Author and educator, Geoff Krall, has devoted his career to creating a coherent approach to secondary math pedagogy. In his new book, Necessary Conditions he has provided just that. Chris Luzniak, math teacher and author of the upcoming Stenhouse book, Up for Debate! Exploring Math through Argument, 6 – 12, has recently discovered how the ideas in Krall’s book can enhance his and his colleagues’ professional learning. He shared his thoughts with us.
“I just finished the first two chapters of Geoff Krall’s Necessary Conditions, and I’m so excited to share it!! I paused my reading long enough to go order a dozen copies for my math department. We are going to spend the next year or two exploring and discussing all the great ideas in this book. This is the first book I’ve seen that brings together so many great ideas about secondary math pedagogy. I don’t know anything like it!”
To preview and/or buy Necessary Conditions, go HERE.
February 15th, 2019
“Quick writes integrate social emotional learning with literacy as students write to explore their beliefs, understandings, and perceptions as well as appreciate and accept the divergent thinking of others.”
-Paula Bourque, author Spark! Quick Writes to Kindle Hearts and Minds in Elementary Classrooms
The Gateway to Literacy
Freeing Up Student Creativity
For Paula Bourque, author of the just-released Spark! Quick Writes to Kindle Hearts and Minds in Elementary Classrooms, “quick writing” is akin to “improv on paper.” This “low stakes, low risk” technique helps free up student thinking and creativity. Hear more from Bourque in this short video.
Developing Young Writers
Jeff Anderson, co-author of Patterns of Power, showcases his methods during this spirited student discussion of grammar and conventions. Check out a sampler of the forthcoming Patterns of Power Plus: Extension Lessons for Young Writers, for grade 1-5 ELA teachers.
Using Art to Invite Engagement
Mary Howard showcases five “gifts” from Trevor Bryan’s newly published The Art of Comprehension. Bryan’s “immense wisdom” and tools “swing a comprehension door wide open so that we can invite our children to enter a supportive thinking space where all ideas are welcome,” Howard notes.
Eight Ideas for Diverse Readers
Kari Yates and Christina Nosek, authors of To Know and Nurture a Reader, share their ideas in this blog post for managing students’ needs in a diverse class of readers. “It’s an ongoing journey of recognizing what’s going on, reevaluating what’s working, and adjusting as needed.”
Study Guide for Literacy Essentials
Find ways to deepen your understanding and application of Literacy Essentials: Engagement Excellence, and Equity for All Learners, by Regie Routman, with this new Study Guide. Consider forming a study group to stretch your thinking and raise new questions.
Five-paragraph Essay: “Two-edged Sword”
The formulaic five-paragraph essay gives Cathy Fraser pause. In this blog post, the author of Love the Questions: Reclaiming Research with Curiosity and Passion weighs in on the deleterious effect the formula has on student writing and reading complex texts.
Close Reading for Young Readers
In her new book, Little Readers, Big Thinkers, Amy Stewart shows primary grade teachers how to use close reading to help young students see that reading can be both meaningful and fun. Learn more in this Q&A.
Invitation to Mathematics
Quick Math Routines
Incorporating quick five-, ten-, or fifteen-minute number sense routines into each math class can help your students become more engaged and develop number sense that will last a lifetime. Jessica Shumway, author of Number Sense Routines, shows us how. Read more in this blog post.
Making Change Last
Ways to Train Your Brain
If your New Year’s Resolutions haven’t quite taken hold, Lisa Lucas, author of Practicing Presence has some tips. Read her blog to discover five strategies for making change last. “Make more of your desired behavior automatic by establishing routines,” she advises.
*Don’t miss our special offer of an additional 10% discount on all professional books, on top of the 25% educator discount, and FREE SHIPPING! (Offer expires February 28, 2019.)
February 14th, 2019
Do you practice number sense routines in your classroom? Or are you new to number sense routines? Jessica Shumway, author of the popular book Number Sense Routines, Grades K-3 and her newest follow-up Number Sense Routines, Grades 3-5 has offered up her expertise to provide guidance on how to get started or navigate any of those sticky points you might come across in your instruction. Here are a few tips you might find handy!
