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AEP Online |
AEP Award-Winner Profile: Inspiring Teachers to Active Classroom DiscussionThe AEP Awards represent the best materials in educational publishing and education marketing. Throughout the year, profiles of award winners will be published in AEP Online and posted on the AEP website to highlight innovations in product development, editorial practices, and marketing strategies. How do you give teachers the experience of being trained by the experts? Scholastic’s product development team asked that question when developing Text Talk, a reading program that uses trade books and direct instruction to build vocabulary and comprehension. As the program is based on years of research from academic experts and classroom trials, the team felt confident in the instructional method. The challenge was designing materials that communicated both the how and the why of this unique classroom approach. "Teachers are busy," said Heidi Gilman Bennett, General Manager of Scholastic's Early Education Program. "We have an obligation to convey an instructional plan with laser-sharp focus, but we also aim to both inspire classroom teachers and deepen their professional knowledge." Thus, the team came up with four avenues for teachers to advance their professional training at the same time they were teaching their students. 1. The Professional Guide provides compelling instructional lessons on every page. 2. Text Talk Notes, pre-printed notes that stick to the trade books' pages, help the teachers engage the students in meaningful discussions. 3. The DVD contains video segments showing modeled lessons in a real classroom with children, giving teachers access to the experts who developed the program. 4. In-service training from Scholastic is available to schools that desire an extra level of instruction for the teachers. The creators of TextTalk believe that by providing multiple avenues for professional development within the product, they are also improving the skills of literacy teachers. "I think it’s a grand ambition for a publisher to create a professional development program within instructional material," said Bennett, "but the most important thing I learned from developing TextTalk is that you can push the boundaries of supplemental publishing."
Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 302-295-8349. |
For the complete profile on Text Talk, click here For more information on Text Talk, contact Heidi Gilman Bennett at hgilman@scholastic.com. For more information on the AEP Awards, contact Doug Ferguson at 856-241-7772.
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