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Mike Schmoker's "Focus" is a tremendous commentary on the elements of good instruction and the current state of education and teaching.

This reference text is divided into two sections: "What we teach, How we teach, and Literacy" and "Curriculum, Instruction, and Literacy in the Content areas." If one was to read this book, you would not necessarily need to read it "cover to cover." I believe that Section I is important for all teachers or those who have a hand in education. Section II, because of the way it is divided, could be read based on interests. There are specific discussions about how to integrate literacy into content areas. I felt that the discussion of literacy in mathematics and science was extremely interesting. Mike Schmoker's message was calling educators "back to the basics." As I read, I found myself scribbling in the margins, because the comments being made were so true they were almost "taboo." Schmoker contradicts the current "educational bandwagons" that so many administrators and districts may jump on. He quotes Pfeffer and Sutton, saying "leaders resist simplicity; they are often irrationally enamored by novelty and complexity" (p 16). It was refreshing to read such a strong argument for "pure, effective teaching." Regardless of the technology or other tools in the classroom, without a firm grasp on the ways to provide clear instruction, students will not learn. I have already used sections from this text in my building's PLC time. Though I have not used a specific strategy, I opened the dialogue about what should "be in a good lesson." Schmoker encourages the "five minute limit" where lectures cannot span longer than that before students are given a moment to talk or write. Formative assessments need to be used throughout daily lessons in order for the teacher to be guided into the next portion of the lesson. I have started to integrate more of these checks for understanding into my teaching, and I have found that I catch more misconceptions sooner than I would have normally. I also see that sections I felt required more time were grasped at a faster rate than anticipated

Herbert , Thomas P., and Alexander P. Pagnani. "Engaging Gifted Boys in New Literacies ." Gifted Child Today . 33.3 (2010): 36-45. Print. This article discussed the issue of the achievement gap between boys and girls reading abilities and habits. Girls have reading habits that are recognized and rewarded in schools, while boys read more nonfiction, science fiction, and action novels that are not valued as much. The article discusses how boys do not find dialogue, character interaction, and other literary devices as interesting as girls, and prefer to read for the sake of gaining information, and have plots that are action driven rather than character driven. Although the achievement gap between boys and girls with reading comprehension and leisurely reading is well known, the article points out that less attention is given to this achievement gap than the one that occurs in math. Herbert and Pagnani discuss how high quality new literature is out there for boys to read, and can be incorporated in the classroom. This approach can lead to boys having a higher reading, writing, and comprehension level. I found this article helpful for several reasons. First, I think it is imperative that teachers change their thinking about what is considered quality literature. You can hook boys with things that interest them, and then guide them slowly into literature that is considered part of the literary cannon later on when you have built up their confidence level and academic abilities. The reasoning behind boys literature preferences needs to be not only understood but respected by educators in order to teach them effectively. Secondly, my English classes are ten to one girls, and this scares me as I read this article. As many already know, people tend to teach the same way that they learn. If women and girls have the same reading preferences and appreciate the same things about literature, than many boys will be left to the wayside in English classrooms. I hope to learn more

Carnegie report follow-up to Writing Next. This report provides evidence answering the following three questions: 1. Does writing about material students read enhance their reading comprehension? 2. Does teaching writing strengthen students' reading skills? 3. Does increasing how much students write improve how well they read?

As I was looking for sources for my research paper, I came across this website that I think is excellent so I wanted to share it with everyone. I know people have posted information from this website but when I was looking through course book notes, I didn't find this specific section of the website posted so I thought I would post it. This site provides roughly 50 reading strategies and explains what they are and how to use them. The one cool thing I like about the site is that it breaks each strategy into three phases: Before Reading, During Reading, and After Reading. For each strategy, it tells you in which phase should you implement the strategy. I hope this is helpful to everyone!

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Content Literacy Strategies: History/Social Science Here are descriptions of over 30 strategies and activities that may be used to teach the Historical and Social Science Analysis Skills from the History-Social Science Content Standards through children's literature. They were developed to support the Pages of the Past and Tales of Time literature lists. A really great site, and another one that I will keep and use on an assignment.

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This article gives a listing of authors and books that would be of interest to someone who wants to learn more about science. It also gives a breakdown of what their books are about. This information is interesting to me because I am a science teacher. Not all students want to learn more about science, but I have had some students ask for recommendations for books they could read. I really like that I now have the ability to do so. I can already think of a few students who I know would like to read several of these books.

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With classrooms becoming more and more mainstreamed I thought that this article/website would help general education teacher understand how to create a Behavior Intervention Plan. This text focuses more on kids with autism which I found to be important because of the increased awareness of students with this disability. Student with autism can be a challenge for any teacher to teach. The skills that they usually can be taught are social, daily living, and task skills. One way to help in assisting teachers and the students in doing this is creating behavior intervention plans. With autistic students we need to use special strategies to teach them these skills and the behavior intervention plans provide that strategy. There are several steps that go into the behavior intervention plans that ensure that the students get the most out of the plan. First the teacher will need to record the student's behavior. The behaviors the teacher is looking for are problem behaviors like biting and throwing objects and skill behaviors like language or social skills. Also the teacher will need to record the frequency, duration, and time of these behaviors. Next would be an ABC analysis of the student. The A part means antecedent, what happened before the behavior. The B part would require an analysis of the behavior itself. The C part would be the consequence of the behaviors or what happened after. Following this be choosing a target for the student or goal such as choosing 1-2 skill behaviors and 1 problem behavior to work on. The last few steps include choosing a Right Intervention Strategy for the student with autism. This could include choosing reinforcement such as sensory time, making a structured schedule, and consistent intervention to any issues. In the end you should always continue to analyze the behavior intervention plan.

