Thursday, July 12, 2012

Four Myths About the ELA Common-Core Standards

From Teacher Leaders Network, two teachers attempt to set the record straight on the instructional shifts required by the common standards. Middle school English teacher Dina Strasser and teacher education instructor and consultant Cheryl Dobbertin tackled some of the critical aspects of implementing the ELA standards that have been obscured by polarizing debates.

Strasser and Dobbertin have identified four myths that often appear to be accepted as fact (and are sometimes delivered to teachers that way) but are not actually aligned with the spirit and intention of the ELA common-core standards.

Myth #1: Text complexity is a fixed number.
Myth #2: All prereading activities are inappropriate.

Myth #3 Answering text-dependent questions is what teaches students to be analytical readers.
Myth #4: The common core abandons fiction.

They conclude that it's important for educators to embrace the common-core standards, but to do so in a way that honors students' needs and the wisdom of great teachers. “We must keep "mythbusting" our own practices and what we are hearing so that the common-core standards can live up to their full potential. After all, the intention behind these rigorous standards—to prepare all students for careers and college—is at the heart of our work.”
To read the complete article at Education Week, go to http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/07/10/tln_strasserdobbertin.html?tkn=SRWF0kZ%2FhojAvTz6K2vS5iUIQ5hoSPvvblWB&cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS1

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Top 2012 Summer Reading Lists For Kids and Teens


Are you looking for summer reading lists for your elementary, middle, or high school students? Keep your students reading all summer with this selection of 2012 summer reading lists compiled by Elizabeth Kennedy. These lists of recommended children's books and young adult books are generally organized by grade levels. Many of the elementary reading lists include children's picture books. Many of the middle school reading lists include a mix of middle grade fiction and nonfiction and young adult books. You'll find both classics and recently published books here http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/forparents/tp/summer_reading.htm.
 
And of course, don’t forget EMC’s Access Edition novels or the EMC E-Library at mirrorsandwindows.com. The Mirrors & Windows website provides two full length Access Edition novels for each grade as eBooks that can be downloaded as PDFs to E-Readers. The complete Access Edition print library contains over 30 titles for grades 6-12. The EMC E-Library, found under Course Resources, offers more than 20,000 pages of literary classics, including 120 long selections (epic poems, novels, plays, nonfiction, and poetry) and 194 short selections ( poetry and excerpts from longer works).