by
Annie Enchakattu
| Sep 01, 2011
Professional Book Discussion Groups are only one area of Engage, IRA’s new social networking site. Here are some other things you won’t want to miss.
If you're looking for a cure for the Common Core, check out Engage’s newest Common Core Standards Initiative Collaborative Community where you can debate the issues and share resources with fellow IRA members. On September 15, Lesley Morrow helps unpack the standards in her guest post on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher Membership Blog. The blog also included back-to-school content, including exclusive podcasts from the 2 Sisters (9/20), Sharon Draper (9/21), and I Spy’s Walter Wick (9/28).
Revision Week is September 5 through 9. In Roll Call, teachers who publish share their top tips for approaching revision. Kate Messner talks about her new professional development title, Real Revision, in a Listen Up! podcast. And In Other Words, Newbery Honor-winner Cynthia Lord talks about her relationship with revision.
There is a Special Edition of Listen Up! with David Levithan on September 11. Engage staff spoke with the author of Love is the Higher Law about his experiences as a New Yorker on September 11, and how he channeled his emotions into a novel that School Library Journal said “captures the mood of post-9/11 New York exquisitely, slashed open to reveal a deep heart.”
October is Bullying Prevention Month, and October 10 through 14 is Bullying Prevention Week on Engage. Learn how to raise awareness in your literacy classroom during this special week of blog posts that includes contributions from Trudy Ludwig (Confessions of a Former Bully) as well as Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones (editors of Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories).
For IRA members who want to learn more about using the Engage website, Engage's new Kick-Start My Community series offers IRA groups (such as Councils and Special Interest Groups) the chance to work one-on-one with an Engage insider to build your dream community from the ground up. Email engage-membership@reading.org or visit the Kick-Start webpage.