This Message Center is organized and operated by David Vitale Read the descriptions below. Click on the sign up link to vote for the book you'd like to read for the book study. The book chosen will be the one that receives the most votes.

Subjects Matter is a book about content-area reading that's just as useful to math, science, and history teachers as it is to English teachers! Lively, practical, and irreverent, Subjects Matter points the way to activities and materials that energize content and engage students across all subject areas. Harvey Daniels (no relation to Mike) and Steven Zemelman, authors of a dozen influential books on literacy and co-founders of Best Practice High School, describe the literacy program they developed in their Chicago public school. They present ways to incorporate real reading into your classroom and how to use textbooks differently. Their book features 23 practical classroom activities that help students understand and remember what they read, in mathematics, science, social studies, English, and more.

The other book to consider for a book study is Content-Area Writing by the same authors. Jan Detrie presented some activities from this book at last April’s literacy workshop.
No matter what subject you teach, Content-Area Writing is for you, especially if you're juggling broad curriculum mandates, thick textbooks, and severe time constraints. It not only shows that incorporating carefully structured writing activities into your lessons actually increases understanding and achievement, but also proves how writing can save, not consume, valuable instructional time.
Content-Area Writing guides you strategically through the two major types of writing that every student must know:
· Writing to Learn: the quick, exploratory, and extemporaneous in-class writing that helps kids engage deeply with content, build connections, and retain what they've learned
· Public Writing: planned, constructed, and polished writing in which students demonstrate knowledge and reflect on what they've learned.

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posted September 12, 2007 « back to Message Center home

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