Professional Books	Instructional Support
Course Offerings	Leadership and Adult Learning

Professional Books

A goal of the Rapid City Area Schools is to create a culture of inquiry, where professional learning is expected, sought after, and is an ongoing part of teaching and learning. We recommend the study of the many books that are published each year in the area of literacy.

RESOURCES

12 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

           

 

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE LIST

            6 Traits + 1 Writing – Culham

Awakening the Heart (teaching writing through poetry) – Heard

Craft Lessons (writing) – Fletcher

            Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? – Cris Tovani

        Engaged in Learning; Teaching English in 6-12 -   James and Kathleen Strickland

            Guiding Readers and Writers; Grades 3-6 – Fountas and Pinnell

How’s It Going (effective writing conferences) – Anderson

I Read It But I Don’t Get It – Cris Tovani (also have 4 videos)

            In the Middle; New Understandings – Atwell

            Lessons That Change Lives - Writing lessons from Nancie Atwell

Leveled Books for Readers Grades 3-8 – Fountas and Pinnell

            Literature Circles – Daniels

            Minilessons for Literature Circles – Daniels & Steineke

            Mosaic of Thought – Keene and Zimmerman

Nonfiction Craft Lessons (writing) – Fletcher

Nonfiction Matters – Harvey and Goudvis

            Strategies That Work – Harvey and Goudvis

            Subjects Matter – Daniels and Zemelman

Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers, 3-6 – D. Strickland

Teaching Grammar in Context – Weaver

            Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math - Robb

            Teaching Reading in the Middle School – Robb

            The Reading Workshop – Serafini

            When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do (6-12) – Beers

            Words! Words! Words! (building vocab in 4-12) – Janet Allen

            Writing Workshop – Fletcher & Portalupi

Yellow Brick Road – Janet Allen

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What is Instructional Support?

	IS			IS NOT
Listening			Supervising
Building a relationship based on integrity and trust			Criticizing, belittling, gossiping, or betraying colleagues
Sharing instructional resources, research, and effective practices			A teacher for low achievers in a pull-out setting or a floating sub
Invitational for veterans; mentoring for novices			Coercive and mandatory for all
Focus on learning and working in depth over time			Tips and tricks for a quick fix
Planning, observing, modeling, co-teaching, debriefing			Judging or evaluating
Working with all staff: whole faculty, small groups, individual teachers			Working only with language arts teachers
Reflective dialoguing and questioning together			One checking papers while another teaches
A focus on teachers and instructional practice to impact achievement			A focus on student achievement without impacting instruction
Examining student work to plan next steps			Looking at test scores and filing them

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Course Offerings

TEACHER LEARNING CIRCLES V

Instructor: Dr. Susie Roth, Ann Hengen.

Target Group: 6-12.
Lane Change Status: All certified staff.
Available Credit: 1 University of Sioux Falls graduate or undergraduate / 1 state recertification cresit / audit / 15 career enhancement credits

"Teacher Learning Circles Five" will provide several study choices for teachers interested in improving and fine-tuning instructional practice by studying together, implementing ideas, reflecting, sharing, and adjusting instruction accordingly. The study groups will be facilitated by the district Secondary Instructional Support Team, through the Secondary Literacy Coordinator and the Office of Staff Development. Suggested topics are content area reading and writing, interactive constructivist instruction, guided reading groups with secondary students, literature and/or information circles, inquiry/research learning for adolescents, struggling readers, workshop approaches to instruction, differentiating instruction, or a topic determined by a group.

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Leadership and Adult Learning

Gordon's Learning Stages Ladder	Gordon's Emotional Steps to New Learning
Reading Reflection Log

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