Strategies For Engaging Students. Mics in the classroom: news and resources round up. The GTN team struggled (and failed) to suppress our inner geeks earlier this week when news surfaced that superheroes Superman and Wonder Woman are to become a "powers couple" in the DC Comics series.
Our main source of excitement, however, wasn't the super-powered love match, but knowing this new fictional romance gave us a reasonable excuse to dedicate our topical resources column to the fascinating topic of teaching with comics. So, we've scoured the Guardian and the rest of the web for some ideas for bringing comics into the classroom. If you've already got comic-themed resources, activities or ideas for lessons, please do share it with the community here. From the Guardian How to draw...How to draw... is one of our favourite regular features to come out of the Guardian's children's books section.
The How to draw... aliens activity is pretty topical too - what with the Curiosity rover looking for life on Mars. Resources from Guardian Teacher Network. Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article. I have become more committed to finding good books for boys over the last few years.
So much has been written about the crisis in boys and literacy that I want to make sure that I have books that will hook them as readers. I have found great resources such as Jon Scieszka's website www.guysread.com. But with the focus on boys and literacy, I do not want to forget the girls in my classroom. Not only do I want to have good books for them to read, I want to make sure they have lots of girls to read about who are strong female characters. Blogger Vivian Lee Mahoney, of HipWriter Mama ( got me thinking. Fiction’s Feisty Girls. After seeing the luminous new musical “Anne of Green Gables” based on the Lucy Maude Montgomery novels and being impressed by its accurate portrayal of Anne, I started to think of other girls and young women in literature that are feisty and/or sassy.
Jo, in Little Women, immediately comes to mind; then there’s the irresistible Pippi Longstocking created by Astrid Lindgren. Feisty as well as humorous girls in series books include: Beverly Cleary’s Ramona, Megan McDonald’s Judy Moody, Meg Cabot’s Allie Finkle, Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine and Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones. Another mischievous girl in literature is quirky Blossom Culp, the time-traveling, psychic heroine of the Richard Peck series. For older children there is Island of the Blue Dolphins in which 12 year old Karana endures years of fending for herself after she had jumped ship in order to stay with her younger brother who was left on the island. Interesting that these three brave young women are based on actual people.
GUYS READ. Boys « Search Results « Lit For Kids. Posted by Meghan There are some obsessions that we only seem to have in childhood.
Dinosaurs, knights/princesses, trucks, cowboys – all seem to be things that we could not be passionate about as kids, but all but forget about as adults. (Ok, except the princess thing, which almost every woman I know secretly wants to turn into, and maybe the love of trucks turns to cars, specifically BMW’s and yes, I’m talking to you, honey.) I guess because there aren’t all that many job listings for paleontologists or cowboys.
But as kids… ah, the fantasies abound. Nonfiction Text Features & Common Core. There is a lot of discussion going on about aligning our teaching and curriculum with the Common Core.
I have been doing a lot of research on the subject and pouring over the information on their website. So here is my position on the Common Core: It's just good teaching practices. Ralph Fletcher on boy writers and his new book. August 7th, 2012 As the father of four sons and the author of countless nonfiction and fiction books, Ralph Fletcher has a natural interest in boys and writing.
He has spent the last several years working with boy writers and their teachers, as well as interviewing other male authors about writing for boys. Ralph shared his insights on the subject in Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices and in his video, Dude, Listen to This. Now he has written a book for students (fourth grade and up) called Guy-Write: What Every Guy Writer Needs to Know, published by Henry Holt and Co. Ralph talked about the new book and about engaging boy writers in a recent conversation with Stenhouse General Manager Dan Tobin.
12 Ways to Use The Learning Network This School Year. Slide Show Ways to Use The Learning Network Happy 2011-12 school year!
Here’s what we’ve got and how you can use it. Visit the slide show above to see screenshots of each of the 12 features we describe below — including some new ones we added this summer. Please pass this page along, and don’t forget that The Learning Network is accessible without a digital subscription. Finally, thank you. 12 Ways to Use The Learning Network This School Year. How to Teach Summarizing.