Summer School Resources Available Online

Don't forget that all of the Mirrors & Windows Differentiating Instruction activities are available for your summer school students on the Internet Resource Center at mirrorsandwindows.com. Differentiating Instruction activities are offered for developing readers, English language learners, and advanced learners. For example, the activities for ELL students include the full selection text, accompanied by guided reading questions, reading strategies, and vocabulary prompts. To find these activities on the website, go to the selection title, click on Activities, and select the Activity for ELL. Full audio support is also offered in the Audio Program on the website under the Resources Tab.

Wired for Books Online Audio Recordings

                                                                                                   Wired for Books hosts a multitude of audio recordings of poems, stories, plays, essays, lectures, and interviews for children and adults. Wired for Books is a production of the WOUB Center for Public Media Scripps, College of Communication, at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. You can listen to classic tales like Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Robert Pinsky, plays by William Shakespeare, such as the Tragedy of Macbeth in their entirety, or contemporary plays like Susan Glaspell's Trifles: A Play in One Act, as well as interviews with well-known authors like Daniel Keyes. 

You can also listen to readings and lectures of today's noted writers who were featured guests of the Ohio University Spring Literary Festival. Wired for Books brings the the literary festival to you!

Wired for Books Poetry Online offers all of their poems and poets in one place. Don't miss out on this wonderful resource for your classroom!

The Red Door, by Frederick Harris, is a watercolor

painting of the Temple of Literature in Hanoi.

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

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). 

Looking for Nonfiction?

If you're looking for more nonfiction selections to meet the new Common Core State Standards requirements, look no further than the related readings offered in EMC's Access Edition Readers. The additional selections included within the books help students make connections with the literature and the time and place in which it was written. The related readings add relevance to the literature by providing students with background information and context, and by helping them see relationships between literature, informational texts, and primary source materials.  Over forty additional informational/nonfiction selections are included in the Access Editions series!

For example, the Access Edition novel Night, by Elie Weisel, includes the following nonfiction related readings:

• New York Times coverage of the Holocaust. 
• “My Sorrow,” from Fragments of Isabella: A Memoir of Auschwitz by Holocaust survivor Isabella Leitner 
  
• “Anti-Nazi Movement Still Inspires: Germans recall rare courage of ‘White Rose,’” Newsday article by Bob Keeler
• “The Perils of Indifferences,” speech by author Elie Wiesel

 EMC's Access Editions provide thought-provoking, relevant nonfiction related readings to engage your students and help them connect with literature!

Common Core Assessment FAQs

1. How well aligned are your books with the SAT and Common Core? Mirrors & Windows covers 100% of the SAT Literature skills and recommended preparation, and is 100% aligned with The Common Core State Standards (covering 100% of the required range of text types for grades 6-12 in the student edition in every level).
2. Do you provide any form of data analysis? All selection tests and unit tests in ExamView are correlated to the Common Core. In addition, the Formative Assessments provided in the Assessment Guide (and on the Teacher’s Resource CD) are correlated to the Common Core and aligned with remediation rubrics that teachers can use to gather and analyze data to prescribe intervention activities found within the program.
3. Other assessment resources for teachers, etc.? Reading Assessment questions provided after the selections in the student text provide test practice modeled after the ACT and SAT test questions. Test Practice workshops in each unit provide test practice in SAT and ACT formats. Exceeding the Standards: Test Practice provides timed, unit-based practice tests in SAT and ACT formats. The Assessment Guide also provides oral Reading Fluency assessments.

EMC's E-Library Offers Over 300 Selections

Expand your classroom library and take it mobile! EMC's E-library offers over 300 literary selections of classic poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.

• More than 20,000 pages of literary classics
• 120 long selections, including epic poems, novels, plays, nonfiction, and poetry
• 194 short selections, which include poetry and excerpts
• Ability to view on screen or print out individual selections to plan classes
• Downloadable PDF files that can be viewed on E-readers and mobile devices
• Electronic library guide with teaching suggestions, enrichment activities, and reading strategies guidesheets

Access the EMC E-Library today at www.mirrorsandwindows.com.