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Outstanding video from Penny Kittle. Her high school students explain how they get around required reading in school.

Tell it, brother!

NYT Article on Lit Lab/Reading Workshop approach.

Audiobooks (including textbooks) for blind & dyslexic students

just finished this with AP juniors and Honors Brit Lit Students: great project for poetry reading skills. they wrote an in class explication about their sonnet after. will memorize and recite their sonnet as well next year.  They rocked it! we are ready for the Romantics now.

hmmmmm...I have had students tell me that YoungAdult ficiton is mostly "kid books" interesting review. Anyone read this book?

Enacting literature with students to motivate reading Wilhelm describes action strategies

Using "action strategies" invigorates the English class

A must-read post from a teacher facing FL's new laws linking teacher salaries to student performance.

"Learning Strategies Learning strategies refer to methods that students use to learn. This ranges from techniques for improved memory to better studying or test-taking strategies. For example, the method of loci is a classic memory improvement technique; it involves making associations between facts to be remembered and particular locations. In order to remember something, you simply visualize places and the associated facts. Some learning strategies involve changes to the design of instruction. For example, the use of questions before, during or after instruction has been shown to increase the degree of learning (see Ausubel). Methods that attempt to increase the degree of learning that occurs have been called "mathemagenic" (Ropthkopf, 1970). A typical study skill program is SQ3R which suggests 5 steps: (1) survey the material to be learned, (2) develop questions about the material, (3) read the material, (4) recall the key ideas, and (5) review the material. Research on metacognition may be relevant to the study of learning strategies in so far as they are both concerned with control processes. A number of learning theories emphasize the importance of learning strategies including: double loop learning ( Argyris ), conversation theory (Pask), and lateral thinking ( DeBono ). Weinstein (1991) discusses learning strategies in the context of social interaction, an important aspect of Situated Learning Theory. References: H.F. O'Neil (1978). Learning strategies. New York: Academic Press. H.F. O'Neil & C. Spielberger (1979). Cognitive and Affective Learning Strategies. New York: Academic Press. Rothkopf, E. (1970). The concept of mathemagenic behavior. Review of Educational Research, 40, 325-336. Schmeck, R.R. (1986). Learning Styles and Learning Strategies. NY: Plenum. Weinstein, C.E., Goetz, E.T., & Alexander, P.A. (1986). Learning and Study Strategies. NY: Academic Press. Weinstein, C.S. (1991). The classroom as a social context for learning. Annual Revi

How to use picture books as mentor texts with middle schoolers to move students beyond simply persuasive writing to the argumentative writing that is required by the CCSS.

We create a single wiki, "A Critical Supplement to Major History Textbooks," and create a page on it for each textbook we're using, in whatever class. In our classrooms, we assign student teams to tackle each section of the textbook by identifying any perceived biases, coverage emphases and de-emphases, omissions, errors of fact, and so forth, in that section, and publish their findings on that textbook's page on the wiki.

This site looks like a good option for allowing students to listen to text.

Ideas for using technology to increase student interest/engagement

Lesson ideas for English

I'm on page 199 of 349 of Let the Great World Spin: "there's a high that you get when you're writing code. It's cool. It's easy to do. You forget your mom, your dad, everything. You've got the whole country onboard. This is America. You hit the frontier. You can go anywhere, Its about begin connected, access, gateways, like a whispering games where if you get one thing wrong you've got to go all the way back to the beginning."   quote from a teen hacker in the novel--it captures adolescence, hacking, learning, delight, beauty, everything: I want to remember this when I meet my new students in September