time to download.)


A.U.S.S.I.E. professional development is offering a series of 3-
day summer institutes in July and August on reading comprehension, 
mathematics, early childhood education, and effecting school 
change. Diane Snowball, author of Spelling K-8, is featured as the 
keynote speaker at several of the comprehension institutes. The 
locations are New York City; Mobile, AL; Williamsburg, VA; Garden 
City, NY; Cromwell, CT; and Poughkeepsie, NY. For details:


http://www.aussiepd.com/summerinstitutes/index.html


Thoughtful Conversations and Stenhouse author Franki Sibberson are 
hosting two one-day workshops this summer. "Learning Under the 
Influence of Language and Literature (Grades K-8)" by Lester 
Laminack takes place July 26, and "Writing to Think, Writing to 
Learn (Grades K-8)" by Katherine Bomer is on July 27, both in 
Powell, OH. You can download the registration form here:


http://www.stenhouse.com/TCON06.pdf


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