This guide introduces silent conversations, a collaborative learning technique that has students
thinking, sharing, and reflecting about important questions—but through writing rather than talk.
Facilitating Participation with Silent Conversations
Grades
|
Conducting Inner-Outer Circle Discussions
Grades
6 - 12
Strategy Guide
This guide shares the steps to take to get more students talking by dividing the group into speaking and non-speaking circles.
Grades
|
The Art of the Doodle: Writing with Imagination
Grades
5 - 12
Strategy Guide
Use independent, imaginative artwork and varied writing prompts to assess understanding of a given topic for a student body with differentiated needs.
Grades
|
Consensus Decision Making
Grades
7 - 12
Strategy Guide
This strategy guide introduces Consensus Decision Making, a method for facilitating and engaging students in a critical discussion of the central ideas of a text.
Grades
|
Depend on the Text! How to Create Text-Dependent Questions
Grades
1 - 3
Strategy Guide
Teachers need to create text-dependent questions to elicit close reading. When answering these questions, students learn to reread and think deeply about the text.
Grades
|
Promote Deep Thinking! How to Choose a Complex Text
Grades
1 - 3
Strategy Guide
Complex texts promote deep thinking and critical analysis by students. Through close reading of a complex text, students' independent reading abilities also increase.
Grades
|
Get Close to Think Deeply: Creating Primary-Level Close Readings
Grades
1 - 3
Strategy Guide
Close readings allow primary students to engage with complex texts. Through repeated reading, students build a deep understanding of the text and critical thinking skills.
Grades
|
Using Partner Talk to Strengthen Student Collaboration and Understanding
Grades
K - 8
Strategy Guide
In this strategy guide, you'll learn about Partner Talk—a way to provide students with another learning opportunity to make learning their own through collaboration and discussion.
Grades
|
Teaching with Zooming Slideshows through Prezi
Grades
6 - 12
Strategy Guide
Through Prezi, a web application, students create "zooming" presentations for various purposes, such as presenting research, defending an opinion, or sharing a digital story.
Grades
|
Nikki Giovanni in the Classroom: "The same ol' danger but a brand new pleasure"
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
The first volume in the NCTE High School Literature Series, this small, practical book features primary source materials including many of Giovanni's poems reprinted in full, easily adaptable lessons and activities, and a resource section for students and teachers wishing to study Giovanni further.
Grades
|
Raymond Carver in the Classroom: "A Small, Good Thing"
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Rubenstein offers specific, classroom-tested strategies for teaching Raymond Carver's short stories and poems in the high school English classroom.
Grades
|
Go Public!: Encouraging Student Writers to Publish
6 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Intended for middle and high school teachers, Go Public! offers specific writing ideas and classroom activities to help students develop the confidence and ability to publish in a wide market.
Grades
|
Designing Writing Assignments
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Traci Gardner offers practical tips, starting points, and a companion website to help secondary and college teachers design effective writing assignments.
Grades
|
Language Learners in the English Classroom
7 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
This book provides practical, research-based strategies that can help secondary-level English language learners meet the challenges of both language and content learning.
Grades
|
Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel
7 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
This collection of essays by classroom teachers demonstrates how to pair graphic novels with classic literature (including both canonical and YA lit).
Grades
|
Engaging Grammar: Practical Advice for Real Classrooms
7 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Amy Benjamin challenges the idea of "skill and drill" grammar instruction, and Tom Oliva provides a teacher's journal chronicling how the concepts in this book can work in a real classroom.
Grades
|
Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom
K - 6
Professional Library
| Book
Katie Wood Ray explains in practical terms the theoretical underpinnings of how elementary and middle school students learn to write from their reading.