site with resources for teaching gifted and talented students

site with info and support for teaching gifted and talented students

this looks interesting for yr 12 encountering conflict and yr 11 to kill a mockingbird

uses the updated blooms but has specific activities attatched

Article looking at metacognition and schema theory - an easy read.

Wiki on reading theory and research - good memory jogger if we need to refresh our basics.

Short article highlighting main conerns about SSR in the classroom.

good article covering the many possibilities with SSR

Interesting discussion by teachers from around the world on the ways we teach reading

article on the use of sustained silent reading in the classroom

I found some intersting links on sustained silent reading and theory on the web

look for the SSR tag for the links

other notes from these pages:
Student love to read under the following circumstances:
*Class time is allocated in order for students to settle on a book from the many available; to become engaged.
* Students read when they are asked to figure out why the author wrote the book in the first place ; are they teaching, evoking emotion, recalling memories, shocking, etc.?
*Student read when they are asked to teach/inform the class about something they have read in the book, no matter how large or how small
*Students read when the teacher shows a documentary, film, video clip that is in some way connected to the book, and they are asked to seek the connection.
* Students read when they are read to , no matter the age or grade, with expression, enthusiasm, and meaning.
* Students read when their choices may be a high level magazine or subject-specific magazine
* Students read when you ask them to report back to the Dept. of Ed. about which books they would recommend to other teachers to stock in their classrooms. They are also asked which books should quietly disappear to a bottom shelf.
*Students read when they are asked to tab a book for maybe three themes, maybe one,; to tab for themes that may eventually connect to persuasive writing
* Students read books when the teacher brings clippings from magazines about the book, and tuck them inside the book, and after reading the clipping they start to read the book
* Students read when the experiences are similar to their experiences
*Students read when they are sent on a mission to find something, and instead do so much incidental learning their heads are bursting.
* Students read when they are researching articles about cell phones and cancer scares, and Red Bull and caffeine levels.
* Students read when they choose their favourite quotes/lines from a novel, and that is all they are asked to do.
* Students read when they are asked to choose just four genres of poetry from a directory of over a hundred, and they read so many more to make their choice
*The less they are asked to do with each individual novel, the more novels they will read.We do not have to read all of a class novel. We can stop before we are finished, and they will stop when they have finished.
* Students will read when they are asked to find new words that they would like to use themselves, and identify a circumstance when the word might be most appropriate
*Students are asked to identify colloquialisms and idioms and adages and maxims, and laugh sometimes when they find out what they mean.

Schools are not killing reading. Our schools in Nova Scotia have received in influx of current materials, and the students are reporting their books to actually be ones they finish reading.

Schools are not killing reading. How we are "teaching" reading may very well be killing reading.

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Although research is not definitive, if one chooses to implement sustained silent reading, the literature offers a list of key factors to make SSR programs more successful (adapted by Marzano, 2004, from Pilgreen, 2000):
1. Access: Ensure that students have books available to them at school, either in the classroom or school library. Students should not have to provide books from home or outside school.
2. Appeal: Allow students to choose books that interest them and are at the appropriate level of difficulty.
3. Conducive environment: SSR should be done in a quiet and uninterrupted environment.
4. Encouragement: Be excited about what your students are reading, show excitement for your own reading, and encourage children to share what they are reading with others. Model reading during the SSR period.
5. Staff Training: This is crucial to successful implementation. The purpose of SSR should be discussed, and all staff members should be supportive.
6. Nonaccountability: Don't test students on their reading during or after SSR.
7. Follow-up activities: Have students discuss their reading, if possible.
8. Distributed time to read: Many successful programs have at least two days a week scheduled for SSR. It is important to have systematic and distributed times to read, whether it is 20 minutes a period twice a week or another arrangement.

page of notes for helping students remembering spelling and some weblinks you might like to try too

good place for examining issues - out of the usa though - but can be used for debate and discussion between students, schools and across countries!

ict tools under discussion for the brave :)

could be very useful for displays

nice post on getting your classroom off to a good start for the year

list of sites for ICT and literacy - commented on