BEYOND “TEACHING TO THE TEST”Rethinking Accountability and Assessment for English Language Learners

Turning the Page on LiteracyVisit our website: ncte.org/store or call toll-free: 1-877-369-6283

Betsy Gilliland and Shannon Pella

The word accountability is everywhere in education today, but it means different things to different people. Speaking directly to teachers who work closely with English language learners, Gilliland and Pella examine accountability measures that truly demonstrate multilingual students’ learning and how these measures refl ect the planning and teaching that teachers do to help their students grow.

Gilliland and Pella take readers into middle and high school classrooms to illustrate accountability practices that exemplify the principles outlined in the NCTE Position Paper on the Role of English Teachers in Educating English Language Learners (ELLs). They give teachers the background and strategies to make their teaching and support equitable for ELLs by examining how teachers can support learners’ reading, writing, and academic language development. Illustrating with examples of real teachers at work, the authors explain teaching for accountability, formative and summative assessment, and preparation for high-stakes testing.

$24.95 member/$33.95 nonmemberGrades 6–12/Stock No.: 02947

800.988.9812 stenhouse.com

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Free Shipping: no Code, no MiniMuM

Get your students college and career ready!Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines, Second Edition | Doug BuehlBeing literate in an academic discipline means more than simply being able to read and comprehend text; it means you can think, speak, and write as a historian, scientist, mathematician, or artist. Doug Buehl strips away the one-size-fits-all approach to content-area literacy and presents a much-needed instructional model for disciplinary literacy, showing how to mentor middle and high school learners to become “academic insiders” who are college and career ready.This thoroughly revised second edition of Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines shows how to help students adjust their thinking to comprehend a range of complex texts that fall outside their reading comfort zones.The book introduces teachers from all disciplines to new kinds of thinking and, ultimately, teaching that helps students achieve new levels of understanding.Grades 6–12 | $35.00 | 360 pp/paper | 4V-1121

Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, Fourth Edition | Doug BuehlEducators across content areas have turned to Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning for almost two decades. This fully updated fourth edition delivers rich, practical, research-based strategies that readers have found invaluable in the context of today’s classrooms.Doug has written all-new chapters that focus on the instructional shifts taking place as the Common Core State Standards are implemented across the United States. At the heart of this edition are more than forty classroom strategies, with variations and strategy indexes that identify the instructional focus of each strategy, pinpoint the text frames in play as students read and learn, and correlate students’ comprehension processes across the phases of strategy implementation. In addition, each strategy is cross-referenced with the Common Core’s reading, writing, speaking/listening, and language standards.Grades 6–12 | $32.95 | 272 pp/paper | 4V-7002

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New from Lucy Calkinsand TCRWP Colleagues

Learn more at UnitsofStudy.com/MSRUOS

Like its sister series, the Units of Study in Argument, Information,

and Narrative Writing, the new Units of Study for Teaching

Reading, Middle School Grades represents the culmination of

decades of research and collaboration. These new units have

grown from think tanks, staff development, and pilot teaching

in thousands of classrooms across the country to offer teachers:

◗ state-of-the art tools and methods to help students move

up the ladder of text complexity

◗ all of the teaching points, minilessons, conferences, and

small-group work needed to teach a powerful workshop

curriculum

◗ opportunities to teach and to learn teaching through

strong scaffolding and on-the-job guidance.

‘‘When adolescents are explicitly taught the skills

and strategies of proficient reading and are invited

to live as richly literate people do,carrying books

everywhere, bringing reading into every nook

and corner of their lives, the results are dramatic.

—Lucy Calkins and Mary EhrenworthA Guide to the Reading Workshop, Middle School Grades

‘‘

@HeinemannPubHeinemann.com | P 800.225.5800 | F 877.231.6980

UNITS OF STUDYfor Teaching Reading

A WO R K S H O P C U R R I C U LU M

Middle School Grades

The Introductory Bundle includes:• A Deep Study of Character

• Tapping the Power of Nonfiction

• A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Middle School Grades

Coming in Winter/Spring 2018:• Social Issues Book Clubs

• Dystopian Book Clubs

• Reading History: Historical Fiction and Nonfiction Book Clubs

Also Available: TCRWP Classroom Libraries• Complete, state-of-the art libraries for grades 6, 7, and 8

• On level and below benchmark collections

• Individual library shelves including Book Club shelves

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By joining NCTE, your membership introduces you to a diverse and knowledgeable community of peers. Whether you are passionate about a special interest area or looking to connect with colleagues on a local level, you’ll find it here.

Join Now! ncte.org/join

FIND YOUR PEOPLE.We are the professional home for teachers of English and language arts.

