Books published by publisher Stenhouse Publishers

We've learned a lot in recent years about the important role vocabulary plays in making meaning, yet many teachers still struggle with vocabulary instruction that goes beyond weekly word lists. Effective vocabulary instruction is particularly vital in the content areas, where the specialized language used by “insiders” often creates a barrier to understanding for those new to the subjects. In Inside Words, Janet Allen merges recent research and key content-area teaching strategies to show teachers how to help students understand the academic vocabulary found in textbooks, tests, articles, and other informational texts. Each instructional tool is listed alphabetically along with its purpose: building background knowledge; teaching words that are critical to comprehension; providing support during reading and writing; developing a conceptual framework; and assessing students' understanding of words and concepts. Inside Words builds on Janet's previous books Words, Words, Words and Tools for Teaching Content Literacy, to provide a much-needed middle and secondary school resource for teaching vocabulary, not only in the language arts, but in all of the content areas. NOTE: Media: 176 pp/paper + online resources

Every major measure of students’ historical understanding since 1917 has demonstrated that students do not retain, understand, or enjoy their school experiences with history. Bruce Lesh believes that this is due to the way we teach history—lecture and memorization. Over the last fifteen years, Bruce has refined a method of teaching history that mirrors the process used by historians, where students are taught to ask questions of evidence and develop historical explanations. And now in his new book “Why Won’t You Just Tell Us the Answer?” he shows teachers how to successfully implement his methods in the classroom.Students may think they want to be given the answer. Yet, when they are actively engaged in investigating the past—the way professional historians do—they find that history class is not about the boring memorization of names, dates, and facts. Instead, it’s challenging fun. Historical study that centers on a question, where students gather a variety of historical sources and then develop and defend their answers to that question, allows students to become actual historians immersed in an interpretive study of the past.Each chapter focuses on a key concept in understanding history and then offers a sample unit on how the concept can be taught. Readers will learn about the following: • Exploring Text, Subtext, and Context: President Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal • Chronological Thinking and Causality: The Rail Strike of 1877 • Multiple Perspectives: The Bonus March of 1932 • Continuity and Change Over Time: Custer’s Last Stand • Historical Significance: The Civil Rights Movement • Historical Empathy: The Truman-MacArthur DebateBy the end of the book, teachers will have learned how to teach history via a lens of interpretive questions and interrogative evidence that allows both student and teacher to develop evidence-based answers to history’s greatest questions.

Do your students often struggle with difficult novels and other challenging texts? Do they think one reading of a work is more than enough? Do they primarily comprehend at a surface-level, and are they frequently unwilling or unable to discover the deeper meaning found in multi-layered works? Do you feel that you are doing more work teaching the novel than they are reading it?Building on twenty years of teaching language arts, Kelly Gallagher, author of Reading Reasons, shows how students can be taught to successfully read a broad range of challenging and difficult texts with deeper levels of comprehension. In Deeper Reading, Kelly shares effective, classroom-tested strategies that enable your students to:accept the challenge of reading difficult books;move beyond a "first draft" understanding of the text into deeper levels of reading; consciously monitor their comprehension as they read;employ effective fix-it strategies when their comprehension begins to falter;use meaningful collaboration to achieve deeper understanding of texts;think metaphorically to deepen their reading comprehension;reach deeper levels of reflection by understanding the relevance the book holds for themselves and their peers;use critical thinking skills to analyze real-world issues.Kelly also provides guidance on effective lesson planning that incorporates strategies for deeper reading.Funny, poignant, and packed with practical ideas that work in real classrooms, Deeper Reading is a valuable resource for any teacher whose students need new tools to uncover the riches found in complex texts.

Jeff Anderson and literacy coach Whitney La Rocca take you into primary and intermediate classrooms where students are curious about language, engage with the world around them, and notice and experiment with the conventions all writers use. Instead of chanting grammar rules or completing countless convention worksheets, we invite young writers to explore conventions as special effects devices that activate meaning. Our students study authentic texts and come to recognize these “patterns of power”—the essential grammar conventions that readers and writers require to make meaning. The first part of the book introduces a vibrant approach to grammar instruction and sets up what you need to immerse yourself in the Patterns of Power process, inviting students to experiment and play with language. The second part of the book offers over seventy practical, ready-to-use lessons, including:Extensive support materialsOver 100 mentor sentences, curated for grades 1–5Student work samplesTips and power notes to facilitate your own knowledge and learningExamples for applicationIn Patterns of Power Jeff and Whitney suggest that taking just five minutes from your reading workshop and five minutes from your writing workshop to focus on how the conventions connect reading and writing will miraculously affect your students’ understanding of how language works for readers and writers.

