Handouts:

I'm happy to email you (as a Microsoft Word attachment) any of the following handouts at no charge. Simply use the "Contact" button at the top of this page and tell me what you would like.

Option:

All of the information from the handouts that follow is included in my book, If They Don't Learn the Way You Teach, Teach the Way They Learn. You can purchase the book by clicking on the cover at this site's homepage and following the instructions, or send me your mailing address via the Contact link for an inscribed and signed copy.

Transforming the Reluctant Reader

Booklists, Web sites, and dozens of put-into-practice-tomorrow tactics that help turn reluctant readers into "books rock" students. K-12

Catch 'em Before They Fall

Strategies, practices, methods, booklists, and Websites that enable the struggling, motivate the reluctant, and enrich the primary level students. K-3rd

Enable, Motivate, Enrich

Strategies, materials, books and Websites that motivate intermediate, middle, and high school learners — with heavy emphasis on practices and materials that appeal to tough-to-reach male readers. 3-12

If You Can't Beat 'Em — Join 'Em

Sixty high quality Web sites that allow kids to explore and have fun — and LEARN. All sites require reading, demand critical thinking, and have high kid-appeal. Listed by category and grade level. (K-12)

The Mouse Trap

Many of today's students write reports by clicking the mouse. A lot of them don't even read what they copy and paste. What's the solution? Cut the little varmints off at the pass by giving CREATIVE writing assignments. This handout includes twelve traditional writing assignments that invite cutting and pasting, and offers a creative alternative for each. (4-12)

Going Graphic

This "handout" is a 22-page chapter on graphic novels that I wrote for a reference book entitled Teaching Visual Literacy. It covers "everything you ever wanted to know about graphic novels, but was afraid to ask." Includes Web sites where educators can find recommended and blackballed title lists, and strategies for teaching writing skills via the comic book format. (4-12)

The Write Way

This handout includes twenty-five ready-to-use-tomorrow writing activities that kids actually enjoy, along with Web sites, practices, activities, and toys (Mr. Potato Head, Barbie, etc.) that motivate them to write. K-12

Enrichment Opportunities for Student Writers

Contains a list of magazines and Websites that publish student writing, directions for finding current student-writing contests, and fifteen "Resources and Opportunities for Young Writers." (Grades 3-12)

Books For Every Grade

It's easy (well, sort of) to hook a reluctant reader or entice a struggling one when you introduce him to a book that has a main character his same age. Kids like to read about children their own age because it makes them feel like they have found a new friend. (And make no mistake about it; that is HUGE for the kid who has few or no friends.) Some book friends are naughty, some are silly, and some are bizarre — but all are memorable. This handout has a long list of books for every grade — kindergarten through sixth — where the main character is a member of that class. For example, Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is one of sixteen books on the fourth grade list.

Monthly Writing Prompts

Twenty writing prompts for each school month. Examples:

• September — Write an acrostic poem using the letters S-E-P-T-E-M-B-E-R.
• October — How does it feel to be a pumpkin?
• November — Write a letter to the Pilgrims.
• December — What would you do if you woke up to three feet of snow?
• January — At recess I like to...
• February — You see a classmate being bullied. What will you do?
• March — Who do you look up to, and why?
• April — Tell about a book that you enjoyed reading.
• May — List 10 things you would like to do this summer.

Play to Learn

Twenty-five oral games: Kids love 'em because they're fun, and teachers love them because it's a painless way to teach new skills and reinforce the ones that have been taught but not mastered. This handout is for primary teachers who want a fun way to teach and/or practice rhyming, beginning and ending consonants, blends, digraphs, spelling, and early-writing skills.

Books to Match Diverse Young Readers

Introductory chapter books for grades 2, 3 and 4 overwhelmingly represent white suburban kids. Students of other races seldom encounter characters like themselves in books, a situation some education experts say is an obstacle to literacy. The 16 titles in this handout feature black, Latino, Asian, American Indian or Alaskan Native children.