Facilitating Collaborative Book Discussions

Would you and your students appreciate a tool to collaboratively discuss a book's meaning, sentence structure, knowledge demand, and cultural representation?

If so, please check out TeachingBooks' Qualitative Text Complexity Rubrics for both informational and literary texts.

1. Search for a book title using the search box on the top of any screen.
2. Once on the webpage for that title, click on "Submit your own qualitative measurement" in the right-hand column. Then...
3. Complete the rubric, and at the end, consider your results with crowdsourced averages. You will receive a certificate acknowledging your text complexity review via email.

Start a Text Complexity Rubric now...

Note: You can complete these qualitative measure rubrics online with any device, or work on them offline with the Text Complexity Rubric & Worksheet (PDF).

Enjoy these thoughtful insights, and let me know what you think. Happy December!

Thanks!

Nick Glass, TeachingBooks.net Founder & Executive Director

Behind the Books: Delving into History

Alexandria Giardino was first inspired by Leonard Nimoy's TV show "In Search Of..." to research the stories behind historical mysteries. When she later found herself fascinated by Pablo Neruda and his wife and muse, Mathilde, she used those research skills to learn more about the woman who inspired the great poet.

Read Alexandria Giardino's Guest Blog Post now.

Featured Booklist: Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People

Every year the National Council for the Social Studies and the Children's Book Council select a "reading list of exceptional books for use in social studies classrooms." TeachingBooks has collected resources for this list of Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People for your use with grades K-12. Explore this list by narrowing your results using the categories identified by the selection committee, including Contemporary Concerns, Folktales, World History and Culture, Economics, and more.

Contests & Giveaways

Check out our December Contests & Giveaways, accompanied by multimedia resources!

• I, Claudia by Mary McCoy
• Girls on the Line by Jennie Liu
• Teri Kanefield's The Making of America Series

See the December Contests & Giveaways on our blog.