Writing nonfiction represents a big step for most students. Most young writers are not intimidated by personal narrative, fiction, or even poetry, but when they try to put together a "teaching book," report, or persuasive essay, they often feel anxious and frustrated.JoAnn Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher believe that young nonfiction writers supply plenty of passion, keen interest, and wonder. Teachers can provide concrete strategies to help students scaffold their ideas as they write in his challenging genre.Like the authors' best-selling Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8, this book is divided into sections for K-2, 3-4, and middle school (grades 5-8) students. These divisions reflect various differences between emerging, competent, and fluent writers. In each section you'll find a generous collection of craft lessons directed at the genre that's most appropriate for that particular age. In the K-2 section, for example, a number of craft lessons focus on the all-about or concept book. In the 3-4 section there are several lessons on biography. In the 5-8 section a series of lessons addresses expository writing. Throughout the book each of the 80 lessons is presented on a single page in an easy-to-read format.Every lesson features three teaching guidelines:Discussion--A brief look at the reasons for teaching the particular element of craft specifically in a nonfiction context.How to Teach It--Concrete language showing exactly how a teacher might bring this craft element to students in writing conferences or a small-group setting.Resource Material--Specific book or text referred to in the craft lesson including trade books, or a piece of student writing in the Appendixes.This book will help students breathe voice into lifeless "dump-truck" writing and improve their nonfiction writing by making it clearer, more authoritative, and more organized. Nonfiction Craft Lessons gives teachers a wealth of practical strategies to help students grow into strong writers as they explore and explain the world around them.Be sure to look at the When Students Write videotapes too.

Foreword by Lester Laminack How do you choose mentor texts for your students? How do you mine them for the craft lessons you want your students to learn? In Craft Moves, Stacey Shubitz, cofounder of the Two Writing Teachers website, does the heavy lifting for you: using twenty recently published picture books, she creates more than 180 lessons to teach various craft moves that will help your students become better writers. Stacey first discusses picture books as teaching tools and offers ways to integrate them into your curriculum, and classroom discussions. She also shares routines and classroom procedures to help students focus on their writing during the independent writing portion of writing workshop and helps teachers prepare for small-group instruction. Each of the 184 lessons in the book includes a publisher’s summary, a rationale or explanation of the craft move demonstrated in the book, and a procedure that takes teachers and students back into the mentor text to deepen their understanding of the selected craft move. A step-by-step guide demonstrates how to analyze a picture book for multiple craft moves. Using picture books as mentor texts will help your students not only read as writers and write with joy but also become writers who can effectively communicate meaning, structure their writing, write with detail, and give their writing their own unique voice.

Debbie Diller has revolutionized literacy instruction in countless classrooms over the years with her seminal books (Literacy Work Stations, Practice with Purpose, and Spaces & Places) on how to effectively use literacy work stations to engage students in critical literacy learning. In Growing Independent Learners, she provides a comprehensive guide—with more than 400 full-color photos—to help you plan instruction focused on literacy standards, organize your classroom for maximum benefit, and lead your students to independence through whole-group lessons, small-group focus, and partner learning at literacy stations. The first four chapters lay the foundation with planning, organizing, and instruction that are essential for success with literacy work stations. From creating a model classroom and developing planning tools to using anchor charts, Debbie gives you creative ideas for making the most of your classroom environment to support student independence. Later chapters focus on standards-based instruction built around key reading, writing, and foundational skills as well as speaking, listening, and language standards. Each of these chapters provides the following: · Detailed explanations of each focal standard’s importance and real-world application · Planning tools that include academic vocabulary, plans for whole-group instruction, and suggestions for literacy work stations · Complete whole-group lesson plans that you can use and modify again and again · Connections to help you extend the lessons into other areas of daily instruction, including independent reading time, small-group instruction, and work stations · Mentor texts to use during whole group, small group, or stations · Teaching tips that can help build skills from grade to gradeGrowing IndependentLearners will help you create a vibrant classroom filled with independent learners. This book will quickly become an essential resource for any teacher who believes, as Debbie does, that all children can learn to work independently in a classroom that’s well organized and mindfully planned.

