Reminder

Where young writers can find literary magazines to read, places to publish their writing, and legitimate contests. A select list of children's, teen, and young adult publications in print and online that have open submissions with guidelines, an editorial selection process, and a regular print cycle. Some publish only young writers, some publish all ages for young readers. For more specific submission guidelines, visit the publication's website. (from New Pages' Young Authors Guide)

New Pages' Young Authors Guide does get periodically updated, so it's worth checking from time to time.

Read Write Think strategies for the New Year

Looking for new teaching strategies or interested in brushing up on the strategies you are already using in your classroom? Strategy guides define and provide examples of effective literacy teaching and learning strategies and offer a wealth of related resources to help sharpen your instruction. (from Read Write Think)

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Reading for free

The entire text of all new Stenhouse books is available for free online reading. Click on a title you're interested in and then click on Preview the Book Online to see the entire book. For older titles, at least one chapter of nearly every Stenhouse book can be read for free online. For videos, click on a title to watch sample clips.
To look for books and videos by author, title, topic, or ISBN, visit our search page. Or browse books, videos, and e-books by using the links to the left. 

Yes, Stenhouse Publishers is a for-profit publisher of education books; most certainly having entire books online does help Stenhouse sell such books. Still the online books are great resources for teachers. And you can read them for free.

Ten year anniversary of NCLB

Ten years after President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law on Jan. 8, 2002, NCLB is now overdue for reauthorization in Congress. Bipartisan in its origins but controversial in its execution, NCLB, which is the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, expanded the federal role in education and targeted improving the achievement of disadvantaged students.

To reflect on the law's anniversary, the Education Week Commentary editors asked a range of K-12 education leaders, politicians, teachers, and child advocates for their thoughts. This package also includes links to Education Week's coverage over the decade, readers’ comments, and a glossary of selected NCLB terms. (from Education Week)

Physical activity linked to academic success

Children who participate in physical activity also tend to benefit in the classroom, according to a new systematic review of 14 studies from the past few decades.
The review, published online Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, sought to discover a potential link between childhood physical activity and improved academic performance.
The review authors, based out of the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, examined 10 observational and four intervention studies, mostly from the United States and mostly focusing on physical education or school sports. (Bryan Toperek at Education Week)

Note: the Monday referred to is January 2, 2012.

Vocabulary and adolescents

A strong vocabulary, both written and spoken, requires more than a dictionary. In fact, it requires an educational commitment to overcoming four obstacles: the size of the task (the number of words students need to learn is exceedingly large), the differences between spoken and written English, the limitations of information sources including dictionaries, and the complexity of word knowledge (simple memorization is not enough). Learn more about these challenges to acquiring the 2,500 words a student needs to add each year to their reading vocabulary. (from All About Adolescent Literacy)

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What is a Socratic seminar?

The Socratic method of teaching is based on Socrates' theory that it is more important to enable students to think for themselves than to merely fill their heads with "right" answers. Therefore, he regularly engaged his pupils in dialogues by responding to their questions with questions, instead of answers. This process encourages divergent thinking rather than convergent.
Students are given opportunities to "examine" a common piece of text, whether it is in the form of a novel, poem, art print, or piece of music. After "reading" the common text "like a love letter", open-ended questions are posed.
Open-ended questions allow students to think critically, analyze multiplemeanings in text, and express ideas with clarity and confidence. After all, acertain degree of emotional safety is felt by participants when they understandthat this format is based on dialogue and not discussion/debate. (from StudyGuide.org)


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