Wow, Nixa Teachers Are Throughout Linda Dorn's New Book!

Linda's new book, Changing Minds, Changing Schools, Changing Systems: A Comprehensive Literacy Design for School Improvement, will be introduced at the Reading Recovery Teacher Leader Institute in June 2014.  On the cover is our very own Valerie Jett and Sarah Pollack from High Pointe Elementary.  

All proceeds from this book will be used in the area of professional development of teachers.  Linda's hope is that this book will illustrate how literacy educators are working together to improve school culture, enhance teacher expertise, and increase the literacy achievement for all students.

Chapter 7 is written by our very own Dr. Cindy Owens.  It focuses on the effectiveness of the Interactive Writing intervention for struggling readers in kindergarten.  Featured in the chapter are the instructional practices of Rena Comer and Valerie Jett.  

LNW Survey

As we begin thinking about Literacy the Nixa Way for the 2014-2015 school year, we are requesting your feedback.  Please complete the short, anonymous survey to help us make LNW the best it can be next year!  We truly appreciate your feedback. :-)

Click HERE to complete the survey.

The Missouri Reader

Aimee Tinsley, fourth grade teacher at Summit Intermediate, shared the first issue of the new digital version of The Missouri Reader, a publication of the Missouri State Council of the IRA.  Aimee proudly serves on the Editorial Board.  Click on the picture below to read the new digital publication.

The Missouri Reader is always looking for teachers that love to share their literacy ideas with others.  See the information below (also found on page 50 of the digital publication) if you are interested in submitting articles for publication.

Another opportunity to be involved in The Missouri Reader would be to submit pictures of your students or class in action.  See page 5 of the digital publication for more information.

 

ELA and MLS Videos Adaptable to Many Grade Levels

These videos were included in the fifth and sixth grade ELA presentation for the Missouri Learning Standards.  We had so much positive feedback about these video clips that we wanted to share them with everyone.  All of the videos are presented by intermediate and secondary teachers, but they can easily be adapted to many grade levels.

Higher Order Questions

The Stoplight Method:  An End-of-Lesson Assessment

"Be Sure To":  A Powerful Reflection Strategy

Sharing Common Core Language with Students

ELA Common Core Resources

We attended a Rick Wormeli conference one week ago today.  It was fantastic!  There were so many new things that we learned and one of the take-a-ways for me was this:   We are our best resources.  We have to share with each other.  When discussing the sharing of ideas and resources, Wormeli said, "You have to think of it as: I'm standing on the shoulders of those before me.  Now I can be a catalyst for someone else."

Keeping that in mind, today's post is all about sharing some more resources!  Here are a couple of things you might want to check out.

ASCD Webinars

ASCD offers a series of free Common Core Webinars.  Click on the link below to view archived webinars or register for an upcoming webinar. 

If you're interested in earning college credit, ASCD also has many online courses that are reasonably priced.

OER Commons:  Open Educational Resources

Launched by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, OER Commons has kept up with Common Core. Now, they offer a variety of resources -- from reference materials to outside links -- and you can also browse open ed resources by grade-level.

Click on the link below and scroll down to see featured content.

Achieve the Core

This website is full of free content. It includes practical tools designed to help students and teachers see their hard work deliver results.  Check out their lessons, student writing samples, assessment questions and more! achievethecore.org was created in the spirit of collaboration. Their motto on collaboration is:  Please steal these tools and share them with others.  Gotta love that! :)

Of course, there are our favorites such as:

and

Share your favorite resources with us by commenting on the post!  HAPPY COLLABORATING! :)