Lessons to Ease Students Into Text Analysis, Reading Response, and Writing With Craft
Teach students the architecture beneath a successful story-and boost their reading comprehension and writing skills for a lifetime Writing instruction can sometimes seem scattershot, as teachers try to cover a galaxy of craft techniques, ideas, intentions, and genres. The possibilities are endless-and that's the problem. In Text Structures from Picture Books, elementary and middle grade teachers tap into a well-ordered universe of inspiring and illustrative stories to help students frame their thinking and focus choices. Using the bite-size format of picture books as a starting point, the authors share 50 low-prep, quick-access lessons to help you teach students seven concrete ways to respond to text in any genre. Through these lessons, students will be able to: Generate their own writing, using a text structure harvested from the work of professional authors Retell a story, using the text structure from the story Generate reading responses, using structures that support clarity Analyze a story to construct thematic statements, capturing the author's message and bigger themes Write about a theme or big idea demonstrating empathic and evidence-based interpretation Answer open-ended questions by selecting a technique that reflects the text and their engagement Experiment with author's craft in their own writing Based on master writing teacher Gretchen Bernabei's instructional model, the lessons offer a lively, high-impact mix of reading aloud, discussion, modeling, student writing, and peer share. Plus, readers have access to a complete companion website full of text structure reproducibles, reading response prompts, additional lessons and extensions, students samples, and links to demo videos. State tests are now assessing reading and writing together. And that's a good thing-but we've got some catching up to do. Written for students beginning in second grade, Text Structures from Picture Books will help your students swiftly and surely become text-savvy readers and writers.
It's one of education's greatest challenges: How do we shape our youngest students, who often are just learning how to hold a pencil, into capable writers within the span of a single school year? Text Structures from Nursery Rhymes offers the solution: a clear and actionable framework for guiding young students to write successfully in any style, from narrative to descriptive to persuasive.
Truisms That Help Students Write About Abstract Concepts . . . and Live Happily Ever After, Grades 4-12
This book teaches students how to write using a text structure to organize their writing, then how to choose a text structure. With a little practice, students go from completely dependent on teacher guidance to completely autonomous designers of their pieces. The scaffolding leads the student, but also the teacher, toward more student choices.
Guides teachers on how to craft instruction pitched to students' comprehension capacities, curriculum themes, and teachers' own assessments on what students need next. Updates to this new edition include and a rubric for analysing text complexity and new ideas on close, small group reading, and independent reading.
Tough Problems and Real-World Solutions for Middle and High School Teachers
What many teachers complain about most is the lack of `reality training' they encountered in the `formal' education curriculum. Typical classroom lectures and exercises do not prepare individuals for the myriad of problems and situations that will present themselves in schools. Teachers need to think and act beyond the theory presented in educational textbooks. These problem scenarios - or `snapshots' - are from the author's own experiences as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, superintendent of schools, and as a parent. The snapshots are grouped into chapters that parallel the major problematic areas teachers face every day - from student behavior in and out of the classroom to interactions with administrators and parents, complying with school policy, and other issues not so easily classified. Each snapshot contains an underlying legal, philosophical, or just plain common-sense lesson. Following each snapshot is a space for the reader to write in his or her own proposed action or solution. The author then explains what actually happened, and what should have happened, and why. This book will provide a wealth of important discussion topics for teachers, administrators, and parents.
Practical Strategies for Complying With District and State Requirements
Testing Students With Disabilities provides helpful information about including students with disabilities in the school assessment systems. It provides practical strategies for ensuring that this inclusion is meaningful for the system and for the student. In the Second Edition, a list of technical assistance is included, and dissemination ......
Practical Strategies for Complying With District and State Requirements
Testing Students With Disabilities provides helpful information about including students with disabilities in the school assessment systems. It provides practical strategies for ensuring that this inclusion is meaningful for the system and for the student. In the Second Edition, a list of technical assistance is included, and dissemination ......
"An excellent tool to help teachers address issues related to testing so that those factors do not hinder student success. With an easy format and clear, concise instructions, the book tells not only how but why." -Jolene Dockstader, Middle School English Teacher Jerome School District #261, ID Prepare students to do their best on tests! Today's educational climate demands a multitude of high-stakes, standardized tests not only to assess student achievement, but also to promote school and teacher accountability. Carolyn Chapman and Rita King help educators meet the challenge with this second edition of Test Success in the Brain-Compatible Classroom. This research-based resource is packed with practical tips and tools needed to change attitudes about testing and improve test readiness and performance. Educators will find a wealth of useful ideas and suggestions for preparing students for tests, creating positive test environments, and helping students deal with test anxiety. The authors bridge the gap between formal test formats and the way each student learns, retains, and transfers information to tests. These techniques can be implemented in any subject across all grade levels. This second edition features strategies, activities, and tips to: Prepare students mentally, physically, and emotionally as productive test-takers Create an optimal testing environment Help students attack passages and use problem solving for test success Interpret test data for strategic, customized planning Put these easy-to-implement techniques to work in your classroom throughout the year and transform each test experience into a celebration of achievement and learning.