How do you decide which number sense routine to do?
Knowing which routine to do really depends on your class, where you are, and your purpose. For example, I often start with dot cards at the beginning of the school year. I think that the dot cards are a great platform to get kids talking about math, valuing each other’s ideas and understanding that they can learn from each other, that they can really start to expand their own concepts and notions of number by listening to other people’s ideas.
What if students have difficulty explaining their mathematical thinking?
Some students have difficulty explaining their mathematical thinking, especially in the beginning of the school year or if students are not used to justifying their solutions. Here are some strategies to consider when students have difficulty explaining their thinking or when you know they have an answer but don’t know how to explain what they know:
- Break it down. Help students step back and be metacognitive about what they’re doing. Ask, What was the first number you saw? What was the first thing you thought about? What did your brain tell you to do next? Just helping them break it down helps makes it easier for them.
- Turn and Talk. Turn and talk is a strategy where students voice their understanding with a partner. This strategy helps students talk out their ideas and then when they come back to whole group, they’re able to voice what they notice and what they are trying to explain.
- Work together. Sometimes students will start an idea that they don’t know how to justify, so we have all the students build on that idea together. Through working as a community, you build that knowledge together. When students realize they play a really important role in these discussions, the better they get at it. The more opportunities they have to turn and talk, the more opportunities that they have to justify their thinking.
How do you get students to listen and learn from each other?
Listening and learning from each other is key. That’s where students really start to expand their own notions of number and can really learn a lot from other students. Small groups are where I really get that math talk and get those conversations going. It’s a way to help them listen to one another’s ideas. I ask them questions like, Stop your own thinking for just a minute and let’s really make sense of what this other person is saying, or, Did you understand what Jimmy was saying? Can you explain it in your own words? At the beginning of the year, you often see that kids are still trying to be creative, still trying to get their ideas out there, and there’s a place for that. But by asking these questions and using strategies such as turn and talk, you’ll eventually help them to tune into each other’s ideas and make sense of each other’s thinking. It’s a beautiful moment when that starts happening.
What skills do teachers need to facilitate mathematics discussions around a number-sense routine?
Find ways to deepen your own content knowledge. The more you know about mathematics, number sense, problem solving, and reasoning about numbers, the more you can pinpoint those pieces to highlight and then move everybody’s number sense forward. Knowing your content is a major piece in being able to facilitate those discussions.
Teacher questioning strategies is another skill to have when you’re using these number-sense routines. One way to start is to ask questions such as, Why? or ask them to explain their thinking. Not just, Oh, yes, you’ve got the correct answer but how do you know that? Instead ask, Can you justify your thinking? Prove it to us. Convince us that this is what comes next in the sequence. Slowly build your questioning strategies over time and you’ll see your students’ discussions grow.
Do you use routines for formative assessments?
Number-sense routines are a really effective formative assessment. You learn so much about where your students are in their thinking when you have these discussions about relationships among numbers. For example, when you highlight a big idea to the class and ask them who understands, but no one responds, that lets me know that I need to set up some experiences where the big idea can be highlighted in a way that’s more accessible to everybody. And then we can follow up on that idea let it emerge in other situations.
Want to learn more about Number Sense Routines and how to bring them to your classroom? Download this brochure and start planning how to use these dynamic routines to deepen number sense in your students.
February 14th, 2019
“Expert teaching cannot be downloaded. No teacher ever became excellent without deep and ongoing study and refection.”
Regie Routman, Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence, and Equity for All Learners
Literacy: A Life-Changer
Literacy Essentials: Review, Reflections
Regie Routman’s Literacy Essentials is “one of the most important books of the decade,” says middle school literacy coach Jacob Chastain in this review. He calls attention to Routman’s thoughts on equity–“the real meat of this work.”
A font of literacy strategies, Routman shares her ideas in the CCIRA blog in the run-up to its conference next week. Routman, a featured speaker at the conference, weighs in on “Equity Matters” and offers nine steps to take to ensure equity for all.
