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February 20, 2008

...news


News links are provided for informational purposes, do not imply endorsement by NCTE, and were live when this issue was published.
Young Readers Hit the Books Winchester’s Read Across America Day celebration was held at the Apple Blossom Mall. It's not too late to plan a Read Across America Day celebration in your home, classroom, school, or community. The Winchester Star, February 18, 2008
. . . More on Reading and Literacy "School Program Boosts Student Reading Levels": The Post and Courier, February 14, 2008 "Gatsby's Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers": The New York Times, February 17, 2008 "Staff Development Tied to Literacy Gains for Students": Education Week, February 11, 2008 "Texas Education Board Reaches Compromise on Reading Standards": Dallas Morning News, February 13, 2008	Partially underwritten by: (advertisement)
Film Raises Troubling Questions about U.S. Students Are high school students making the best of the Two Million Minutes they have? How do students in the United States, India, and China spend these minutes differently? USA Today, February 18, 2008 Live from Another Stunned Campus . . . A story of how the NIU shootings were covered. Inside Higher Ed, February 18, 2008 . . . From High School to College "Making the High School-College Leap." A new report suggests that a high school's philosophy on college advising may make the difference in how well students transition from high school to college. Inside Higher Ed, February 13, 2008 "College Applications Can Be Too Good": Boston Globe, February 12, 2008 "AP Trends: Tests Soar, Scores Slip": Education Week, February 19, 2008 "Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility": The New York Times, February 20, 2008 U.S. Educators Seek New Ideas Abroad In an effort to raise U.S. students' performance on international tests, Americans are looking to other countries for the best education technology practices. eSchool News, February 19, 2008 Learning the Language Their Children Speak Local schools win a grant to teach parents literacy skills along with their children. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 13, 2008 Students Struggle to Leave Dialects at Home The Los Angeles Unified School District has developed a program for the approximately 100,000 of its 695,000 students who are what the district calls "standard English learners (SELs)." The program is designed to help these students develop the ability to code-switch between their home languages and the academic language of school. The Herald, February 18, 2008 How to Make Great Teachers Economist William Hussar of the National Center for Education Statistics predicts that the United States will need to recruit 2.8 million more teachers (3.2 million people teach in U.S. public schools) over the next eight years because of baby-boomer retirement, growing student enrollment, and staff turnover. The key is finding and keeping quality teachers. Time & CNN, February 13, 2008 . . . NCLB "Chicago Looks to 'Turnarounds' to Lift Failing Schools": The Christian Science Monitor, February 15, 2008 "Focus on Standardized Tests Harmful, Texas Teacher Unions Say": Dallas Morning News, February 18, 2008 "U.S. 'Dashboards' Offer Data on State Achievement": Education Week, February 13, 2008 "Study: Texas School System Fosters Low Graduation Rates": Austin Business Journal, February 15, 2008 "Daley Calls for End to Achievement Tests for Students Learning English": Chicago Sun-Times, February 14, 2008 Teachers' Union President to Step Down; New Yorker Is Seen as Successor The New York Times, February 13, 2008 Georgia County Going to All Single-Sex Public Schools Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 14, 2008 "Guitar Hero" and Other Games Draw Teens Back to Libraries Detroit Free Press, February 17, 2008
...blog


Model Reader What can teachers do to improve students' reading in all subject areas? NCTE INBOX blogger Traci Gardner reflects on what she learned during Doug Fisher's recent NCTE Web seminar in this week's NCTE INBOX Blog.
...views


Literacy in the 21st Century When the clock struck midnight to usher in the new millennium, literacy as we knew it didn’t automatically switch to something else. However, we would be hard-pressed not to notice that literacy practices have changed profoundly over the past generation. In his column, "The End of Literacy? Don't Stop Reading" (The Washington Post, February 17, 2008), Howard Gardner speaks to the worries some have about the change -- a worry that reading and writing as we have known them are going away. Gardner doesn’t believe we’re losing reading or writing, and neither does NCTE. But NCTE does realize that the definition of what it means to be literate is changing, and "Toward a Definition of 21st Century Literacies" makes clear what literate 21st century readers and writers need to know and be able to do.
...ideas


