Before the Common Core were a twinkle in David Coleman’s eye, Kelly introduced an assignment into his classroom called article of the week. In the assignment, students read complex informational texts and responded to them in writing. That writing was nearly always a blend of the explanatory and argumentative modes, and it often culminated with a discussion of the issues […]
article of the week
“Help! I Need Appropriately Complex Texts for my Elementary and Middle School Students!”
If you are an elementary or middle school teacher who has ever perused my article of the week lists (disclaimer: Kelly Gallagher is the man who invented Articles of the Week), you’ve probably wanted to hurt me. This is because my articles are often a stretch even for my ninth graders (after all, the vocabulary difficulty of newspapers has remained stable […]
Using the Efficient “Take a Stand” Strategy to Hook Kids into a Reading
Let me just start out with this: Erica Beaton (of b10lovesbooks.wordpress.com/#seekthebalance/my next door teacher neighbor fame) introduced me to this strategy (her version is much more sophisticated — see her explanation in the comments), and I’ve also seen something like it accredited to George Hillocks in Michael Smith’s, Deborah Appleman’s, and Jeffrey Wilhelm’s book UnCommon Core (which […]
Why I Use the Article of the Week in My Elective Classes
(Note from Dave: Heidi Bonnema calls herself a “baby teacher,” but this is more a testament to her humility than it is to her skill level. I’m honored to call her, not just a colleague, but a friend. If you follow Teaching the Core’s article of the week list, you’ll have noticed that, lately, the articles […]
9 Complex Text Resources I’m Pretty Pumped About Right Now
Recently, there’s been a trend in the messages I’ve received from the stellar stock of humanity known as you, the Teaching the Core readership (btw, if you ever need to contact me, just use this link — it goes straight to my inbox). Here’s what I’ve been receiving: life-improving, useful resources for 1) finding complex texts for […]