Here you will find an annotated  list of some of our favorite professional resources.  If you would like to add to this, please put the name and author of the resource, a quick summary of what the book is about, and your name! As you can see this page is a work in progress!

Here are some new professional resources that I have discovered recently (November, 07)

Grand Conversations: Literature Groups in Action by Ralph Peterson and Maryann Eeds Scholastic, 2007) .  This is the updated best-selling classic with new booklists and a foreword by Shelley Harwayne. 

I loved the original version and used it as a recommended text when I taught language arts and reading methods at SFU.  It’s still a good read and really talks about using real books for real purposes.  Just reading this book made me want to reread Tuck Everlasting.  It really talks of the purposes of book discussions.  (Meredyth)

Inside the Writer’s-Reader’s Notebook by Linda Rief (Heinemann, 2007).  Another person who has always verified my thinking has been Linda Rief.  This is a new book which looks at writer’s-reader’s notebook and even comes with a real notebook so that you can see what her students use (or order separately).  Having recently read Aimee Buckner’s Notebook Know-how (Stenhouse, 2005) and facilitating a book club about this book, it was fascinating to see Linda Rief’s somewhat different approach with middle school students.  I am looking forward to reading it! (Meredyth)

The Reading Zone by Nancie Atwell (2007) is another book in the Bright Ideas series by Scholastic (and another foreword by Shelley Harwayne).  Nancy Atwell was the person who really pioneered reading workshops and reading response journals and became the guru of middle school writing/reading workshop teachers.  Another on my personal reading list. (Meredyth)

Particularly for high school

Creating Literacy Rich Schools for Adolescents by Gay Ivey and Douglas Fisher ( ASCD,2006) .  I have been to a number of sessions given by these educators, professors who work directly in real schools.  I like the very beginning of the book with its quality indicators for secondary literacy.  An excellent book…(Meredyth)

Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms by Ruth Schoenbach, Cynthia Greenleaf, Christine Cziko, and Lori Hurwitz (1999)  Not a new book, but one I had missed.  I like the clear format and there are some very good generic blackline masters.  (Meredyth)

More general

Teacher Study Groups: Building Community through Dialogue and Reflection by Barb Birchak, Clay Connor, Kathleen Marie Crawford, Leslie H. Kahn, Sandy Kaser, Susan Turner, and Kathy G. Short. (NCTE, 1998).

Again not new, but new to me.  I guess as we look at our literacy projects in Vancouver, we think more and more about what learning communities look like.  One strategy that we have been experimenting with the last couple of years are teacher book clubs.  This book talks about a slightly different, a bit larger approach, which is that of teacher study groups. I like the flexibity of this so that people are focused on long-term continuing professional development that enables teachers to establish their own agenda.  This book follows how two such groups developed changing inquiries as they went.  A very useful book. (Meredyth)