50 Essential Lessons + tools and texts for 50 essential lessons — Tools and Techniques for Teaching English Language Arts : Grades 9 - 12

50 Essential Lessons is the result of the lessons Jim Burke learned while asking himself how to teach his students the skills they needed to succeed in school and in the larger world. Anchored in standards shared by a range of national literacy documents, these lessons focus on the core cognitive and personal skills - reading, writing, speaking and listening, taking notes, taking tests, and managing oneself - required on state tests and college entrance exams. Whether used to enhance your English Language Arts curriculum or as a stand-alone resource, 50 Essential Lessons will help you teach your students the academic essentials.

Components:

• 50 Essential Lessons (book of lessons) presents 50 standards-based lessons organized around the cognitive and personal skills students need for success in school and beyond.
• Tools and Texts for 50 Essential Lessons provides a bank of teaching tools and lesson-related readings in a clear, reproducible format.
• Tools for 50 Essential Lessons CD - ROM organizes the charts, forms, and other teaching tools in an electronic format that is easy to scan and print.

Key Features

• Lesson preview notes situate the lesson into your English Language Arts curriculum and provide the information needed to jump in and get started.
• The Teach section of each lesson offers Jim's teaching demonstration, chronicling his teaching moves and language in a model lesson.
• The Assess and Extend section of each lesson lists strategies for reinforcing or extending student learning and plans to help you tailor the lesson to the needs of your particular students.

Learn more about 50 Essential Lessons by visiting http://www.50essentiallessons.com.

Jim Burke is the author of numerous bestselling Heinemann titles, including the English Teacher's Companion, Fourth Edition and What's the Big Idea? The question he's always tried to answer is "How can we teach our students better?" He seeks these answers daily through his work in his own classroom at Burlingame High School in California where he still teaches after twenty years. Facing the same constraints and challenges as every other teacher, Jim shares his creative solutions in bestselling professional titles with Heinemann such as Reading Reminders and Writing Reminders as well as through Heinemann Professional Development Services. As part of his commitment to helping teachers and learning how to use the latest technologies, he founded the English Companion Ning, described by Education Week as "the world's largest English department" and winner of several Edublog Awards for Best Social Network for Education. In addition to the EC Ning, Jim offers a steady stream of recommended resources through his website (www.englishcompanion.com) and Twitter (@englishcomp) where he is ranked in the top 100 educators to follow at the top within the online English teacher community. Jim serves on several national commissions related to adolescent literacy and standards, including the Advanced Placement English Literature and Language Course and Exam Review Commission with the College Board and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) where he serves on the Content Technical Working Group, which advises PARCC on the national assessments being developed for the Common Core State Standards. In addition, he is a senior author on the Holt McDougal Harcourt Literature series. Jim has received numerous awards, including the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award, the NCTE Conference on English Leadership Award, and the California Reading Association Hall of Fame Award. He served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Committee on Adolescence and Young Adulthood English Language Arts Standards. Through his work in the class and on such commissions, Jim Burke seeks not only to clarify but reimagine what English should be, honoring the past even as he works with others to create the future of the discipline he loves so much. Visit his website (www.englishcompanion.com) for more information.