“Writing—more than anything we teach—has the power to change students’ lives,” notes Routman in this MiddleWeb blog post “10 Surefire Ideas to Remove Writing Roadblocks.” Check out her tips on making writing “doable, effective, and gratifying.”
Using Think Time
Mark Weakland’s new blog post offers ideas on ways think time can enrich discussion, build vocabulary and language, and engage students. He describes the instructional technique, the “real reason to use it,” and provides examples from various age groups.
Uncovering the Mysteries of Language
Unlock the promise of Jeff Anderson and Whitney La Rocca’s Patterns of Power with the new Patterns of Power Plus: Extension Lessons for Young Writers. You’ll find lessons to teach grammar authentically and with flexibility—without worksheets! Order your free lesson sampler here.
Math-Minded
Review: “Powerful Impact”
“I struggle to even put into words how I value this book.” So begins this review of Tracy Johnston Zager’s Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You Had. Nationally known mathematics consultant Michelle Rinehart calls the book “refreshing, empowering, and community building.”
Making Numbers Matter
Fans of Making Number Talks Matter can now discover new ways to dig more deeply into “tricky, problematic, or just plan hard” issues in math instruction. The vignette-rich sequel Digging Deeper: Making Number Talks Matter Even More also features extensive online video.
February 11th, 2019
It’s the time of year! The Reading Recovery® Council of North America (RRCNA) annual literacy conference starts this weekend, and some of your favorite Stenhouse authors will be presenting. Below is their presentation schedule. If you haven’t already signed up to see these amazing authors and speakers, be sure to mark them on your schedule!
Katherine Beauchat & Katrin Blamey co-presenting:
Sunday, 2/10, 1:30-3:00 p.m. “Word Walk: An Engaging Vocabulary Strategy for Young Children” Explore an instructional procedure for explicit vocabulary instruction in the context of storybook reading.
Lynne Dorfman & Diane Dougherty co-presenting:
Tuesday, 2/12, 8:30-10:00 a.m. “Everyone is a Teacher: The Power of Writing Conferences” Conferring is the heart of any writing workshop. Video clips of conferences in action, record keeping, and management techniques, and a bibliography of professional resources are provided.
Kari Yates presenting:
Sunday, 2/10, 1:30-3:00 p.m. “Taking Action to Ensure Readers Thrive All Year Long – Even in Summer!” Preventing summer reading loss starts today. Explore teacher actions starting immediately to ensure all readers stay engaged and thrive all through the calendar year.
Monday, 2/11, 8:30-10:00 a.m. “Nurturing Thriving Reading Lives from the Start: Conferring with Readers in the K-2 Classroom” Explore tools, teacher moves, and practices to help you make the most of time spent conferring with youngest readers.
February 8th, 2019
If you haven’t heard of or attended the annual Staff Development for Educators (SDE) National Conference in Las Vegas, you are simply missing out. Referred to as “The Educator Conference of Choice,” this lively and popular conference is where educators flock to enhance their professional learning, year after year.
Stenhouse is proud to announce that several of their authors are among 100+ presenting this year, expanding the impactful ideas you’ve come to love in their books. Below are the authors who are bringing their literacy knowledge through these insightful presentations.
Jan Burkins & Kim Yaris, authors of Who’s Doing the Work? Lesson Sets
Who’s Doing the Work? Getting the Reading Results You Want, K–5
In this session, Jan and Kim challenge you to examine your instruction to discover the ways you may be inadvertently teaching learned helplessness. They describe four, widespread barriers to learning that may be getting in the way of your students’ progress, and present remedies to each. Based on thinking and strategies from their acclaimed book, Who’s Doing the Work?, Jan and Kim share practical ways to get students “unstuck” by shifting focus to student process, adjust the language of reading instruction, and reframing the gradual release of responsibility.
Ensuring Students Actually Apply the Reading Strategies You Teach! (Gr. K–5)
It doesn’t matter how many strategies you teach your students if they don’t actually use them! Join Jan and Kim as they give you a new perspective on the gradual release of responsibility and tell you the secret to increasing student transfer! This session includes a full lesson series, including next generation practices for read aloud, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading. Come discover a vision for adjusting your practices to better align with the end goals of independence, proficiency, and joyful reading.
