Teacher's Corner

In her comprehensive guide, Better Book Clubs: Deepening Comprehension and Elevating Conversation, literacy coach and staff developer Sara Kugler shows you how to combine the power of book clubs with assessment-driven instruction to support your students as they talk and think about texts together. Using authentic book club conversations as an assessment of academic talk and text understanding, Kugler raises the bar on typical professional discussions about book clubs, moving beyond teacher-directed interactions and surface-level conversations to include: Structures, teaching methods, and routines that support authenticity and independence in book clubs Suggestions for starting, scaffolding, and sustaining effective, student-centered book clubs Tips for listening in on clubs as a way to assess academic talk and text understanding Methods for moving from observation into instruction that improves conversation and comprehension Touchstone anchor charts and sample lessons for launching and maintaining strong clubs at a variety of independence levels With a dual focus on stronger comprehension and improved conversations, Better Book Clubs will help you establish effective book clubs that will engage your readers, enhance your learning communities, and become an indispensable component of your literacy classroom.   Better Book Clubs: Deepening Comprehension and Elevating Conversation   Sara's Twitter   Grace's Twitter

In this episode of Teacher's Corner, we tune into a conversation between Matthew Kay and Jennifer Orr, authors of We're Gonna Keep On Talking: How To Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Elementary Classroom.  They discuss how they chose the book's title, productive strategies for talking about race with young children, and what readers can expect in their new book. LINKS   Matthew's Twitter Jennifer's Twitter

Whether its literacy or math, the goal of conferring with students is to understand student thinking and support their learning in the moment, nudging them forward through brief, informal conversations. Today's podcast features Gina Picha, author of Conferring in the Math Classroom, and Maria Walther and Karen Biggs-Tucker, co-authors of The Literacy Workshop, in discussion with Stenhouse's Sarah Haynes-Dietzen about where conferring in math overlaps with conferring in literacy, as well as where the two diverge.   Conferring in the Math Classroom The Literacy Workshop   Gina's Twitter Maria's Twitter Karen's Twitter

Stacey Shubitz and Lynne Dorfman in discussion with Stenhouse's Bill Varner. Stacey and Lynne are veteran writers and educators, and together co-authored the recent book Welcome to Writing Workshop: Engaging Today's Students with a Model That Works. As you'd expect, today is all things writing workshop, including structure, small group instruction, and the role of teacher as writer— plus we'll learn about Jump Into Writing their new writing workshop curriculum with Zaner-Bloser. LINKS Welcome to Writing Workshop Jump Into Writing! Follow Stacey at: Two Writing Teachers Twitter Follow Lynne at   Lynne's Blog Lynne's MiddleWeb Articles Twitter

Paula Bourque, Matthew Kay, and Terry Thompson discuss the myth of the perfect teacher, what we get wrong—and right—about teacher appreciation, and how we can show appreciation year round. Original Airdate 2020. Links: Paula Bourque: Spark! https://www.paulabourque.com @LitCoachLady Matthew Kay: Not Light, But Fire https://www.notlight.com @MattRKay Terry Thompson: The Construction Zone @TerryTreads

Shelley Harwayne and Stenhouse's Maureen Barbieri in a wide-ranging discussion about Shelley's new book, Above and Beyond the Writing Workshop. Check out the free study guide for Above and Beyond

Jennifer Fletcher and Stenhouse editor Bill Varner discuss her shift from a teacher-centered approach to a rhetorical one, the long-term value of teaching students to think rhetorically, and the big ideas behind her new book, Writing Rhetorically: Fostering Responsive Thinkers and Communicators.  Learn More:  Writing Rhetorically: Fostering Responsive Thinkers and Communicators Jennifer's site Jennifer's Twitter    

In 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children's Books, Melissa Stewart and Marlene Correia present a new way to sort nonfiction into five major categories and show how doing so can help teachers and librarians build stronger readers and writers.  In today's episode, Terry Thompson talks with Melissa and Marlene about changes in expository nonfiction over the years, the recognition of the Info-Kid, and how teachers and librarians can use the categorization system in their book to better support students L I N K S 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children's Books Melissa's Twitter Marlene's Twitter Melissa's Site Info-Kids, now out of print but used copies available  

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and Christy Hermann Thompson have spent years comparing notes on how to build effective classroom communities across the content areas.  Their research led to the development of Hands Down Conversations, an innovative discourse structure in which all students' ideas and voices take the lead while teachers focus on listening and facilitating.   That structure is detailed in their new book, Hands Down Speak Out: Listening and Talking Across Literacy and Math, K-5.  In today's episode, Kassia and Christy share their thinking behind their book and the importance of investing time developing dialogue skills to deepen understanding of literacy and mathematics, and also of ourselves and our world. There's loads of thoughtful and engaging talk here today, starting with Kassia sharing how she and Christy became friends.  ----------------------------------------------------------------Links: Hands Down, Speak Out:  https://www.stenhouse.com/content/hands-down-speak-out You can find Kassia and Christy online at https://handsdownspeakout.wordpress.com Twitter: @kassiaowedekind & @TeacherThomp [Original airdate July 2020]  

Originally broadcast in 2020. Paula Bourque, Matthew Kay, and Terry Thompson discuss the myth of the perfect teacher, what we get wrong—and right—about teacher appreciation, and how we can show appreciation year round. Links: Paula Bourque: Spark!:  https://www.stenhouse.com/1200.asp https://www.paulabourque.com @LitCoachLady Matthew Kay: Not Light, But Fire: https://www.stenhouse.com/1098.asp https://www.notlight.com @MattRKay Terry Thompson: The Construction Zone: https://www.stenhouse.com/0869.asp @TerryTreads

