Mirrors & Windows Blog is Moving!

Thanks to everyone for following the Mirrors & Windows blog on blogspot! We are excited to announce that the literature and language arts blog will be moving to the new EMC Blog at blog.emcp.com. Not only is it an easier URL to remember, but you will find lots of information about the language arts, teaching best practices, cross-curricular activities, and news and events. Make sure to bookmark the new EMC Blog and keep on following!

Jaqueline Woodson on creating mirrors and windows with literature

Congratulations to Jaqueline Woodson, winner of the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature for her latest book, Brown Girl Dreaming. In her essay in The Times, Woodson explained that her mission is "to write stories that have been historically absent in this country's body of literature, to create mirrors for the people who so rarely see themselves inside contemporary fiction, and windows for those who think we are no more than the stereotypes they're so afraid of."

Woodson's mission echoes the program philosophy and methodology of EMC's Mirrors &Windows: Connecting with Literature program. We applaud Woodson and share her passion to offer rich, diverse literature to students that can help them see themselves in the stories and see beyond themselves to empathize with people from other places, times, or cultures.

New Year's Creative Writing Activity

Here's a fun creative writing activity for the new year that teaches students about the history and etymology of New Year's Day and has them apply what they've learned to a creative writing activity. This activity is exerpted from The Complete Teacher's Almanac and kindly posted on TeacherVision.

We here at EMC would like to say thank you to all of the devoted language arts teachers out there and wish you a very happy holiday season and new year! See you in 2015!!

Literature as Mirrors and Windows theme at NCTE

How many of you were able to attend the 2014 NCTE Convention in Washington, DC, last week? It was a truly inspiring conference! The Friday morning General Session keynote address by Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, and following panel discussion, focused on the themes of literature as mirrors and windows, and the importance of creating space for missing and marginalized voices.

We at EMC Publishing were inspired to hear that this theme resonates so powerfully with the program philosophy of our Mirrors & Windows: Connecting with Literature program. We know that great literature provides mirrors that help students reflect on their own lives, and windows that lead them into new worlds. This metaphor for reading expresses the power of words to engage and transform readers.

EMC's literature program provides opportunities for students to explore new worlds full of people, cultures, and perspectives, that might be similar or different than their own. The anthologies contain stories, essays, plays, and poems by outstanding authors from around the globe. Reading these selections will expand students' appreciation of literature and expand their world view. As students read the quality literary and informational texts in the program, they will see themselves in the characters, stories, and themes. They can then begin to see themselves as citizens of the world--a world from which they have much to learn and to which they have much to offer.

EMC Author to Speak at NCTE

EMC Publishing, along with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), is pleased to announce that Gary Anderson will be speaking at the NCTE Annual 2014 Convention in Washington, D.C. Anderson, of EMC Publishing, St. Paul, Minnesota, will present as a member of the panel, "RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE 3--RESEARCH ABOUT TEACHER EDUCATION." The participants’ description of the panel reads:

The roundtables in this session showcase research about teacher learning spanning the career. From pre-service education to professional development and beyond, the roundtables offer complex and varied studies centered on how teachers learn to teach for and across a range of contexts.

The session will be held from 2:30 PM to 3:45 PM on Friday, November 21, 2014. Gary is the coauthor of Expository Composition: Discovering Your Voice. Make sure to stop by the EMC Publishing booth #608 and visit with Gary. You can also register to win free Access Edition novels or a free one-year Flipgrid account!