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jenny@erinkentconsulting.com

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SingaporeAS MS Unit Unpacking - September 2025

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Unpacking a Text Centered ELA Unit, Grades 6-8 

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Five Common Misconceptions about the Knowledge Rich Curriculum

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Five Common Misconceptions about the Knowledge Rich Curriculum

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Five Common Misconceptions About the Knowledge-Rich Curriculum

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Teacher materials are restricted to visitors registered with a valid email address. Please log in below or sign up for a new account.

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FT Unit: Challenging Authority: The Giver

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FT Unit: Challenging Authority: The Giver

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6th Grade ELA | Challenging Authority: The Giver

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Download free, ready-to-teach 6th grade lesson plans that explore the concept of coming-of-age through reading and writing about The Giver.

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FT Unit: Facing Prejudice: All American Boys

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FT Unit: Facing Prejudice: All American Boys

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8th Grade ELA | Facing Prejudice: All American Boys

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Download free, ready-to-teach 8th grade lesson plans that build students’ speaking, paragraph writing, and reading skills through the text All American Boys.

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Great episode for thinking about whole class texts and how we read them!

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Great episode for thinking about whole class texts and how we read them!

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Ep. 3, Literacy and the Science of Learning: Doug Lemov on Fluency’s Impact on Comprehension - Knowledge Matters Campaign

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July 08, 2025 - The Knowledge Matters Campaign

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"The book is in a death struggle with electronic and social media. And right now, it's losing."

Host Doug Lemov makes a spirited case for reading whole books in the classroom-especially since today's students read almost no books outside of school. He's joined by guests Stephen Sawchuk of Education Week, cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham, and shares an inspiring visit to Eastridge Elementary School in Amarillo, Texas.

"Learning to be able to struggle-to read a challenging text, and to persist with it-is one of the greatest gifts an education can give students," Lemov says.

Sawchuk discusses the trade-off many educators have made to teach reading through texts, not books, such as shorter-form excerpts and articles, yet he notes that reading whole books builds attention and stamina, because teachers can grow the length of reading assignments over time.

"In this drive to respond to the formats that we think kids are most engaged by, we end up, you know, sort of further weakening the kinds of text and language structures that kids are exposed to," Sawchuk says. "If you're looking for just a mechanism to increase the amount of volume a kid is expected to read, a book is not a bad option. You cannot do this with excerpted text."

Willingham explains that books relay stories, which are "psychologically privileged." Students are familiar with stories and our minds more readily understand and remember information contained in stories compared to other kinds of texts. Books also call on readers to actively engage and persist to make meaning. "In this novel, you can't flick your thumb and make something else happen. You kind of need to sit with it and see what you can make of it."

Books also model long-form reflective thinking, because characters change over time. This stands in stark contrast to modern social-media posts, where a few words or brief video provide a snapshot of right-now considerations.

"Books are the medium in which people have been doing their best long form thinking for hundreds of years. They are the storehouses of almost every idea that is important to us. Whether it is the seeds of democracy or the foundations of science, chances are it has been communicated and passed down in the form of a book," Lemov says.

A visit to teacher Lori Hughes' classroom shows how reading a book in class together promotes fluency and other literacy skills. The way students read orally becomes the way they read silently, and the community activity builds enthusiasm across a classroom as students engage with the book, and one another. Principal Genie Baca notes, "The word I would use more than anything is investment. Whether you're a low reader or a very fluent reader, these kids get so invested in the book and the characters like we've never seen before."

That's no surprise-as Lemov says, "When what you read is meaningful, you are more likely to read again. But if what you read is an exercise in main-idea-ing, you are likely to choose your phone."

This podcast is produced by the Knowledge Matters Campaign and StandardsWork. Follow the Knowledge Matters Campaign on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Search #knowledgematters to join the conversation.

Production by Tressa Versteeg. Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea.
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Ep. 4, Literacy and the Science of Learning: Doug Lemov on the Power of Whole Books - Knowledge Matters Campaign

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"The book is in a death struggle with electronic and social media. And right now, it's losing." Host Doug Lemov makes a spirited case for reading whole books in the classroom-especially since today's students read almost no books outside of school.

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Recommended by teachers as a way to track conversations in small groups & whole group!

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AI Prompts for Adapting a US-based Curricular Resource

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Great episode on importance of both whole class texts AND fluency!

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Great episode on importance of both whole class texts AND fluency!

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Ep. 3, Literacy and the Science of Learning: Doug Lemov on Fluency’s Impact on Comprehension - Knowledge Matters Campaign

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July 08, 2025 - The Knowledge Matters Campaign

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Copy of FINAL Official SAS Unit Planner [OOL Facilitated]

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6-8 Options for Fluency Diagnostic Assessments 

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6-8 Options for Fluency Diagnostic Assessments 

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Make sure to divide up between Grades 6-8 to avoid repetition!

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Achievethecore.org :: Fluency Packet for the 6 - 8 Grade Band

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Forty-one passages to help students build fluency over the course of the school year.

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create list of desired texts related to the unit for librarian to curate

refresh the vocabulary document/resource

create/finalize the summative assessment

check supplemental texts: are they all suitable?

find more supplemental texts

create lessons 0 and 0.5

reach out to DEIB Specialist to support planning and launch

confirm release day in December for additional planning

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Singapore AS G6 Fluency Session - September 2025

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Singapore AS G6 Fluency Session - September 2025 (1)