Ask teachers about their biggest challenges in elementary and middle school, and many will cite the teaching of writing. It is often difficult for students find the joy, discovery, and satisfaction writing can yield. Published programs abound, focusing on the study of genres, and students learn to emulate professional writers. What Lisa Eickholdt and Patricia Vitale-Reilly have found is that adherence to genre studies can get in the way of student collaboration. Believing writing instruction should be more authentic, they offer students more choice, develop better collaboration, and sustain a sense of community, all through the implementation of writing clubs.
Writing clubs offer opportunities to
Collaboration is widely recognized as a vital life skill. Lisa and Patty present a plethora of ideas on how gratifying it can be right now, as well as in the future. There’s an old proverb that says, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.’ In Writing Clubs, we discover that there is no limit to how far young writers can go when teachers show them what it means to collaborate.
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Many teachers use traditional counting and shape books in math class. But what would happen if we approached any story with a math lens? How might mathematizing children’s literature give learners space to ask their own questions and make connections between stories, their lives, and the world around them? These are the questions Allison Hintz and Antony T. Smith set out to explore in this book as they invite us to consider fresh ways of using interactive read-alouds to nurture students as both readers and mathematicians.
Inside Mathematizing Children’s Literature, you’ll learn how to do the following:
Along the way, Allison and Antony offer a wide range of picture book suggestions and appendices that include ready-to-use planning templates, a note-taking form, and a bookmark of guiding questions. Mathematizing Children’s Literature is a practical resource you’ll find yourself referring to frequently.
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In every minute of every day, teachers make countless decisions—both planned and in the moment. And in few settings is this more evident than during guided reading instruction.
Drawing on years of research and countless interactions with students and teachers, this thoughtful book presents a framework of instructional decision making centered on the readers we work with, the books we share with them, and the instructional objectives we guide them toward. In this fresh look at the instructional choices we make, Robin Griffith offers an in-depth guide in which you’ll discover how to make effective, student-driven decisions, both while planning for and in the moments of teaching at the guided reading table.
Coming in Fall 2022 — Pre-order today!
In this comprehensive guide, literacy coach and staff developer Sara Kugler shows you how to combine the power of book clubs with assessment-driven instruction to support your students as they talk and think about texts together. Using authentic book club conversations as an assessment of academic talk and text understanding, Kugler raises the bar on typical professional discussions about book clubs, moving beyond teacher-directed interactions and surface-level conversations. With a dual focus on stronger comprehension and improved conversations, Better Book Clubs will help you establish effective book clubs that will engage your readers, enhance your learning.
Coming in Fall 2022 — Pre-order today!
This practical book is full of quick and easy-to-use lessons that promote meaningful writing practice. Teachers will find strategies organized alphabetically and in a consistent format that will inspire students to plan, develop, and share their writing. The lessons allow teachers to choose what they need to meet the diverse needs of students in grades one through eight. Each independent lesson guides students through the writing process with information about a writing form, along with suggested literature sources. Tips throughout the book will help students successfully write to narrate, to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to respond, and to enjoy.
eBook available now — Pre-Order the print book today!
Some of the most powerful moments in math class come from short, but intentional conversations between teachers and students immersed in a math task. In this practical guidebook to conferring, Gina Picha focuses on simple, but transformational ways that teachers can use math conferences to guide their instruction and build strong mathematical communities. This accessible approach to conferring gives teachers the tools to engage in powerful conversations that grow mathematical thinkers.
Coming in Fall 2022 — Pre-order today!
How can you broaden student thinking and help them develop their independence and confidence as problem solvers? Real-life problems are a remarkable tool to stretch student thinking and help them develop a deeper understanding of mathematics and its role in everyday life. Rather than using textbook exercises, the book argues that solving real-world problems promotes flexibility and encourages students to adjust and grow their thinking. It inspires them to consider alternatives and apply math in authentic contexts. You will find practical ways to engage students in critical thinking, develop their independence, and make connections with the world.
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***This series has been postponed due to Covid — new dates will be posted soon.***
In this series of three webinars, Cheryll Duquette, author of Finding a Place for Every Student, will discuss and demonstrate many simple, practical ways you can identify and meet the special needs of students. Cheryll will provide the background you need to meet the diverse challenges found in a typical classroom — from autism and mental health issues to physical and intellectual disabilities. Cheryll will encourage you to reflect on your own practice as you explore belonging and differentiated learning. You’ll come away with a wealth of easy-to-use, adaptable strategies that you can use in your classroom the next day!
The 3 hands-on webinars provide an opportunity to ask questions and share your experience with Cheryll and with your colleagues. Participation includes a free Finding a Place for Every Student ebook for you to keep. The webinars are organized around 3 important aspects of student learning: social, academic, and behavior management. Sign up for all 3 webinars and receive a recording that you can refer to again and again as the school year evolves.
The Specifics:
The Sessions:
Social Belonging Approaches to Classroom Management — October 6, 2022
Meeting the Academic Needs of All Your Students — October 27, 2022
Student Behavior in Diverse Classrooms — November 3, 2022
For all the details on the series and the individual sessions, download the info sheet here.
