180 Days began as an earnest attempt to share the decisions we make when determining what will fit into a single school year. To move beyond the surface-level responses Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle had grown accustomed to giving, they decided that the best way to get to the answer was to first plan a year together, and to then teach a year together. This book captures that year, but it has evolved into much more than simply sharing what they did.
In this video, Kelly and Penny speak to the intentions behind the book, and their hopes for helping educators develop their unique teaching methods.
Creating a classroom conducive to raising engaged readers, writers, listeners, speakers, and thinkers continually led Kelly and Penny back to closely examining their decision-making process. And teaching the units they designed meant paying attention throughout the unit to what students were learning. That led to unforeseen lessons that had to be taught (or retaught). Their hope is that by reading about the decisions they made as they planned together, you will be inspired to reimagine the beautiful possibilities for your teaching.
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Learn more about 180 Days at Heinemann.com
You can follow him on Twitter @KellyGToGo
As a professional development coordinator for the Conway, New Hampshire, School District, Penny Kittle acts as a K-12 literacy coach and directs new-teacher mentoring. In addition, she teaches writing at Conway’s Kennett High School and in the Summer Literacy Institutes at the University of New Hampshire.
Penny is the author of numerous books including Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers; Children Want to Write (coauthored with Thomas Newkirk); and Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing. You can follow her on twitter @pennykittle