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Home › Professional Development › Professional Library
Professional Library
Inform your teaching with the latest research, find practical teaching tips, or get inspired. This selection of books, journals, and position statements comes to you from the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.
Books
Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises
Dunning and Stafford, both widely known poets and educators, offer this delightful manual of exercises for beginning poets.
Setting the Stage for Creative Writing: Plot Scaffolds for Beginning and Intermediate Writers
Want to foster creativity and originality in student writing? This practical guide shows how plot scaffolds can be used to help beginning and intermediate writers.
Journals & Other Publications
Language Arts
Are you interested in language arts learning and teaching of students in grades K-8? Articles from this journal discuss both theory and classroom practice.
Sample Article:
Mar-08 | "Being and Becoming: Multilingual Writers’ Practices"
The Reading Teacher
If you're a literacy professional who works with children up to age 12, you'll find a wealth of information in this journal, including practical, evidence-based teaching ideas and information on the latest research.
Sample Article:
Sep-09 | Paraphrasing: An Effective Comprehension Strategy
Voices from the Middle
If you work with students in grades 5-8, you'll find research and best practices in middle-level reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the visual and language arts in these articles.
Sample Article:
May-04 | “Stop Pretending and Think about Plot”
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
This journal, aimed for teachers of older learners, includes practical ideas for instruction, including tips on how to integrate technology, media, and popular culture in your classroom.
Sample Article:
Oct-09 | Critical Literacies and Graphic Novels for English-Language Learners: Teaching Maus
English Journal
In this award-winning journal for English language arts teachers in secondary schools, you'll find information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language, and best uses for technology.
Sample Article:
Jan-07 | "Research Matters: What Kinds of Classroom Discussion Promote Reading Comprehension?"
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Lesson Plans Related to the Professional Library |  |
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan
Creating Classroom Community by Crafting Themed Poetry Collections
Students create poetry collections with the theme of "getting to know each other." They study and then write a variety of forms of poetry to include in their collections.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan
Scaffolding Methods for Research Paper Writing
In this lesson, students use a scaffold to help them compile information to write a solid research paper.
Based on Setting the Stage for Creative Writing: Plot Scaffolds for Beginning and Intermediate Writers
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan
I Used My Own Words! Paraphrasing Informational Texts
Tell me about it in your own words! If students can paraphrase the information they have read, then you—and they—can be confident that they understand it.
Grades 9 – 10 | Lesson Plan
Teaching Plot Structure through Short Stories
Students use an online graphic organizer to analyze the plot structure of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and three short stories.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan
Making It Visual for ELL Students: Teaching History Using Maus
Spark the engagement of English-language learners or reluctant readers with the graphic novel Maus. The visual information provided by the genre serves as a support for reading and critical engagement.
Based on Critical Literacies and Graphic Novels for English-Language Learners: Teaching Maus
