Gateway Writing Project

Book Groups

 

Looking for a way to stay professionally rejuvenated with likeminded teachers? Join fellow GWP colleagues in a book study group. GWP will supply the books, you provide the great conversation!  Below are descriptions of the book group choices for fall of 2012. 

Choice Words by Peter Johnston
Classroom discourse is getting a lot of play these days. What we say and how we frame classroom conversations matters as we push students to higher-order thinking.  In Choice Words: Using Language to Change Lives, Peter Johnston explores how the things teachers say (and don't say) have surprising consequences for the literate lives of students. He explains how to engage students with more productive talk and to create classrooms that support not only students' intellectual development, but their development as human beings as well. Contact Rosa Brefeld at BrefeldR@umsl.edu if you're interested in joining this important conversation.

Pathways to the Common Core by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehren-worth, and Christopher Lehman
Whether you are confused, delighted, or frustrated with the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS), we can best use these standards to improve our practice when we're on the frontline of understanding what they say (and don't say). Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman provide the structure for us to unpack and analyze the CCSS. Our great discussion will give us ideas for supporting and incorporating the CCSS in our literacy instruction.  Contact Laura Gilliam at laura_gilliam2@hotmail.com for more information about this book study group.