I recently had the opportunity to review Christopher Lehman’s book, Energize Research Reading and Writing: Fresh Strategies that Spark Interest, Develop Independence, and Meet Key Common Core Standards, Grades 4-8 for MiddleWeb.  

If you don’t know about MiddleWeb’s book reviews, this is THE place to get real teachers’ reviews of current books in education.

It was an interesting process to review the book for two reasons:

1. It gave me the inspiration to think anew about how I teach research skills in my classroom, just as I was working on a journalism project with students that involves authentic research. Many of Lehman’s ideas sparked my interest and altered my thinking about the research and writing my students did in this unit.

2. It pushed me to articulate an area where the pedagogy and presentation of ideas was a bit of a mismatch with my own teaching philosophy. This was also a learning experience.

Check out the review and the book! How can we push these ideas even further?

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Author

Ariel Sacks

Ariel Sacks began her 13-year teaching career in New York City public schools after earning her master’s degree at Bank Street College and has taught and coached in grades 7-9. She is the author of Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach (Jossey-Bass, 2014) and writes a teaching column for Education Week Teacher.

Ariel’s work as a teacher leader with the Center for Teaching Quality involved her in co-authoring Teaching 2030: What We Must Do For Our Public Schools – Now and in the Future. She was also featured in the CTQ book Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead Without Leaving.

She is currently working on a book about the role of creative writing in equitable, 21st century schools, and she speaks and leads workshops on the whole novels approach.

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