July

Summer Reading for Teachers!

I hope you are getting some time to read for yourself.  While these aren't professional texts, I love the travel writing and humor of Bill Bryson, so I've continued with his work, and just finished reading Neither Here Nor There. I also managed to squeeze in The Mango Season by Amula Maladi, which shows a great picture of the Indian culture. 

What are you reading?  (add some titles to the comments section below). 

If you need help finding something,  this is part of the list generated by teachers when consultant, blogger, and online instructor, Lisa Dabbs asked teachers to share summer titles for her Blog Teaching with Soul. 

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
The New Leaders 100 Day Action Plan by George Bradt
Tony Wagner's Creating Innovators.
The Element by Sir Ken Robinson
Drive by Daniel Pink
Curriculum 21 Heidi Hayes Jacobs
The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives by Peter H. Johnston
A Nation Rising by Davis
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (Smith, 1943)
"Teaching to Transgress" (hooks, 1994)
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher
Pathways to the Common Core by Lucy Calkins
Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives by Peter Johnston
Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit
The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller
A Place for Wonder By Georgia Heard
Mindset by Carol Dweck
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

You can download the whole list as a PDF on the Teaching with Soul Blog

Looking for Professional Development?

Ingham ISD has sessions this summer on creating SmartBoard lessons, and using iPads in the classroom.  Read and register HERE.

May

Looking for something to send off with the students for the summer? ReadWriteThink is gathering ideas. Check out engaging activities for reading and writing including poetry, trading cards, superheroes, and even constructing an argument!

More for Summer Reading:

• Education Week Teacher has a helpful article from Donalyn Miller on things schools can do to prevent the Summer Slide.

• Check out the New York Times Summer Reading Contest

• Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge
 Begins on May 1, 2012! Kids of all ages are invited to participate in an exciting global reading competition that is fun and friendly. The more kids read, the more rewards and recognition they earn for themselves and their school

Also see their related link for Summer 2012 Booklists for ages 3-teen, and more summer reading challenge activities to download for FREE.

• Summer Reading Tracking Sheets
to distribute to kids to keep track of titles read each month.

May Professional Development Opportunities for Literacy Instruction

Centers and Stations - May 1st 4:15-5:30 115 MMS

Register here

Fusion Reading Demo: Grades 6-12    Reading Intervention    May 3   3:30-4:30   Room 115 MMS     

     Fusion Reading provides explicit instruction using age-appropriate leveled text to effectively teach reading skills and strategies and engage students. It adapts to various instructional settings and easily adapts to multiple block schedule formats making it flexible for middle or high school.Students learn the skills and strategies necessary to become better readers, both in their reading classes as well as their other academic classes. Jamestown´s popular non-fiction texts provide the high-interest reading selections to support this program. Students in Fusion Reading have made statistically significant gains in reading scores.  *E-mail Melissa Yip to register.

Teaching Reading Street K-6  May 15 4:00-7:00  Ingham ISD

This session is for educators within the Ingham ISD service area that support Reading Street instruction. A first grade teacher  will explain how she organizes her 90 minute block and small groups using the materials from Reading Street. This session will also cover how to establish and manage small group instruction. Register here

Creating Smart Board and PowerPoint Lessons Using Reading Street Materials  K-6    May 21  4:30-7:30    Ingham ISD

Do  you want to learn how to create engaging student lessons, while saving time lesson planning? During this Reading Street Technology training session, participants will learn to use Smart Notebook Software to create Smart Board lessons and power point slides to create engaging daily lessons for their students.   A first grade teacher from Haslett will teach educators how to use Smart Notebook Software to create smart board slides to use during the 90 minute literacy block, using materials from the core program, Reading Street. Teachers will need to bring a teacher manual and Reading Street Sucessnet logins, and a flashdrive to save work on. Register here