Debbie Diller, author of Growing Independent Learners
Practice with Purpose: Meaningful Literacy Stations (Gr. 3–6)
Want to know how to set up meaningful independent work for your upper-grade students? Debbie Diller, author of Practice with Purpose, will share tips to help you “work smarter, not harder” as you establish literacy stations in the intermediate classroom. You’ll learn how to take what you’ve already taught in whole group reading and writing instruction and move it into purposeful partner practice. The key is authentic reading and writing work that integrates social studies and science.
Spaces & Places (Gr. K–6)
Thinking about your classroom and how you’ll set it up in the new school year? Learn how to maximize every inch in your classroom from an expert in classroom design. Find out how to use classroom spaces to create a student-centered learning environment. You’ll learn Debbie Diller’s time-tested techniques and step-by-step processes to help you organize and set up your room for meaningful instruction. The emphasis will be on designing (not decorating) your classroom.
Mark Weakland, author of Super Spellers Starter Sets
The Journey of Literacy Leaders: Creating a Successful Literacy Program (ADM)
Explore the steps teachers and administrators must take to create successful literacy programs, not just in the occasional classroom but in all reading classrooms across a district. It’s a lofty goal but one worth pursuing! If you are a teacher, coach, building principal, or curriculum director, come prepared to discuss and debate what is absolutely needed to create a system that effectively teaches children to read and write.
Dyslexia: What It Is, What It Isn’t & How You Can Help (Gr. K–6)
This workshop begins with an exploration of the scientific foundations of reading and why some children struggle to reach important literacy benchmarks. Next, student behaviors that help teaches identify serious reading problems at an early age are listed. The bulk of the workshop is devoted to discussing and practicing techniques, strategies, and activities that work for all learners but are critical to learners who struggle to read, write, and spell because they have or may have dyslexia.
Making Children’s Lit Part of Your Science Kit (Gr. K–6)
Children’s literature and science content & instruction make for a perfect pairing. Explore the connections between children’s books and science content. Learn the basics of Perfect Pairs, Stewart and Chelsey’s framework for combining children’s literature with science instruction. Discover what text “grist” is and consider using it with the RACE writing strategy to build motivation and engage students in persuasive science writing. Explore kinesthetic literacy activities (including wax museums and talk shows) that work well with science themes found in children’s books.
Go HERE to learn more or REGISTER. And log in next week to discover which Stenhouse authors will be presenting on Writing!
February 8th, 2019
Amy Stewart is the author of the new book, Little Readers, Big Thinkers: Teaching Close Reading in the Primary Grades. We sat down with Amy, recently, for a discussion about her experience as a teacher and what inspired her to write a book about close reading instruction in the primary grades. If you’re a primary grade teacher or administrator, you might want to read how her book can help teachers show students that reading can be fun and meaningful!
Q: Tell us about yourself, Amy.
A: I am currently a literacy coach in Bensenville, which is a suburb right near O’Hare in Chicago. This is my fourth year working as a literacy coach for grades K–2. Prior to that, I taught kindergarten in the same district for five years. I’ve also been a third-grade teacher in a small town in Indiana. I am currently finishing my doctorate at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois.
Q: When did you first start thinking about the topic for your new book, Little Readers, Big Thinkers?
A: During my first years as a kindergarten teacher, we started to work through the shifts of the CCSS regarding close reading. My colleagues and I knew that close reading was important, but we were not quite sure how to go about it with our little learners. I started with, “How can we make these seemingly hard kinds of reading activities meaningful for kids in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade?” It stemmed from what our expectations were as teachers and what I know my kids were capable of doing and what experiences would be most meaningful for them.
Q: Why is close reading important to teach in the early grades?
