By designing lessons to activate prior knowledge and linking these activities to reading and writing, teachers found that students were more engaged, that they learned more material more quickly, and that they more willingly incorporated reading into their lives.
Technology That Powers Up Learning
Grades
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Tim O'Brien in the Classroom: "This too is true: Stories can save us"
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
As part of the NCTE High School Literature Series, Tim O'Brien in the Classroom focuses on opportunities for classroom discussion and writing assignments, including lessons, open-ended prompts, and student writing samples.
Grades
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Adolescents and Digital Literacies: Learning Alongside Our Students
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
This book isn't about technology. It's about the teaching practices that technology enables. This book addresses the ways in which teachers and students work together to navigate continuous change and what it means to read, write, view, listen, and communicate in the twenty-first century.
Grades
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Science Books for Teens
6 - 12
Books about science allow readers to encounter new concepts, ask new questions, and discover what we can learn simply by paying close attention to our surroundings. You'll hear about ecology and climate change, food production, infectious disease, ancient human history, the universe, and our power as humans for both ingenuity and destruction.
Grades
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K-W-L-S Chart
3 - 8
Printout
| Graphic Organizer
This printable extends the familiar K-W-L's means of organizing students' prior knowledge, formulating inquiry questions, and recording new learning by adding space for questions for further inquiry.
Grades
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I-Search Chart
9 - 12
Printout
| Graphic Organizer
As part of an I-Search writing process, this handout facilitates the formation of meaningful questions and subquestions for student inquiry.
Grades
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I-Search Process Reflection Chart
9 - 12
Printout
| Graphic Organizer
This chart asks students to consider their challenges and successes across the span of the research process, from question formulation to the final write-up.
Grades
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I-Chart
3 - 12
Printout
| Graphic Organizer
This printout assists students with generating meaningful questions about a topic and organizing their writing by using a structured guide while researching.
Grades
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K-W-L Chart
3 - 8
Printout
| Graphic Organizer
This K-W-L Chart, which tracks what a student knows (K), wants to know (W), and has learned (L) about a topic, can be used before, during, and after research projects.
Grades
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Persuasion Rubric
6 - 12
Printout
| Assessment Tool
Use this rubric to assess the effectiveness of a student's essay, speech, poster, or any type of assignment that incorporates persuasion.
Grades
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A Conversation with Candace Fleming
6 - 12
In the world of young adult literature, some of today's best and most powerful stories are being told by authors of nonfiction. Tune in to hear Candace Fleming discuss the origins of The Family Romanov, research as a process of questioning, and how authors of nonfiction are pushing the envelope in books for today's teens.
Grades
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Socratic Seminars
Grades
6 - 12
Strategy Guide
This strategy guide explains Socratic seminars and offers practical methods for applying the approach in your classroom to help students investigate multiple perspectives in a text.
Grades
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Persuasive Writing
Grades
K - 5
Strategy Guide
This strategy guide focuses on persuasive writing and offers specific methods on how you can help your students use it to improve their critical writing and thinking skills.
Grades
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Promoting Student Self-Assessment
Grades
6 - 12
Strategy Guide
In this Strategy Guide, you'll learn about a number of specific methods that will promote self-assessment and contribute to a richer understanding of student learning.
Grades
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Inquiry-Based Learning
Grades
K - 12
Strategy Guide Series
In this series of Strategy Guides, you'll learn about different methods and activities to encourage inquiry-based learning in your classroom.
Grades
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Facilitating Participation with Silent Conversations
Grades
5 - 12
Strategy Guide
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.
Grades
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Reading on the Go
Grades
5 - 12
Strategy Guide
In this Strategy Guide, learn how to prepare yourself and your students for reading and note-taking in mobile environments.
Grades
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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
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Bringing Lessons to Life with Animoto
Grades
5 - 12
Strategy Guide
Using Animoto, a free Web 2.0 tool, students can develop short digital videos that include music, photos, video clips, and text as well as share their creations electronically.
Grades
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Speak to Me: Teaching with Voki
Grades
6 - 12
Strategy Guide
Through Voki, a Web 2.0 tool, students create customizable avatars for class presentations for various purposes, such as presenting biographical information, expressing an opinion, or reading a poem.