Productive Group Work - preview the book online

Productive Group Work: How to Engage Students, Build Teamwork, and Promote Understanding

by Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher and Sandi Everlove

Please forward this link to interested staff members.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109018.aspx

Groups are smart. From the earliest interest in how groups work at the beginning of the 20th century to research today, evidence gathered has shown that "under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them" (Surowiecki, 2005, p. xiii). We are not suggesting that teachers turn their classrooms over to student collaboration in the absence of instruction, but we are suggesting that productive group work be considered a necessary part of good teaching.

"Pulling Together" - for English Teachers - online preview

Pulling Together:  How to Integrate Inquiry, Assessment, and Instruction in Today's English Classroom

Preview the book on-line - share this with interested members of your staff

http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9186&r=sb100409

Complete with diagrams, graphic organizers, classroom examples, assessment tools, and lists of core understandings, Pulling Together presents a comprehensive answer to the current big ideas in teaching—formative assessment, backward design, inquiry learning, strategic teaching, metacognition. The authors show how this collaborative process is reflected in all aspects of the literacy learning, from unit planning and lesson sequences, through the inquiry process and gradual release of responsibility in the classroom, to linking formative and summative assessment for responsive planning.

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Series and Sequels

Looking for the title for the next book in a series?

Not sure if you are reading a series in the right order?

Here are some sites to look at.

http://ww2.kdl.org/libcat/WhatsNextNEW.asp

http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/series/juv/

http://www.bettendorflibrary.com/bpl-bin/series.pl

RPL offers suggested authors lists:

http://www.yourlibrary.ca/findall/books/fictionsuggestions.cfm

And Novelist (in the EBSCO Databases) also gives suggestions ("Recommended Reads")

GP

“What Does a Teacher Librarian Really Do? Ask a TL!”

Saw this video (see link below) posted on the "Wanderings" blog (http://wanderings.edublogs.org/)

A nice boost for the job of being a TL.

http://quietube.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPF12jD6F-s&feature=player_embedded

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Great article from EL - "REVERSING READICIDE"

REVERSING READICIDE.

Authors: Gallagher, Kelly

Educational Leadership; Mar2010, Vol. 67 Issue 6, p36-41, 6p

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rch&AN=48320057&site=ehost-live

(EBSCO database link)

The author discusses some of the causes for the decline in reading in US students and talks about how this trend might be reversed. Food for thought.

PDF link:

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=12&hid=105&sid=eb746373-5365-46f5-872e-2fce50c95d37%40sessionmgr114

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Financial Literacy links

Here's a good resource for Planning or Business Ed classes.

Here is a teacher link for improving the financial literacy of students.

http://www.themoneybelt.gc.ca/teachers-profs-eng.asp

Handouts

http://www.themoneybelt.gc.ca/library-biblio/shelf-tablettes-eng.asp

Clips

http://www.themoneybelt.gc.ca/tools-atelier/clips-videos-eng.asp

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Re: Fractured Fairy Tales

Fractured Fairy Tale Resources

Here's a website that encourages kids to write their own version of fractured fairytales:

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/fairytales/

Here's a list of titles:

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dKBrown/fft.html

Some great ideas and an overview of the genre

(includes story maps and story starters)

http://www.marilynkinsella.org/Workshop%20papers/fractured_fairy_tales.htm

Lesson ideas for "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs"

(Most school libraries have a copy of this!)

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/fractured_fairy_true.htm

Playlist of clips from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAAkauRR-y4

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A very simple Book Cover creator

Here's a very simple Book Cover creator that would work with younger kids.

Easy to use.

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/bookcover/


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new EBSCOhost feature: the Enhanced PDF Viewer

Check out the following new EBSCOhost feature: the Enhanced PDF Viewer:

EBSCOhost features a embedded viewer designed to streamline the browsing of an entire issue, or all available volumes and issues, from one screen. There are also several helpful features to enable users to easily navigate and manage open PDFs. Click on the link for a video clip outlining this feature:

http://www.ebscohost.com/special/movies/pdfViewer/ThePDFViewerInEBSCOhost.htm)

Here's an example from the "Reading Teacher" magazine

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=15&hid=4&sid=f6dbedc7-c5c7-48ba-9f6e-0145cf335753%40sessionmgr10

(EBSCO subscription required)

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