Summer Reading--Exemplars and More!

Looking for Common Core Exemplar titles for your students' summer reading? Look no further than EMC's Access Editions. You’ll find exemplars such as

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

For your middle school readers, The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) compiled an excellent Summer Booklist for Young Readers. You’ll find many of EMC’s Access Editions also on this list including

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Check out the complete list of EMC Access Edition titles at www.emcschool.com/accesseditions. Your students will have a terrific summer reading great literature!!

 

 

Six Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students

Looking for ways to use scaffolding in your teaching? A recent edutopia.org article provides some helpful ideas.  
6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students 
 

EMC's Mirrors & Windows: Connecting with Literature program has scaffolding and gradual release of responsibility built into the lesson design of each unit in the textbook. Three levels of reading support lead students from guided, to directed, to independent reading. This approach is based on research that supports the practice of using modeling to gradually transfer responsibility and mastery of skills from the teacher and the textbook to the students. 

Mirrors & Windows before-reading activities and guided close-reading models include all six of the scaffolding strategies mentioned in the Edutopia article.

1. Modeling: (Guided Reading Models)
2. Prior knowledge: (Reader’s Context)
3. Time to talk: (Launch the Lesson activities and Mirrors & Windows questions in the Teachers’ Edition)
4. Pre-teach vocabulary: (Preview Vocabulary)
5. Use visual aids: (Use Reading Skills graphic organizers)
6. Pause, ask questions, pause, review: (During-reading guided reading questions and After-Reading text-dependent critical thinking questions)
   
   
    Let Mirrors & Windows do the scaffolding for you!

 

Mirrors & Windows' text-dependent questions build Depth of Knowledge (DOK)

Mirrors & Windows' After Reading critical thinking questions are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. These text-dependent questions ask students to recall basic facts from the text and then apply higher level reasoning skills. Questions are paired to build from literal questions to interpretation through synthesis. The critical thinking levels directly align with Norman L. Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels as shown in the chart below. 

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels	Mirrors & Windows After-Reading question levels
Level 1: Recall and Reproduction Recall of facts information, or procedure	Understand (Find meaning)
Level 2: Skills and Concepts Use of information, concept knowledge	Apply (Use information)
Level 3: Strategic Thinking Requires reasoning, developing a plan or sequence of steps	Analyze (Take things apart)
Level 4 Extended Thinking Requires investigation, thinking and processing multiple conditions of problem or task	Evaluate (Make judgments) Create (Bring ideas together)

Students will have the opportunity to practice cognitive skills and processes at all four levels of DOK after reading every selection in the Mirrors & Windows textbook.

How does Mirrors & Windows address CCSS text complexity?

As we all know by now, one of the key requirements of the Common Core State Standards for Reading is that all students must be able to comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. The Standards define a three-part model for determining how easy or difficult a particular text is to read, based on qualitative, quantitative, and reader and task considerations, as well as grade-by-grade specifications for text complexity.

• Mirrors & Windows text complexity measures appear in the At a Glance box for each selection on the Before Reading page in the Teachers’ Edition. A reading level of Easy, Moderate, or Challenging, based on a careful evaluation of each text by qualified reading specialists, takes all of the Common Core text complexity measures into account.
  
• Quantitative measures included in the reading levels are based on the standard readability formulas of Dale Chall, Fry, and Lexiles. (All reading scores available by request.)
• Qualitative measures are used to indicate difficulty considerations and ease factors, factors that might make a selection difficult or easy to read, such as the author’s style; length of the selection or length of sentences, words, and paragraphs; difficulty of the vocabulary; and students’ familiarity with the topic or subject matter. These factors help teachers evaluate reader and task considerations to determine whether a text is appropriate for a given student.
• In addition, the quantitative measure of the total word count for each selection is included along with the reading level in the Unit Scope and Sequence Guide in the Teachers’ Edition.

Use Avenue to Assess CCSS Speaking & Listening

Engage students with cutting edge, research based digital technology. Avenue is an innovative video-assessment platform for capturing, reviewing, providing feedback, archiving, and visualizing progress of video-based learner performances in your language arts classroom. Students develop their speaking and listening skills by recording a response to an oral task created by the teacher. Each task is self-evaluated and submitted to the teacher, allowing students to immediately self-reflect and grow.

For instructors, Avenue is simple

1. Record, upload, or search for your media

2. Build customized tasks in minutes

3. Assign tasks to one or all with ease

4. Access with custom scores, video, and text

For students, Avenue is even simpler

1. Complete assigned tasks

2. Self-evaluate your performance

3. Review feedback and progress

Try Avenue today! Visit emcl.com/avenue to request your FREE 30-day demo. 

Flipgrid New Digital Learning Technology

Use EMC's new digital technologies in your classroom to practice and assess Common Core speaking and listening standards. Flipgrid is simple. Teachers create grids of short discussion-style questions that students respond to online through recorded videos. Use the Mirrors & Windows postreading questions in the textbook to engage your students in thought-provoking discussions about the central ideas in the selections they have read. Flipgrid boosts community and social presence in face-to-face, hybrid, and online classrooms. Give your students a voice.  

1. Instructors ask

2. Students respond

3. Everyone shares

A Flipgrid account allows an instructor to create grids (up to 10) for an unlimited number of students. Call 800-328-1452 for more information. We’d love you to Flipgrid. Build your grid today by visiting emcl.com/flipgrid to request your FREE 30-day demo.

EMC Bookshelf features multi-platform eBooks

All student textbook materials will be available in the new EMC Bookshelf. These interactive multi-platform eBooks are compatible with all devices including iPads, Chromebooks, desktop and laptop computers, and smartphones. All student entered data will be stored securely to the cloud and will sync to any device they use to access the books. Students' bookmarks, notes, highlights and more will be available on their school devices and at home using a single sign-on.