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Amid the sparkle of bling and sounds of cha-ching, visitors to Las Vegas, NV, last week caught sight of thousands of educators from around the country wending their way through Metro Golden Mayer Grand complex toward its conference center for the 102nd annual National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) convention November 15-18.
Over the next few issues of SLJTeen, I’ll be posting brief summaries of many of the sessions I attended at the annual National Council of Teachers of English annual conference, held in Las Vegas, Nov.15-18, 2012. Hand-outs for many of the sessions are available from the NCTE 2012 website. This round up includes sessions on nonfiction resources for English teachers, literacy efforts for incarcerated youth and adults, and faeries in young adult literature.
In the wake of the destruction wrought by Sandy, Marc Aronson emphasizes the importance of the Common Core standards as students and teachers discuss the link between the recent hurricane and climate change.
If you’re looking for official justification for the purchase of graphic novels, look no further than the Common Core State Standards. In grades 6 to 12, students will be required to apply the Reading standards to a variety of text types and formats, including graphic novels. Today’s graphic artists and writers provide a plethora of titles for beginning readers to adults. Check out these new titles that will strengthen your collection and thrill your readers.
This fall, as we’ve traveled around New York State doing workshops for librarians and teachers on the Common Core State Standards, we’ve been living and breathing the new education standards.
Here’s Marc Aronson’s latest report from Common Core land. Two weeks ago, he was on the road for four days along with Sue Bartle leading Common Core (CC) workshops. They learned a lot—much of it encouraging.
At the School Library Journal Summit held October 26-27, authors Deborah Hopkinson, Barbara Kerley, Steve Sheinkin, and Sally M. Walker came together to share their views on their work and how they can address Common Core principles as they conduct research for their books.
The E-Rate program, which is responsible for the funds dedicated to connecting schools and libraries to the Internet, is unable to keep up with high demand., and schools’ needs are only becoming more urgent with the advent of the Common Core Standards.
New titles point to the tantalizing clues left by ancient remains, and the painstaking work of geologists, archeologists, and physical and cultural anthropologists, as they search for and consider evidence, draw conclusions, and re-examine theories in light of new information and technologies.
Blending modern-day sensibilities with an avid appreciation for the source material and an endless knack for inventiveness, two novels by Adam Gidwitz, make sound starting points for examinations of folklore.
Series Made Simple Fall 2012Cover and illustration by Daniel Pelavin
When I get interested in a topic, I become obsessed. I don’t really have hobbies; I have infatuations. I don’t have favorite movies or novels; I have look-but-don’t-touch collections. And when it comes to learning about a new subject, I can’t just read one book on it—I have to read everything I can get my hands on.
And that is why so much of the Common Core State Standards [...]
With the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the need for informational books has increased; math volumes must satisfy both the language arts informational text standards and the mathematics standards.
Photograph by Mark Tuchman
Action figures don’t usually weigh in on SLJ’s design, but Flash, the iconic DC Comics superhero, zipped into the story this month. He snuck his way into my purse and then onto my desk just as editors Kathy Ishizuka and Rick Margolis and I talked about our cover strategy with art director Mark Tuchman. Flash didn’t say much, but his force was unstoppable.
Our conversation about the findings of SLJ’s 2012 school library tech [...]
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?
I grew up on the ’60’s outside New York, where there were racial riots and free love. The Beatles boomed from boxes and people sang about clouds, vanity, and love. Today we are largely beyond racial riots, love is cheap, and music still booms in ear pieces playing tunes of confusion, vanity, and love. Transformation has occurred, but there are timeless elements. Information is one—valuable and priceless, but packaged differently today than it was 25, 50, or 100 [...]
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have become the topic du jour in educational circles, and librarians are key participants in the conversation. School Library Journal’s Leadership Summit, “Advocacy and E-volution: Creating Stronger Schools Through Stronger Libraries,” taking place in Philadelphia October 26-27, will focus on how librarians and school media specialists can propel the dialogue and help teachers and administrators deliver on the full potential of the Common Core.
The New York City Department of Education Office of Library Services is at the forefront of a movement to clarify the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for the profession. Olga Nesi, a regional coordinator at the NYC DOE Library Services, will lead a discussion on the challenges and opportunities the CCSS present for librarians, the role of the profession in supporting the goals of the initiative, and the workshops she and her colleagues have been conducting around the state. Archive is now available!
Under Common Core, students will be writing scripts, reviewing books, making public service announcements, and creating other content, all using video. For schools, this presents a technical challenge: Where to host all this video? SLJ columnist Christopher Harris has found a solution.
Searching for some great ways to get kids hooked on creating digital content? Attendees at the October 17 Digital Shift event got some great tips from Wes Fryer, Melissa Techman, Liz Castro and Erin Daly, all participants in a panel on “Makers in the Library.”