A: It is important to implement these practices in the early years of school so that students are exposed to texts that invite discussion, encourage deep thinking, and spark curiosity. We can’t wait until students are in fourth grade, fifth grade to teach them how to think about a text in ways that are applicable to the real world in authentic ways that means something to them. We can start as early as kindergarten, when kids are not yet conventionally reading, but they can do the thinking that goes along with reading. Start getting kids thinking bigger, thinking critically about texts before they move on into the later years of school.
Q: How can close reading transfer into other parts of a student’s learning?
A: Close reading can be used to invite wonder and curiosity in that inquiry learning that is so important for kids to be able to do. They can use close reading as a launching point into something else that they might want to explore on their own or that they’re interested in. In the book, there are a couple of different points where I talk about experiences that I’ve had doing close reading and then the kids’ thinking takes over. It’s built-in time where they get to choose what they want to learn about.
Q: Who would benefit most from this book?
A: This book is for K–2 classroom teachers, even third grade. It is for anyone who either works with early emergent readers, who are just dipping a toe into close reading, or anyone who has done a lot with close reading and are looking for some new ideas. I also think administrators who are looking to be—or already are—instructional leaders in literacy could benefit from reading it and bringing these ideas to their staff to think about close reading in a new light.
Q: How do your students respond to this instruction?
A: The kids love anytime they get to annotate, so we do it in a couple of different ways: When we do it as a whole group, they are so excited to use the highlighter, or the smart board, or whatever tool we’re using that day to look for things in the text that we’re examining. They love that part. They love it even more when they can do it on their own, during independent reading. I’ll give them a wiki stick or highlighter tape, and they make it their own. And then, they come up and say, “Look Mrs. Stewart! Look what I annotated today!” And to hear a kindergartner say the word annotate—and know what it means—it’s a powerful thing. It’s really fun to see how they take something so abstract, and they run with it. I think that’s the most exciting part. My students also enjoy being word detectives and learning new vocabulary words. They are especially proud of their word journals, where they keep track of the words we learn throughout the year. There is so much good thinking and learning that can come from close reading experiences.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about Little Readers, Big Thinkers?
A: Everything that’s in there are things that I’ve done and things that I’ve tried and things that I’ve worked with teachers on. I really tried to appeal to the busy life of a teacher. I think that teachers have one of the hardest jobs in the world. I wanted it to be an easy read that they could take a practice here and there and try in their classrooms. I just hope that my voice, as a teacher, and my experience can help someone else.
To preview and buy Amy’s book, go HERE.
February 6th, 2019
Students with strong number sense understand numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems. They make reasonable estimates, compute fluently, and use visual models based on their number sense to solve problems. Students who never develop strong number sense, however, will struggle with nearly all mathematical strands. But the daily use of quick five-, ten-, or fifteen-minute number sense routines will help!
With her resources and professional development, author and educator, Jessica Shumway shows us how to incorporate these number sense routines into each math class and watch as students become more engaged and develop a number sense that will stay with them throughout the grades. Here she is talking about number sense routines. To learn more, download a brochure.
February 6th, 2019
For those lucky educators going to the annual Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (TCTELA) Conference in San Antonio, TX next week, here is a rundown of the presentations being given by two wonderful Stenhouse authors. Learn how to empower and engage your students and think beyond leveled books with Franki Sibberson. And join Jeff Anderson to learn about harnessing language convention to purposefully activate meaning in both comprehension and composition. Enhance your professional learning with these dynamic presenters.
Franki Sibberson
Saturday, 1/26, 8:30–10:00 a.m., Regency/Second Floor – Ballroom Level
“Passionate Learners—How to Engage And Empower Your Students” Franki Sibberson, President of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), is a fifth-grade teacher in Dublin, Ohio, where she has taught for over 30 years. She has co-authored several books including Beyond Leveled Books and Still Learning to Read. Franki is a regular contributor to Choice Literacy and she blogs with Mary Lee Hahn at a Year of Reading.
Saturday, 1/26 1:30–3:45 p.m., Live Oak/Third Floor – Hill Country Level
“Workshop With Franki Sibberson: Beyond Leveled Books” If we are committed to creating classrooms that grow lifelong readers, every reader needs to find joy and purpose in reading. This is not possible when we rely too heavily on levels. In this workshop, Franki will discuss the limitations of levels and the importance of looking beyond level when creating classroom libraries, conferring with students, and planning for instruction. Lists of books that Franki has used with her students will be shared.
