Bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society. This powerful 10 minute video is worth the watch – Big Ideas and implications for the world, the economy, the web, and in our classrooms addressing… Continue Reading
Category Archives: STRATEGIES THAT WORK
The Reading Workshop – Essential Ingredients
The ingredients that make up a successful reading and literacy program have been described in numerous ways. Decades of research and numerous studies make it clear that students need lots of time to read. It's also important that the time spent reading is done in texts that are "just right" for the students. Explicit teaching of… Continue Reading
The Reading Workshop: A Framework for Excellence
When you hear the word workshop, what do you think about? What space do you envision? What tools would you expect to be surrounded with? How do you see the time being used? How would that image change when you put the word "reading" in front of it? Reading workshop is a popular and widely… Continue Reading
Nonfiction Unit of Study – Day Three (What's Special About Nonfiction?)
Students notice right away that nonfiction looks different, feels different, and sounds different than stories. The goal of today's conversation with learners is to discuss what we do as readers because of these differences. I want to assure readers that these new features and structures they encounter are not simply there for fun or by… Continue Reading
Nonfiction Unit of Study – Day Two
Today’s nonfiction books and materials provide new ways to convey information, and teachers and students must learn new ways to understand and share these ideas. Early exposure to the “language of nonfiction”, the structures of expositions, and the styles of techniques of powerful communication, will prepare readers for the challenges they face with complex texts… Continue Reading
Nonfiction Unit of Study – Day One
What an amazing day of conversations! After sharing my writing territories with students, I had some time to watch them as readers and writers in the library as they interacted with nonfiction text. I watched carefully as different grade levels and groups of students browsed the information smorgasbord of topics, authors, and genre. As I… Continue Reading
Walls of Possibility – The Office Part 2
Yesterday, I was so excited to share with you my "magic wall of possibility" created with IdeaPaint. That excitement lead me to explore the possibilities for Wall #2: My magnetic chalkboard wall. I am having fun here, too. It is a magnetic paint primer by Rust- Olium and only cost $23.00. You can get it… Continue Reading
Idea Paint Rocks!
I wrote about Idea Paint several months ago after discovering this amazing stuff. I finally got around to using it, and spent the weekend creating my fantasy office space. I love, love, love it! Check it out: Imagine the possibilities with our classrooms as we turn walls, desks, tables, chairs,…who know what else into… Continue Reading
Mini-Lesson: Discovering Literacy Together
This video includes a few short conversations with individual students, a lesson plan which includes my favorite apples and oranges metaphor, and a quick debrief with teachers. Or find the video by clicking through to YouTube… Continue Reading
I'm on Twitter – Now What? ASCD 2010 Presentation
Here's the deck from yesterday's ASCD 2010 presentation, I'm on Twitter, Now What? Twitter Ascd Conference San Antonio View more presentations from angelamaiers. The acronym I use for Twitter is simple and, for me, used as a compass for why I use Twitter: TribeWisdomIndividualTrustTransparencyEngagementRelationships I've learned so much from my friends, colleagues, and mentors in… Continue Reading
A Synthesizing Heart: Tell and Show
Do you find your students often learn a concept only to forget much of it a week after the test? To help your students develop concept mastery, it is important that they SHOW what they know and understand rather than simply test us what they we want them to know. Why Telling AND Showing is… Continue Reading
