Fox Valley Reading Council
Winter Newsletter/December 2018
A letter from our Presidents
From Your Co-Presidents: Camille Lutz & Dawn Lutz:
As the season of giving is upon us, we hope you are relaxing, enjoying a good book, AND thinking of how to best increase your professional skills to give more to your students. Luckily, we can help you with that as we prepare for our Winter Conference at Judson University on Feb. 23. We are excited to join with Judson as we offer many topics for grades K-12! Be sure to register here.
I recently had the opportunity to spend a day with author Cris Tovani! If you are a middle or high school teacher and know about Cris, then you know my day was filled with inspiration! It was so exciting to have her share her knowledge and give me new ideas for my classroom the very next day. (Camille)
In my 3rd grade classroom, a seasonal writing topic we use is _____lights up my life... I love to see who the children pick and what they have to say about that person. It is great for informational writing with three facts given about the main idea. Conclusions are tricky, too, as many students are still learning to use a conclusion sentence to finish up their writing. I think the favorite starter is, "Now you know..." (Dawn)
Have a wonderful holiday season! YOU, our Fox Valley colleagues, light up our lives!
The Global Pencil Project
Books For Babies
Volunteer! It feels good!
Save the Date for our Winter Mini-Conference at Judson University!
Where? Judson University, Creekside South building
What? A mini-conference all about upgrading and enhancing your teaching of literacy. We will be offering three sessions to your morning. Choose your own PD! Learn from other teachers like you! Feed your brain!
Register below by clicking on the link and learn more about the sessions.
Book Corner
Professional Book Recommendation
As I mentioned in the Presidents’ letter, I had the opportunity to spend a day with Cris Tovani in November. As usual, her presentations throughout the day were thoughtful, endearing, and inspirational. Certainly, some of what she shared at the conference is found in her latest book, “No More Telling as Teaching.” Within the pages of this quick read, Tovani (and her co-writer, Elizabeth Birr Moje) share the notion that if teachers are doing all of the work student engagement will drop, and studies show high engagement leads to high achievements. These statements may make you wonder how commonly used lectures fit into this way of thinking. Tovani and Moje recognized that while lectures can be engaging and useful at times, they do not provide students real opportunities to learn, retain, and transfer the material being presented. “No More Telling as Teaching” offers readers a plan for student engagement starting with the importance of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement; and follows with a comprehensive model for generating student involvement as well as using problem-based learning in English/Language Arts classrooms.