Jeff Anderson
Sunday, 1/27, 9:30–10:30 a.m., Rio Grande/Second Floor
“Patterns of Power: Inviting Young Writers Into the Conventions of Language, Grades 1–5” Meaning is made when reading and writing crash together in the conventions of language. Explore ways to harness language conventions to purposefully activate meaning in both comprehension and composition. Author’s purpose is why, and author’s craft is how. How do we move the conventions of language from being viewed as a right and wrong proposition with only one correct answer? We know we acquire language through imitation. That’s how we learned to talk, read, and write, and if done well, language conventions can also be explored with ease and enthusiasm in much the same way. Come discover brain-based, practical ways to use the reading-writing connection to teach grammar and editing in a way that grows young writers and readers.
Don’t miss these opportunities!
January 18th, 2019
“Because learners can decode visual texts it means they can also engage with meaning-making skills, such as inferring, using text evidence, recognizing symbols and patterns, identifying themes and big ideas and making rich, meaningful connections.”
–Trevor Bryan, author, The Art of Comprehension: Exploring Visual Texts to Foster Comprehension, Conversation, and Confidence
Broadening the Path to Literacy
New! The Art of Comprehension
Fresh off the press is The Art of Comprehension: Exploring Visual Texts to Foster Comprehension, Conversation, and Confidence. In this video, author Trevor Bryan introduces his innovative framework for deepening comprehension, which helps students interpret both print and visual texts and lead powerful conversations about them. Read more here.
Coming Soon: Super Spellers Starter Sets
Mark Weakland’s Super Speller Starter Sets will be out soon! From master word lists and spelling centers to word ladders, Weakland provides everything you need to bring to life the wisdom of Super Spellers: Seven Steps to Transforming Your Spelling Instruction. Preorder here.
Close Reading in Primary Grades
“Sometimes even our littlest readers are also our biggest thinkers,” notes Amy Stewart, author of Little Readers, Big Thinkers. Explore her tried and true approaches to enable even the youngest children to discover new ways to enjoy texts, think about them critically, and share that thinking.
The Magic of Math
“Nerding Out” on Math
Tracy Johnston Zager’s Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had is “chock full of ideas and examples; very readable, entertaining, and intriguing,” notes Jenn David-Lang on The Main Idea podcast. Listen as she explores the gap between how math is taught and how mathematicians view it–as full of wonder and creativity. Read her summary of the book here.
Review: How Many? is “Magic”
“So many wonderful things one can learn” in Christopher Danielson’s How Many? Teacher’s Guide bundle, according to this review. “The magic of this book truly lies in sharing [it] with our own children/students,” writes Kelly Darke, math teacher and author of the Math Book Magic blog.
Tips, Tools for Classroom Practice
Top Topics: Race, Religion, and Gender
Authors Matthew R. Kay, author of Not Light, But Fire, and Shawna Coppola, author of Renew: Become a Better–and more Authentic–Writing Teacher talk about race relations in today’s classrooms and communities and how to avoid “fake conversations” in favor of thoughtful, open, and rigorous discussions with students. Listen here.
Working with Trauma-affected Children
How do we support the growth of children who have experienced trauma? It all starts with the relationship. Conferring is a powerful way to cultivate trust, respect and agency in children, according to Kari Yates, co-author with Christina Nosek of To Know and Nurture a Reader. Read more here.
Presence, One Day at a Time
If you want to overcome the daily blur, Lisa Lucas, author of Practicing Presence, has created a project that can transform the way you approach each day. Read about it here and consider registering for the “Practicing Presence Summer Self-Care Retreat for Educators.”
New Titles from Stenhouse Partner
Pembroke Publishers, the Canadian sister company to Stenhouse, has released new engaging, practical books on freewriting, vocabulary, mindfulness activities, and work-life balance for teachers. Explore the new titles here.
January 18th, 2019
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