Differentiated instruction is a nice idea, but what happens when it comes to assessing and grading students? What's both fair and leads to real student learning?Fair Isn't Always Equal answers that question and much more. Rick Wormeli offers the latest research and common sense thinking that teachers and administrators seek when it comes to assessment and grading in differentiated classes. Filled with real examples and “gray” areas that middle and high school educators will easily recognize, Rick tackles important and sometimes controversial assessment and grading issues constructively. The book covers high-level concepts, ranging from “rationale for differentiating assessment and grading” to “understanding mastery” as well as the nitty-gritty details of grading and assessment, such as:whether to incorporate effort, attendance, and behavior into academic grades;whether to grade homework;setting up grade books and report cards to reflect differentiated practices;principles of successful assessment;how to create useful and fair test questions, including how to grade such prompts efficiently;whether to allow students to re-do assessments for full credit.This thorough and practical guide also includes a special section for teacher leaders that explores ways to support colleagues as they move toward successful assessment and grading practices for differentiated classrooms.

Whether writing a blog entry or a high-stakes test essay, fiction or nonfiction, short story or argumentation, students need to know certain things in order to write effectively. In 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know, Jeff Anderson focuses on developing the concepts and application of ten essential aspects of good writing—motion, models, focus, detail, form, frames, cohesion, energy, words, and clutter.Throughout the book, Jeff provides dozens of model texts, both fiction and nonfiction, that bring alive the ten things every writer needs to know. By analyzing strong mentor texts, young writers learn what is possible and experiment with the strategies professional writers use. Students explore, discover, and apply what makes good writing work. Jeff dedicates a chapter to each of the ten things every writer needs to know and provides mini-lessons, mentor texts, writing process strategies, and classroom tips that will motivate students to confidently and competently take on any writing task.With standardized tests and Common Core Curriculum influencing classrooms nationwide, educators must stay true to what works in writing instruction. 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know keeps teachers on track—encouraging, discovering, inspiring, reminding, and improving writing through conversation, inquiry, and the support of good writing behaviors.

"All readers of any age need instruction and support that helps them become more independent and self-reflective in their work." – Gail Boushey and Joan Moser In The CAFE Book, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser present a practical, simple way to integrate assessment into daily reading and classroom discussion. The CAFE system, based on research into the habits of proficient readers, is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding vocabulary. The system includes goal-setting with students in individual conferences, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small-group instruction based on clusters of students with similar goals, and targeting whole-class instruction based on emerging student needs. Gail and Joan developed the CAFE system to support teachers as they: · organize assessment data so it truly informs instruction; · track each child's strengths and goals, thereby maximizing time with him or her; · create flexible groups of students, all focused on a specific reading strategy; and · help students remember and retrieve the reading strategies they learned. The CAFE system does not require expensive materials, complicated training, or complete changes to current classroom literacy approaches. Rather, it provides a structure for conferring with students, a language for talking about reading development, and a system for tracking growth and fostering student independence. The CAFE system’s built-in flexibility allows teachers to tailor the system to reflect the needs of their students and their state’s standards. And it’s a perfect complement to The Daily Five, “The Sisters” influential first book, which lays out a structure for keeping all students engaged in productive literacy work for every hour of every classroom day.

Which One Doesn’t Belong? has won the Mathical Book Prize, which will be presented to Christopher Danielson at the National Math Festival in Washington, DC on April 22, 2017. The Mathical Book Prize is an annual award for fiction and nonfiction books that inspire children of all ages to see math in the world around them. Every colorful page of Christopher Danielson’s children’s picture book, Which One Doesn’t Belong?, contains a thoughtfully designed set of four shapes. Each of the shapes can be a correct answer to the question “Which one doesn’t belong?” Because all their answers are right answers, students naturally shift their focus to justifications and arguments based on the shapes’ geometric properties. In the companion teacher’s guide,(978-1-62531-081-1) Danielson shows how to facilitate rich discussions and teach mathematical argumentation using Which One Doesn’t Belong? He models how to listen closely and respectfully to students’ ideas about shapes. Danielson synthesizes research about how children learn geometry, discusses the role of geometry in the mathematics curriculum, and gives plenty of practical advice about different ways to implement Which One Doesn’t Belong? in classrooms. He also discusses the mathematical ideas likely to emerge on each page and—drawing from his direct experience using Which One Doesn’t Belong? at several different grade levels—helps teachers anticipate and think about students’ likely answers. Most curricula treat geometry as little more than vocabulary lessons. Which One Doesn’t Belong? and its accompanying guide are powerful, flexible resources teachers can use to provoke lively discussions and deep learning about shapes with students of all ages.