Scaffolding Text Complexity: Some Useful Readings

Please  enjoy these two article on employing text complexity in response to the Common Core State Standards:

1. Click HERE to read "Seven Actions That Teachers Can Take Right Now: Text Complexity" from Text Project.

2. Click HERE to read "A District Perspective: Scaffolding Text Complexity For At-Risk Readers from the Ohio Resource Center.

Topic: Mindset and Motivation

From the Greater Good website, some really good stuff on the psychology of success for kids.  Enjoy! Accompanying the article is a series of videos as well.

Upcoming Author Event: How Children Succeed by Paul Tough

Paul Tough will be speaking about his new book "How Children Succeed - Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character" on this coming Friday (9/7/12) at 4pm at the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore on 36th and Walnut Streets.  You can listen to a recent NPR interview he gave on his new publication by clicking HERE.  You can learn more about the upcoming event by clicking HERE. Let us know if you attend!

Dealing With Complex Texts

Click HERE to read an article from the Harvard Education Letter about how to manage the issue of text complexity with the Common Core classroom. Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic with your department colleagues in the Comments Section below.

Common Core Video Series

The New York State Department of Education is offering an 8-part series called "Bringing the Common Core to Life" which can be found HERE.  It is led by David Coleman, the leading architect of the Common Core.  Of special interest is his video on attacking the text. Please view at your convenience, and let us know how you envision this practice in your classroom.

Welcome to the School Year!

Greetings to my esteemed English Department colleagues of the Overbrook High School teaching faculty!  Welcome to another school year at the Castle on the Hill.  I hope that you indulged in much rest, relaxation, and reflection during your summer vacation.

As you will learn over the next few days, our mission as a united English Department is an urgent one this year.  We must prepare our students to successfully master the skills of the Common Core State Standards so that our students will graduate college and career ready from our high school and into the wider world.  Their mastery of the CCSS will be measured on the Keystone Exams created by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.  These Keystone Exams will occur in December 2012 or January 2013 for our 11th grade students.  Tenth graders taking English 2 will sit for their Keystone Exams in May 2013.  Our mission is clear: our students, more than ever, need our best teaching efforts if they are to meet the proficiency expectations of these exams and graduate from high school.

This site will be a central repository for everything OHS English Department. Please submit sites of interest, professional development announcements, book links, CCSS sites, and other English-related announcements to me at mkingsbury@philasd.org, and I will be sure to post this information for the good of our group.

I wish you all a productive and satisfying new school year!

Madelaine Kingsbury, MSEd, NBCT
English Leader, Overbrook High School
Philadelphia, PA