Check out SLJ’s professional reading reviews.
Book Review: Professional Reading | February 2013
By on February 1, 2013 Leave a Comment
Fresh Paint: A New Building, a New Team, a New Me
By on January 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
My father is a Marine, so by the time I was eight I was quite adept at packing up my things. I vividly remember when we moved to Beaufort, SC. It was 1996, and it was the first time I ever took advantage of a move. Instead of trashing my old clothes and childish toys, I fixed up parts of my personality that needed improvement and tried out some new traits. I asked people to call me “Al”, giving the role of tomboy a spin. I also spoke up a little more and put myself in more social situations. I used this experience to invent a whole new me.
‘Pathways to the Common Core’ | Professional Shelf
By on January 7, 2013 Leave a Comment
“Pathways to the Common Core” offers solutions and directions for teachers looking for a way to understand and implement the Common Core State Standards into their lesson plans.
Book Review Professional Reading: January 2013
By on January 1, 2013 Leave a Comment
BERNIER, Anthony, ed. VOYA’s YA Spaces of Your Dreams Collection. 224p. appendix. charts. diags. further reading. illus. index. photos. websites. VOYA. 2012. pap. $50. ISBN 978-1-61751-011-3. LC 2012935470.
Bernier has compiled every “YA Spaces of Your Dreams” column for VOYA since its inception in 1999 through 2010. The book is divided into three main parts by size of the teen space (less than 500 square feet, 501 to 1000 square feet, and more than 1001 square feet), and the sections are organized chronologically by publication date. It provides [...]
Pew & Berkman Report: Parents, Teens, and Online Privacy
By on December 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
The Pew Internet & American Life Project, in collaboration with the Berkman Center at Harvard University, has recently released “Parents, Teens, and Online Privacy”. The report—the first in a Pew/Berkman Pew logoseries with a focus on youth privacy issues—combines a number of quotes taken from focus group interviews conducted by Berkman’s Youth and Media team with Pew data from a nationally representative phone survey of parents and their teens, with a focus on the use of social networking sites. The report is fully downloadable, and may be searched online as well.
Clustering and the Common Core
By on December 2, 2012 1 Comment
Achieving the level of complex thinking in the classroom required by the Common Core standards can feel overwhelming, particularly when students will be reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing in this capacity throughout the day.
Does Character Matter?
By on November 2, 2012 1 Comment
In “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character,” Paul Tough challenges the notion that academic achievement rests primarily on the types of cognitive skills measured by IQ tests. Could it be that success is, in fact, more dependent upon non-cognitive skills or character traits such as social intelligence, gratitude, optimism, and curiosity?
On Common Core | Content Over Coverage
By on November 1, 2012 1 Comment
One of the most common complaints about state or local curriculum standards is that they focus on covering a range of topics while sacrificing depth of understanding. Chances are you’ve heard your colleagues bemoan that these standards are “a mile long and an inch deep.” Are the Common Core State Standards any different?
Professional Reading: October 2012
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BAXTER , Kathleen A. & Marcia Agness Kochel. Get Those Guys Reading!: Fiction and Series Books That Boys Will Love. 220p. illus. index. photos. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2012. pap. $35. ISBN 978-1-59884-846-5. LC 2012005430.
Baxter and Kochel group the books into nine subject areas, from sports to historical fiction. Each chapter is then subdivided by readers’ ages: younger guys (grades 3 and 4) and older guys (grades 5 to 12). Lastly, within each age grouping, titles [...]
Professional Reading: August 2012
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CHANCE, Rosemary & Laura Sheneman. Crash Course in Family Literacy Programs. 127p. appendix. bibliog. charts. diags. illus. index. websites. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2012. pap. $30. ISBN 978-1-59884-888-5; ebook $30. ISBN 978-1-59884-889-2. LC 2011044094.
The material in this slim volume is presented in a dry, unengaging, and somewhat disjointed manner, and the intended audience is unclear. Although the book seeks to address public and/or school librarians and library administrators, it is uncertain whether it succeeds at reaching any of these [...]
Professional Reading: July 2012
By on July 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
KEANE, Nancy J. 101 Great, Ready-to-Use Book Lists for Teens. 264p. bibliog. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2012. pap. $40. ISBN 978-1-61069-134-5. LC 2011051428.
Meant to serve as a continuation of The Big Book of Teen Reading Lists (Libraries Unlimited, 2006), Keane’s new volume presaents another giant compilation of YA materials. All titles listed were published prior to August 2011. The book is divided into seven parts that are subdivided into themed lists such as “Genres,” “Readalikes,” and “Teaching Literary Elements.” The [...]
Professional Reading Reviews, May 2012
By on May 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
DUNCAN, Donna, Laura Lockhart, & Lisa Ham. The New iSearch, You Search, We All Learn to Research. 148p. (How to Do It Manuals). charts. bibliog. index. CIP. Neal-Schuman. 2011. pap. $60. ISBN 978-1-55570-758-3. LC 2011033986.
The authors make the case that through a combination of strategies, standards, research, and social media, the iSearch research process can help students develop a better understanding of the logical and important steps involved in structuring research. It can also improve [...]
21st-Century Learning: Are We Ready? | Curriculum Connections
By on May 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
Think about the number of times in a day that you make your way to Google (or another search engine) or how frequently you check your cell phone (whether or not it’s smart); we depend on information and communication that’s just a click or swipe away. Now, consider the technology available in classrooms with one or two outdated desktops.
Tech Tidbits from the Guybrarian and His Gal: Shallow Research
By on January 1, 2012
In a recent Pew Internet study called How Teens Do Research the Digital World, AP and National Writing Project teachers said that one of educators’ top priorities should be to teach students how to “judge the quality of online information.” The study reports that 95 percent of our students do online research, but their research skills are only good or fair. Also, for many students, doing research means Googling. Many students see research as a fast-paced process in which they [...]