Rebroadcast: Gravity Goldberg and Renée Houser, creators of the Teachers Toolkit for Independent Reading share their experiences and questions about helping kids access books and teachers, and what's important as they look to the fall.  LINKS! The Teacher's Toolkit for Independent Reading: https://www.stenhouse.com/1400.asp https://www.gravityandrenee.com https://www.drgravitygoldberg.com https://www.readwritethinkwithrenee.com   @DrGravityG @ReneeDHouser  

In the upcoming Text Sets in Action: Pathways through Content Area Literacy, Mary Ann Cappiello and Erika Thulin Dawes demonstrate how text sets can prompt serious thinking more effectively than any single text.  Teachers who adopt this approach find that the texts' various lenses enable students not only to meet curriculum standards but also to experience engagement and encourage inquiry across the disciplines. In this podcast, Mary Ann and Erika share their background and the origin and definition of a text set, what educators will learn from their new book, and are joined by Lorraine Leddy, a classroom teacher from New York,  for an in-depth discussion about her experience collaborating with them to introduce text sets in her third grade classroom and the benefits of a text sets approach in curriculum design.  LINKS Pre-order Text Sets in Action: Pathways through Content Area Literacy  Keep up with Mary Ann and Erika  www.teachingwithtradebooks.com www.theclassroombookshelf.com https://www.thebiographyclearinghouse.org/ Mary Ann's Twitter Erika's Twitter Lorraine's Twitter

What can we teach kids today that will have utility ten or fifteen years from now? Angela Kohnen and Wendy Saul propose an approach to information literacy that goes beyond the teaching of discrete, easily outdated skills. Instead, they use activity to help students build identities as curious individuals empowered to ask their own questions and able to navigate their information-filled world in pursuit of credible answers. Thinking Like a Generalist  

Graham Fletcher and Tracy Zager share a sneak peek of upcoming Building Fact Fluency Toolkit for Multiplication and Division and discuss the purpose and challenge of creating intriguing and accessible contexts for students.  LINKS Want to be the first to know about Graham's new Toolkit? Building Fact Fluency; A Toolkit for Addition and Subtraction Building Fact Fluency Community Facebook Group Graham Fletcher: @gfletchy Graham's Website Tracy Zager: @tracyzager Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had

Cris Tovani teams up with her instructional coach/editor/friend Samantha Bennett for an engaging, often funny, always insightful discussion of their long relationship and the stories behind her new book, Why Do I Have to Read This?  Literacy Strategies to Engage Our Most Reluctant Students.  Don't miss it! Do I Really Have to Read This? Cris's Twitter Sam's Twitter Free webinar with Cris

When we set about creating today's episode, we knew we wanted to explore the idea of gratitude with several authors.  What we could not have anticipated is how thoughtful and gracious they were.  In our first segment, we speak with Lisa Lucas about what we experience physiologically when we express gratitude and how we can incorporate gratitude into our classroom and daily lives.    Next, Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser discuss how gratitude is embedded in their teaching and its role within a growth mindset.   In our last two segments, Jeff Anderson and Whitney La Rocca, each share how the changes forced by the pandemic provided unexpected gifts. LINKS Lisa Lucas: Twitter Practicing Presence Gravity Goldberg Twitter Renee Houser Twitter Teacher's Toolkit for Independent Reading Jeff Anderson Twitter Whitney La Rocca Twitter Patterns of Power

If reading and writing go hand in hand, wouldn't it make sense to merge your reading and writing workshops occasionally? What would that even look like? And how would students respond? In this episode, authors Maria Walther and Karen Biggs-Tucker (The Literacy Workshop: Where Reading and Writing Converge) describe literacy workshop, how it looks in primary and intermediate classrooms, and how the streamlined nature of literacy workshop lends itself well to online and hybrid teaching.      L I N K S The Literacy Workshop: Where Reading and Writing Converge Study Guide Remote Learning Guide Maria's Twitter Karen's Twitter Maria's Website Karen's Website

Toni Cameron and Deanna McLennan in conversation with Stenhouse's Kassia Omohundro Wedekind about creating a supportive, curious, and playful environment for mathematics in early childhood classrooms, the importance of stepping back to listen, and (of course!) what this all looks like these days.  LINKS Early Childhood Math Routines Joyful Math Toni's Twitter and Website Deanna's Twitter

In Building Fact Fluency: A Toolkit for Addition and Subtraction, Graham Fletcher helps students learn their math facts by developing conceptual understanding and procedural fluency at the same time. This comprehensive, research-based toolkit provides everything a teacher needs to help students develop number sense on the way to fluency—from cards, games, and videos to online resources, a facilitator's guide, and hundreds of highly-engaging activities and tasks.  This episode of Teacher's Corner revisits Graham's and editor Tracy Johnston Zager's discussion in 2019 while the Toolkit was in development.  LINKS: Building Fact Fluency: A Toolkit for Addition and Subtraction Graham's Website Graham's Twitter

According to the NAEP, two thirds of American school children read below grade level proficiency.  Some cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists argue that this is because of the gap between what we know about the science of reading and how reading is taught in the classroom.  In their recent book, Brain Words: How the Science of Reading Informs Teaching, Richard Gentry and Gene Ouellete explain the latest research and theory on lexical representation and its relation to rapid and accurate word reading, a necessary skill to mastering literacy. In this episode, Dr. Gentry briefly explains brain words and how parents can understand their connection to their children's reading development.  Links: Brain Words J. Richard Gentry Twitter His blog at Psychology Today Kindergarten Ready, hosted by Dr. Gene Ouellette