Based on extensive experience with students and her book Students at Risk, author-educator Cheryll Duquette offers an extensively revised text in Finding a Place for Every Student. With a new focus on social belonging, this comprehensive resource includes tried-and-tested ways to work with students with exceptionalities, including autism, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, mental health issues, learning disabilities, behavior challenges, trauma, intellectual disabilities, visual and hearing impairments, giftedness, and low-incidence disabilities. Case studies illustrate how differentiated instruction can successfully work in real classrooms. Easy-to-implement instructional strategies with accompanying reproducibles make it simpler than ever to find a place for every student.
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**A week-by-week, step-by-step instructional guide.**
This timely book offers a clear and structured method for integrating explicit phonics instruction into K–3 classrooms. An essential guide for teaching reading, the book is grounded in the cutting-edge, evidence-based science of reading. It provides a flexible and effective step-by-step progression that covers the essential phonics skills that teachers have been asking for, and addresses the needs of busy, diverse classrooms. This blueprint to effective instruction explores screening, assessment, and intervention, as well as working with English language learners. Tools for implementation include high-impact activities, lesson templates, word lists, phoneme-grapheme grids, word ladders, and more.
eBook available now! Print edition coming in September 2022 — Pre-Order today!
In this book of the heart, teacher, librarian, book lover, and story ambassador, John Schu, known to reading communities all over as Mr. Schu, invites readers to consider literacy beyond its academic benefits, highlighting the ways story speaks to our hearts and brings us together. Presented through a study of five affective elements—healer, inspiration, clarifier, compassion, and connector—The Gift of Story explores how the universal truths found in stories can change us, inspire us, connect us to others, answer our deepest questions, and help us heal. Along the way, readers will encounter insightful contributions from educators, children’s writers and illustrators, as well as recommendations for sharing the gift of story with learning communities.
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Stop the Hate for Goodness Sake shows teachers how to confront racism and disrupt discrimination in order to deepen students’ understanding of social justice, diversity, and equity. Background information, statistics, and reports on incidents of hate will help students consider ethical and moral behavior. Forty step-by-step lessons involve discussion, oral and written narratives, case studies, assumption charts, and more. This thoughtful examination of today’s world will help teachers encourage reflection, foster inclusion, and inspire students to take action. This in-depth guide will show teachers of 8- to 14-year-olds how to start and manage important conversations that will lead to change.
Coming in April 2023 — Pre-Order today!
Many school principals have little background in literacy instruction. And yet, they find themselves leading teachers at a time of shifting literacy priorities. This practical book offers literacy fundamentals, builds confidence, and empowers principals to become instructional leaders. It deals with all aspects of literacy: from understanding the science of reading to planning, resources, oral language, word study, reading, writing, and creating a shared literacy vision. Each chapter In this comprehensive resource includes staff meeting discussion points to guide conversation with teachers, things to look for when working with the teachers and students within their schools, and much more.
Coming in Spring 2023 — Pre-order today!
Managing Student Behavior provides an in-depth understanding of student behavior, including identifying factors that trigger and maintain negative, disruptive actions and attitudes. It provides an overview of appropriate reinforcement, which is fundamental in making positive behavior changes, and highlights many effective, evidence-based strategies that support permanent change. Real-life examples and anecdotes throughout the book illustrate a variety of classroom challenges, as well as strategies used to support positive change in each scenario. The author uses a conversational approach to connect with readers and provide a non-threatening environment in which to learn the basics of behavior and behavioral change.
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Check out our handy pull-out reference guide to the book, free to download and keep!
Traditional grammar instruction often focuses too much on what’s right or what’s wrong, hiding the true power of conventions—the creation of meaning, purpose, and effect. Instead of hammering high school students with the mistakes they should avoid, Jeff Anderson, Travis Leech, and Holly Durham suggest exploring grammar through the celebration of author’s purpose and craft. In Patterns of Power: Teaching Grammar Through Reading and Writing, Grades 9–12, they invite you to create an environment in which writers thrive while studying and appreciating the beauty, effects, and meaning of grammar. Inside this book, teachers will find a comprehensive explanation of the brain-based Patterns of Power invitational process, as well as
With hundreds of teach-tomorrow resources and implementation supports such as quick-reference guides, specific applications to reading instruction, and soundtrack suggestions to infuse the joy of music into grammar instruction, Patterns of Power gives you everything you need to inspire your high school writers to move beyond limitation and into the endless possibilities of what they can do as writers.
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Filled with inspiring and sometimes difficult conversations, this thoughtful book captures the real work teachers and administrators are doing in schools today. By bringing essential perspectives and valuable strategies to the classroom, teachers lead students in learning how to listen and learn about one another’s identities and thoughtfully critique the racial inequities all around us. All of us in education can find opportunities to interrupt the status quo that allows inequities to go unchallenged. We cannot sit back and allow ourselves to perpetuate inequity. We must all become interrupters.
Available now — Order today!