This article is about teachers developing positive peer relationships in the classroom. Peer relationships and the experiences associated with them are an important aspect of the development of a children and adolescents. These experiences happen on different levels that include general interactions with peers, friendships, and in groups. With friendship it can serve the function of providing self worth, affection, building of relationships. Having supports help with personal problems, parents, being active. Peer groups are intimate groups of peers who interact regularly. Many peers groups according to research have shown to have similar GPA's, college aspirations, time spent on homework, and general engagement in school. Sociometric status is unique because it concerns overall peer acceptance. So if a child or adolescent is popular, average, neglected, rejected, and controversial has a major effect on one's peer relationships. All of these levels one's peer relationships such as the ways they develop, the experiences that come from them, and the types of pressures associated with them.

I found this really cool website from the University of Michigan that provides apps that help students who struggle with reading and writing. Apps like this are great because they are interactive and fun. Some of the apps are free on this website and some of them cost money. I think these apps would be a great way to supplement a lesson. With the majority of students having smart phones now, having your students work on this in class once in a while would be a fun lesson too.

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Recalling the people along the way who suggested he couldn't change the world, Barack Obama told a group of young people gathered in 2007 at Cornell College in Iowa: "I have no doubt that in the face of impossible odds people who love their country can change it." This website shares a number of inspiring books that promote the idea of young people helping our communities. I think it is important to plant the seed in children of all ages that they CAN make a difference in our world!

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This article gives several ideas of activities that can be used to help increase reading comprehension with special education students, but they are designed for different learning styles and, I think, would work well with all students! The article is structured as a simple number for each activity so it's very easy to follow. Ideas suggested here fall into the Bloom's Taxonomy of questions and can be used with picture books, short stories, novels or individualized reading for students of all ages. Many ideas do not involve written answers which work best with students with learning difficulties. The activities listed promote comprehension.

This is a great website that I use often. 'Read, Write, Think' is excellent because it provides useful resources for grades k-12. This site provides teachers with classroom management resources, professional development, parent and after school resources, and learning objectives. My favorite part of this site is under the classroom resources tab they provide a plethora of lesson plans (great place to get ideas), and terrific interactive lesson plans too! I hope you enjoy because this is one of my favorites :)

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This news story seemed particularly important to me because it can seriously affect students relationship towards their education. Many states are thinking of holding back third graders that are not reading at grade level, and giving them more time to catch up with their peer. The article brought up studies of students that are held back having lower self esteem and are socially stigmatized. On the other side of this issue, many students in Florida that have been held back have shown enormous gains once tested in the fourth grade. The strongest point that I saw made in the story was that students who are held back for another year are costing the state an extra 10,000 dollars, so why is can't this be spend on reading programs that may give them the more individualized attention they might need in the future, and let them go ahead to the fourth grade with their peers?

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The National Archives Digital Classroom: Primary Sources, Activities and Training for Educators and Students. This site is very helpful for social studies teachers, however the part that I think would be helpful for teachers of most subjects is the worksheet analysis documents. The documents help students analyze documents, cartoons, films, etc. I thought it was a great way to assist students in interpreting and helping them understand different documents that they will encounter in various courses.

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This website was helpful in looking at different strategies for getting students to comprehend what they are reading. This tends to be a problem for students, especially those who favor skim and scan strategy for reading. I use a lot of these strategies for my US History class.

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A neat website that has premade packets that are ready to go. Includes flash cards with specific letters, worksheets, picture cards, and different games. Helpful to very young students learning their alphabet and looking to improve their reading as they are starting out. 26 Alphabet Packets Download, Print, and Assemble--Anytime, Anywhere Build a foundation for successful reading and writing with these research-based alphabet materials. Alphabet resources are one part of a comprehensive reading tutor/mentor program targeting essential reading strategies.

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This teacher's blog is all about Shakespeare and since this is one of my very favorite areas to study, I thought this to be the perfect link to share. This teacher to get his/her students more involved with the plays they were reading decided to type a line or a few lines of speech from a certain character from that play. Students then competed against one another to see who could correctly answer the questions on the online blog.

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This article gives excellent advise on how to step-by-step teach non-fiction writing to ELLs. It gives tips on do's and don't's and reasons why things work and don't work when teaching students new to the country that are especially helpful for grades 3 and up. I believe strongly that reading and writing need to be linked to have meaning for students. As we teach reading in our content areas, we also need to teach writing skills to go with those reading skills.

The article says that most ELL students who had schooling in their former country will try to write in their own language and then translate into English and this becomes problematic, because the formats of sentence structure do not match in most languages. I don't really have this problem, but understand how this could become a problem. I do have the problem of sentence structure with the way my students speak, therefore when they write, the sentence structure is not proper. The article gives a step-by-step guide starting with organizers to teach non-fiction writing. I really liked the fact that it said to use sentences in the organizers. I have been using organizers with my class and trying to teach them to write fragments and then write the sentences later and found that problematic. I thought that I was trying to teach them to get their ideas on paper quicker, but after reading the article believe that it would be easier to teach them to write the proper sentence in the organizer and then transfer it to paper.

I do love it when I find something that contradicts what I've previously done or known. Gives me pause to think. It will be interesting to see if this change in your thinking produces results in your students' writing. Keep us posted!

This website allows you to create a "corkboard" page where you can link all your favorite websites for your students to use.

Well done, Jamie! This could also be a way to curate resources for a content unit.

What an interesting idea! I would love to create one for the math classes I teach. I always have parents asking what they can do at home for review. Having a central location for them to go to would be a great educational tool. Thanks for sharing.