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Books on education we're reading?


PeterPan
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Anyone want to discuss? I'll sum up this book, maybe enough to intrigue you, and then you can throw in books you're reading that you think others might find useful!

180 DAYS: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents

I'm kind of skimming through this, because I sort of gave up too soon (not sure why) and need to return it to the library. Now I'm finding goodies! The book is aimed at middle and high school instruction, so I'm just pulling things that resonated with me for a 4th grader.

Chapter 2-Establish Daily Practices (which for them means reading and discussing reading)--p. 28 they go into something we as homeschoolers intuitively know, that interest drives reading level. They cite some swanky terms and research, saying it "turbocharges attention" and on p. 30 they give data I had already seen but benefited from being reminded of about the dramatic benefits with getting reading times up per day.

Chapter 3-Map a Year of Writing-p. 84 they explain the "poetry smackdown" they did over the course of a year, sort of a like a March Madness basketball tournament. They had the kids use a "glossary of poetic terms" which I think may be from this book Naming the World: A Year of Poems and Lessons. On p. 83 they cite a gorgeous explanation of the writing process by Alfred North Whitehead, which they explain as progressing from "romance to precision to generalization." So your free form, early writing is the romantic stage, the precision is when you explore a genre more deeply, and the generalization comes as you broaden those skills across genres. I thought it was a beautiful way to express what we already do but maybe wanted unfettered from WTM/classical terminology to make fit our kids better.

Chapter 6-Narrative explores, of course, the instruction of written narrative. It's intriguing and something I'd revisit, though I don't actually know if my ds with ASD can *do* it.

Chapters 8-9--Informational, Argument, and Multi-project Research--again, all interestingly explored in ways that I think would be flexible for some kids with SLDs who maybe aren't thriving on pre-done curriculum. The steps and targets are spelled out, but they're not pinned to particular sources or timelines, making it much more flexible.

So interesting, a bit more than I need right now, but still worth remembering! 

 

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