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5Voices from the Middle ■ volume 25 ■ number 1 ■ september 2017

Voices from the Middle The Journal of the Middle Level Section of the National Council of Teachers of English

Assistant EditorsHeather Anderson, Oklahoma State University

Will Fassbender, The University of Georgia

Editing and Production: Pamela Crews, NCTE headquarters

Division Director, Publications: Kurt Austin, NCTE headquarters

Journal Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf

Typesetting: Barbara Frazier

ReadWriteThink org, created by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Literacy Association (ILA), provides instructional practices and digital resources that support effective reading and language arts instruction for all learners

Middle Level Section Committee

Christopher Lehman (Chair), Amy Gutierrez Baker, James Blasingame, Shanetia Clark, Jason Griffith, Margaret Hale, Frances Lin, and Justin Stygles

Voices from the Middle (ISSN 1074-4762 [print]; 1943-3069 [online]) is published four times a year in September, December, March, and May by the National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1010 Annual membership in NCTE is $50 for individuals and a subscription to Voices from the Middle is $25 (membership is a prerequisite for individual subscriptions) Institutions may subscribe for $75 Add $12 per year for Canadian and all other international postage Single copy: $18 75 (member price, $6 25) Remittances should be made payable to NCTE by credit card, or by check, money order, or bank draft in United States currency Orders may also be placed toll free at (877) 369-6283 or online at www ncte org

Communications regarding orders, subscriptions, single copies, and change of address should be addressed to Voices from the Middle, NCTE, 1111 W Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1010 Communications regarding permission to reprint should be addressed to Permissions, NCTE, 1111 W Kenyon Road, Urbana,

Illinois 61801-1010 or send via email to permissions@ncte org Communications regarding advertising should be addressed to Media Sales, NCTE, 1111 W Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1010 or send via email to mediasales@ncte org POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Voices from the Middle, NCTE, 1111 W Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1010 Periodical postage paid at Urbana, Illinois, and at additional mailing offices

It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and language arts Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified

NCTE provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all staff members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical, mental or perceived handicap/disability, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, pregnancy, citizenship status, personal appearance, matriculation or political affiliation, or any other protected status under applicable federal, state, and local laws

Copyright 2017 by the National Council of Teachers of English.Printed in the United States of America.

readwritethink

CoeditorsSara Kajder, The University of Georgia

Shelbie Witte, Oklahoma State University

Column EditorsStudent Voices: Linda Rief, Oyster River Middle School,

Durham, NH

New Voices: Chris Lehman, The Educator CollaborativeEveryday Advocates: Cathy Fleischer, Eastern Michigan

UniversityNotes from the Nerdy Book Club: Donalyn Miller, Cindy

Minnich, Colby Sharp, and Katherine Sokolowski

Research Voices: Lisa Scherff, Cypress Lake High School, Fort Myers, FL

Voices from the Middle ■ volume 25 ■ number 1 ■ september 2017 5

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Voices from the Middle ■ volume 25 ■ number 1 ■ september 20176

Voices from the Middle (Voices) is the peer-reviewed journal of the Middle Level Section of the National Council of Teachers of English Voices publishes original contributions by middle level teachers, students, teacher educators, and researchers in response to specific themes that focus on our discipline, our teaching, and our students Voices offers middle level teachers innovative and practical ideas for classroom use that are rooted in current research; this is a journal for teachers by teachers

Manuscripts should meet these guidelines:

1 Be a minimum of 1,250 and a maximum of 2,000 words and, when appropriate, include high-resolution (300 dpi) files—as tiff, jpg, or pdf—of student work, photographs of students working, charts, diagrams, or other visuals;

2 Address the theme listed in the call for manuscripts for that issue;

3 Be double spaced with 1-inch margins in 12-point font;

4 Include 100-word abstract and bulleted list of key points; and

5 Follow the current edition of the publication manual of the American Psychological Association—please do

not include an abstract, footnotes, endnotes, or author identification within the body of the text Should a manuscript contain excerpts from previously published sources that require a reprint fee, the fee payment is the responsibility of the author

To submit a manuscript: All manuscripts should be submitted electronically Please register as an author at our Web-based manuscript submission and review system, Editorial Manager, at www editorialmanager com/vfm Once log-ged in to the system, follow the instructions to upload your submission Be sure to indicate in the comments section the issue date for which you are submitting (e g , September 2016 issue) Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged by email NOTE: The review process will begin once the submission deadline has passed Other correspondence should be sent to voices@ncte org, including requests for a snail mail address

Manuscript review: Manuscripts are reviewed anonymously by at least two members of the Voices editorial review board

Submission Guidelines and Calls for Manuscripts

Where “Art” Thou?

September 2018. Over the past twenty years, there has been a steady decline in the offering of the “arts” in our schools We define the arts broadly here, in an effort to encompass music, art, dance, design, drama, and other artistic expressions of thought This issue asks a simple question: Where “Art” Thou? Where is art found within your curriculum? In what ways are your students given the agency to use their artistic talents and curiosities to express their understanding of themselves and of their world? How are literacy educators working with art educators within your districts to draw stronger ties between the core and elective curriculum? How are you using the arts and creativity to combat the test-driven culture so prevalent in today’s schools? What are some suggestions for how teachers can better implement artistic and thinking into their curriculum? We welcome traditional manuscripts and other artistic expressions for this issue Submission deadline: January 1, 2018

“Novel Lessons” with YA texts

December 2018. Middle grades and young adult literature are now essential elements of our middle level ELA curriculum and classroom work To that end, this issue invites you to share your most compelling texts, strategies, units, or lesson ideas that lever the YA lit that speaks to you and your students What has teaching with particular YA texts brought to you and your students’ reading lives? What conversations do they make possible? What do we want and need in middle grades and YA lit? What is “novel” in teaching with particular YA texts? We especially invite coauthored submissions from YA authors and the teachers and students who are using their work for this issue Submission deadline: March 1, 2018

detailed Calls for manuscripts are listed on the Voices from the Middle website: www.ncte.org/journals/vm/call

Voices from the Middle ■ volume 25 ■ number 1 ■ september 20176

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