Free access to journal articles mentioned in this INBOX is provided for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available to journal subscribers only. Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary, M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, TE=Teacher Education, G=General).
Exploring Gender Issues in Fairy Tales Wilhelm Grimm was born in Hanua, Germany, on February 24, 1786. Celebrate the 222nd birthday of this famous folklorist and gear up for Women's History Month in March by exploring the Grimm Brothers' famous stories and their representations of women and girls. These resources can get you started: Once Upon a Time Rethought: Writing Fractured Fairy Tales (E) How are gender roles part of the fairy tale genre? What makes a fairy tale a fairy tale? In this ReadWriteThink lesson, students work together to craft a list of common fairy tale elements; then, they explore and analyze a variety of tales, then compose their own, new tales for others to enjoy. Enchanting Readers with Revisionist Fairy Tales (M) Ask students to examine three examples of revisionist fairy tales -- a book, a graphic novel, and a poem -- in which female characters act in empowered roles rather than behaving in helpless and submissive ways, which is often the case in traditional folk or fairy tales, in this ReadWriteThink lesson plan by NCTE author James Bucky Carter. "Learning English with High-Interest, Low-Vocabulary Literature: Immigrant Students in a High School New-Arrival Center" (S) Using The Paper Bag Princess and Super Cilantro Girl, the activities described in this English Leadership Quarterly article explore vocabulary and language acquisition for ELL and ESL students using an additive approach that validates students' heritage language and culture. "Reading as Resistance: Gendered Messages in Literature and Media" (S-C) Explore the social construction of gendered messages in this English Journal article. The activities, which can be easily adapted for the college classroom, include an analysis of Disney's Cinderella. "Gender 101: Helping Students Become Aware of Stereotypes of Gender and Language" (C) This article from Teaching English in the Two-Year College invites students to draw from their own knowledge of gender to become more aware of stereotypes of gender and language. Ask students to apply the analytical techniques to well-known fairy tales and folktales.
...announcements


Examining the Role of Genre in Writing New out this week from NCTE, Genre Theory: Teaching, Writing, and Being, by NCTE Consulting Network member Deborah Dean argues that exploring genre theory can help teachers energize their classroom practices. The book provides detailed suggestions for class projects -- such as examining want ads, reading fairy tales, and critiquing introductions -- that build on students' lived experience with genres. Read the sample chapter for an activity asking students to consider how their genre expectations for fairy tales compare to the literary elements of the book The Paper Bag Princess. Join Conference Chair Kathleen Blake Yancey and Facilitator Kylene Beers for the NCTE Institute for 21st Century Literacies Reserve your seat now for the NCTE Institute for 21st Century Literacies, July 20-23, in Indianapolis, Indiana. The hands-on institute will help you develop and design literacy curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessment practices to prepare students for success in the 21st century. The institute is meant for teachers, literacy coaches, department chairs, and district leaders. Scholars of Color: Funding Opportunity Offered by NCTE The NCTE Research Foundation Cultivating New Voices program is designed to provide support, mentoring, and networking opportunities for early career scholars of color. The program aims to work with graduate students and early career scholars of color to cultivate their ability to draw from their own cultural/linguistic perspectives as they conceptualize, plan, conduct, and write their research. The deadline for program proposal submissions is March 10. Spelling and the Middle School Student Subscribers can read articles on the theme "Spell It Right: Heading in the Right Direction" in the latest issue of Voices from the Middle. The issue includes articles on error as a sign of growth, the role of linguistics in spelling instruction, and specific lessons to use with whole classes or individual weaker spellers. Not a subscriber? Sign up in the NCTE online store and begin reading these journals online. Did You Host an African American Read-In? Please submit your "host report card" by February 28 to tell us about your event. NCTE thanks you for your work; hosting a National African American Read-In underscores literacy as a significant part of Black History Month. Make Your Plans for Poem in Your Pocket Day! Invite students and colleagues to choose a favorite poem and carry it in their pockets to celebrate the first national Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 17, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. During the day, encourage readers to unfold and read their pocketed poems in celebration of the visions of poets. To share your ideas or receive more information about Poem in Your Pocket Day, please contact Elaine Bleakney at ebleakney@poets.org. Name That Centennial -- We Need Your Ideas NCTE will soon celebrate its 100th birthday, and we need a short, communicative, snappy slogan for the event. "Then and Now" is a current contender, as is "100 Years of Literacy Leadership." We want your ideas! Fire up your creativity and send us your slogan suggestion. The Centennial Task Force will select the top five slogans and publish them in an April INBOX. NCTE Centennial: A Blast from the Past Did you know that the controversy over the direct teaching of grammar is not a new one? In the March 1946 English Journal, educator and former NCTE President Lou LaBrant wrote: "We have some hundreds of studies now which demonstrate that there is little correlation . . . between exercises in punctuation and sentence structure and the tendency to use the principles illustrated in independent writing." Apply for the US Bank NCTE Visa Card Apply for the US Bank NCTE Visa Card and start receiving benefits that really add up! Along with earning rewards for yourself, a percentage of every purchase you make on the US Bank NCTE Visa Card will help promote NCTE's mission at no extra cost to you. Just by using this card, you will help NCTE work to ensure that all English educators get the support they need to teach effectively.
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