Reading Passages

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn: Controversy at the Heart of a Classic This post is by Rebecca Newland, the Library of Congress 2013-14 Teacher in Residence. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is number fourteen on the American Library Association’s list of most frequently banned books (2000 – 2009). The book has also appeared on the AP Literature and Composition test fifteen times between 1980 and 2013. Despite the controversies, the novel has remained a staple in high school literature study because teachers seek to engage students with texts that provoke discussion and questions. $200 Reward. Though the novel is named for Huck, his companion Jim, a fugitive from slavery, provokes the strongest reactions from readers. Cash! Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Huckleberry Finn is Twain’s use of racially charged language. Additional Items and Ideas:

Science Codex | Science news, science articles, all day, every day Download 20 Popular High School Books Available as Free eBooks & Audio Books Every year, thousands of American high school students read a common selection of great novels — classics loved by young and old readers alike. Today, we have selected 20 of the most popular books and highlighted ways that you can download versions for free, mostly as free audio books and ebooks, and sometimes as movies and radio dramas. You will find more great works — and sometimes other digital formats — in our twin collections: 600 Free eBooks for iPad, Kindle & Other Devices and 550 Free Audio Books. So please give them a good look over, and if we’re missing a novel you want, don’t forget Audible.com’s 14 day trial. It will let you download an audio book for free, pretty much any one you want. 1984 by George Orwell: Free eBook – Free Audio Book – Free Movie Although published in 1949, 1984 still captures our imagination generations later because it offers one of the best literary accounts of totalitarianism ever published. Plays by William Shakespeare No description needed.

American Scientist Online FaceJack - Hijack someone's face - A new entertainment app for iPhone®, iPad™ and iPod touch® News-O-Matic Now Available for Computers & Chromebooks This month I’ve visited a handful of elementary schools looking to use iPads and Chromebooks effectively in English Language Arts instruction. News-O-Matic has been one of my favorite iPad apps to share with elementary school teachers. I’m excited to announce that News-O-Matic is now available on web browsers, making it perfect for Chromebook and laptop classrooms. Students can now access NOM whether they use the app or open up a web browser. Visit News-O-Matic’s website to check out the web version of this popular currents events resource for K-8 students. Monica Monica Burns is an Author, Speaker, Curriculum & EdTech Consultant and Apple Distinguished Educator.

5 Ways to Use Audiobooks to Help Struggling Readers Traditionally, audiobooks have been used in the classroom to help students with visual impairments or learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Now, however, experts are realizing the power of audiobooks to help students who struggle with many different issues and aspects of reading. Here are five creative ways you can use audiobooks in the classroom to help these readers. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Question for you: Do you use audiobooks in the classroom?

DOGO News - Kids news articles! Kids current events; plus kids news on science, sports, and more! Writing about Reading...Constructed Response Resources Writing About Reading: Constructed Response resources for helping students construct written answers "Dear WritingFix and NNWP, I was so happy to find your Constructed Response webpage. At first, I was really disappointed that I could not physically attend your September Summit, since I live quite far from Reno, but then I started studying the resources you have posted for any of us teachers to use. **Kindly read our WritingFix permission page before sharing this page's resources with other teachers. Between 2006 and 2009, the Northern Nevada Writing Project hosted three year-long workshops for Nevada teachers who were interested in introducing Constructed Response to their classrooms. What is a Constructed Response? Kristi was our NNWP Consultant who created our first C.R. cadre in 2006. This page at WritingFix freely shares the ideas and resources we introduced to our Northern Nevada colleagues during these C.R.

The Differentiator Try Respondo! → ← Back to Byrdseed.com The Differentiator The Differentiator is based on Bloom's Taxonomy, Kaplan and Gould's Depth and Complexity, and David Chung's product menu. Try It In: French Dutch • Tweet It • Like Byrdseed • Pin It Students will judge the ethics of the [click to edit] using a textbook and create an essay in groups of three. Revised Bloom's Taxonomy adapted from "A Taxonomy for Learning,Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" by Anderson and Krathwohl Depth and Complexity adapted from The Flip Book by Sandra N. Depth Big Idea Unanswered Questions Ethics Patterns Rules Language of the Discipline Essential Details Trends Complexity Multiple Points Of View Change Over Time Across the Disciplines Imperatives Origin Convergence Parallels Paradox Contribution Key Words Consequences Motivations Implications Significance Adapted from David Chung and The Flip Book, Too by Sandra N. Group Size One Two Three Four

15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly 15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly Engaging online wrting is informal, conversational, and fun, but certain goofy mistakes just make you look silly... and not in a good way. 1. Your / You're Your "Your is a possessive pronoun, as in "your car' or "your blog." You're "You're" is a contraction of "you are," as in: "You're screwing up your writing by using 'you're' when you mean 'you are.'" 2. It's "It's" is a contraction of "it is" or "it has." It's an apple! Its "Its" is a possessive pronoun, as in: "This infographic has got its groove on." Grammar Goofs 3. There/Thier Always do the "That's ours!" That's ours! They're "They're" is a contraction of "they are," so talk it out to be sure. 4. Affect "Affect" is a verb, as in: "Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income." Effect "Effect" is most often a noun, as in: "The effect of poor grammar on a person's income is well documented." 5. Then Than The word "than" is used to compare two different things: "This is bigger than that." 6. 7. 8.