The Significance of Low-stakes writing

A post about the significance of response writing:
http://tomakeaprairie.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/writing-meaningfully-about-meaningful-reading-part-1-a-look-at-low-stakes-writing/

Comments

5 Things I Wish I had Known When I Started Teaching Independent Reading

I was a high school English and Reading teacher. I got thrown into teaching reading classes in a new job based on coming from a school district that had a reputation for providing “Content Area Reading” training. I taught reading classes for nine years. I was a high school reading specialist whose job was to provide job-embedded professional development to teachers who were trying to increase the effectiveness of their literacy instruction. Now I am a PK-12 curriculum coordinator working in a school district that is gradually implementing a reading workshop approach in middle and high school. If you have read Mosaic of Thought , In the Middle, The Book Whisperer , or Book Love and if you have already implemented reading / writing workshop in your middle and high school class this blog-post might be a simplistic rehash of what much more experience teachers have to say. Or it might validate your thinking. If you are skeptical or curious about independent reading for s...

Conceptual Inquiry Project

Conceptual Inquiry Project It's year-long! As part of a yearlong research project, juniors at MEHS research a thematic topic of importance such as Truth, Beauty, Justice, Honor, Same/Other, etc. This month, they continue their inquiry by finding one book-length reading of non-fiction to fuel their knowledge and also listen to two radio documentaries on the topic. We offer them this list of sources: Multi-modal Inquiry PRX: http://www.prx.org/ NPR: http://www.npr.org/ Radio Lab: http://www.radiolab.org/ Re: sound: http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/library This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ Ideas: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/ The Next Big Thing: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/2006/jan/ Fresh Air: http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/ Snap Judgment: http://www.snapjudgment.org/ I am so excited to see how the students' understandings of their topics--understandings that have been building of the course of the whole school year--will grow and develo...

Text Complexity by Declan

Here, Declan explores text complexity. What is so highly significant about his insights here is that they help students to make meaning when they interact with texts. If we want to have a significant impact on students, we need to set the stage for them to find meaning. Thank you for your thoughtful post, Declan! -- Teachers of Significance Task Complexity Deserves Attention By Declan Fitzpatrick I’m a curriculum coordinator which means most people don’t know what I do with my time. Luckily I get to spend a lot of time working with teachers developing units, lessons, and assessments. We decide what units go into a course, what books go with which units, and how students will demonstrate their increasing mastery of important literacy skills. It is my job to make the case to the school board that we know what we’re teaching, and we really are teaching the right things. In my professional ...

Teachers of Significance

Search This Blog