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December 27, 2012

Collaborating to advance literacy learning

Transforming Literacy Learning

Literacy lesson spans elementary and high school
Seniors in Anna Graham's English classes at Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tenn., created children's storybooks to develop their knowledge of literary elements, such as similes and alliteration. In turn, Cynthia Thornburg's third-grade students at West View Elementary School critiqued the books and applied their classroom lessons in plot, setting and illustrations. The project enabled her high-school students to create examples for themselves, allowing them to retain more information and have fun, said Graham, who partnered with Fountain City librarian Elizabeth Nelson on the project. The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tenn.) (free registration) (12/25)

Literacy Everywhere

Texas apartment complex provides free story time, children's library
A privately owned Texas apartment complex in June started offering residents a free children's literacy program for two hours a week in an effort to retain residents. Besides reading to the children, Corinne Gonzalez encourages them to draw and write their own books, and the children can borrow from about 200 children's books available in the complex's new library. "We're literally bringing the literacy home to them," apartment complex owner Barak Zimmerman said. "If you're a mom at Casa Claire, you don't have to figure out how you're going to get your kid to the library." The Dallas Morning News (free content) (12/25)

Education Policy

Educators hope for seamless transition under common core
As school districts in Wisconsin implement the Common Core State Standards, educators say they are making gradual changes to teaching and learning. The changes mean a greater focus on writing across the curriculum, including in math class, and the inclusion of more nonfiction texts. Classroom exercises also have a greater focus on solving real-world problems, educators say. The Wausau Daily Herald (Wis.) (tiered subscription model) (12/21)

Leadership and Capacity Building

Educators need to identify their safe harbor
Educator should seek refuge in their "harbor" -- an area of familiarity -- when undertaking a new teaching skill or curriculum, writes Mike Fisher, an educational consultant and instructional coach. In this blog post, he uses the metaphor of a ship, saying that ships are not intended to be anchored forever and that it is important to know where you are going before you begin the journey. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Education (12/26)

Professional Learning

Mo. plan includes common evaluations for student teachers
Missouri officials are working to set a new standard for the state's teaching colleges, while simultaneous work is under way to raise the bar for teachers. A Missouri Board of Education plan approved last month will raise the grade-point average requirement for student teachers, require more standardized evaluations for student teachers and other steps. There are 39 teacher-preparation programs statewide -- each with their own method for evaluating student teachers. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/26)

NCLE Spotlight

Teaching literacy across content areas
This collection of resources provides multiple tools and strategies for developing literacy across the content areas. Doug Fisher and colleagues lead a web-seminar about building a schoolwide culture focused on literacy across the content areas where multiple instructional strategies are shared. In addition, Heather Lattimer writes about developing academic vocabulary. Read on.

Correlations of collaborative school cultures with student achievement
This article was published in the NASSP Bulletin in December 2005. The author, Steve Gruenert, surveyed faculty from 81 schools across Indiana to investigate the relationships between measures of school culture and student achievement. Read on.

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SmartQuote

People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind."

--William Butler Yeats,
Irish poet and playwright

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