Author Archives: theliteracycookbook

About theliteracycookbook

In addition to this blog, I am the creator of THE LITERACY COOKBOOK Website (www.literacycookbook.com) and ONLY GOOD BOOKS Blog (http://onlygoodbooks.wordpress.com/), and the author of THE LITERACY COOKBOOK: A Practical Guide to Effective Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening Instruction (Jossey-Bass, 2012), LITERACY AND THE COMMON CORE: Recipes for Action (Jossey-Bass, 2014), USING GRAMMAR TO IMPROVE WRITING: Recipes for Action (BookBaby, 2018), and HIT THE DRUM: An Insider's Account of How the Charter School Idea Became a National Movement (BookBaby, 2019). Check out my Website for more information about my consulting work.

RECOMMENDED READING–Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick

Posted on April 27, 2024 by theliteracycookbook

Some people jumped into ChatGPT the minute it came out. Some have tried it “a little bit.” And others are still wondering what the fuss is all about. Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and AI expert whose Substack “One Useful … Continue reading →

Posted in A.I. Policy, AI tools, Recommended Reading, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NJ’s UPDATED ELA STANDARDS: New Tools

Posted on April 15, 2024 by theliteracycookbook

Friends working in NJ are no doubt aware that NJ State Board of Education adopted new NJ Student Learning Standards for ELA on October 4, 2023, and they will take effect this fall. The revisions, described in NJDOE’s Overview PPT … Continue reading →

Posted in NJSLS ELA Standards, Resources, Standards, TLC Website Resources, Uncategorized, Unpacking standards, Video Training | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RECOMMENDED READING: A Novel That Teaches Media Literacy

Posted on April 13, 2024 by theliteracycookbook

GRAM & GRAN SAVE THE SUMMER by Stephen Chiger and Daniel Pereira An early blurb for this amazing children’s book states: “Put together the wordplay of The Phantom Tollbooth, the imagination of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's literature, Media Literacy, Novels, Recommended Reading, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt

Posted on April 5, 2024 by theliteracycookbook

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but Jonathan Haidt’s latest, THE ANXIOUS GENERATION: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, a must-read for parents and educators, brilliantly captures his two … Continue reading →

Posted in For educators, For parents, Media Literacy, Nonfiction, Recommended Reading, Social media, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Leaning into AI to Create More Meaningful, Rigorous Research Projects

Posted on February 8, 2024 by theliteracycookbook

When an English teacher recently mentioned she was about to launch a research project on famous African-Americans, I asked her for more information. It would be six slides, she said, and they could choose from among 30 people. On each … Continue reading →

Posted in AI tools, Bard, Curriculum, Project-based learning, Research, TLC Website Resources, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How to Combine PHONICS with COMPREHENSION: A.I. Decodables Plus Diffit!

Posted on February 7, 2024 by theliteracycookbook

While some folks argue over whether we should spend more time on phonics or more on comprehension, I have found a way to use AI tools to do BOTH. Because both are needed. This approach assumes you have phonics instructional … Continue reading →

Posted in AI tools, Bard, ChatGPT, Comprehension, decodables, Diffit, Phonics, Reading, Reading Instruction, TLC Website Resources | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How to “AI” More Effectively: OpenAI’s Official Guide to Prompt Engineering

Posted on January 5, 2024 by theliteracycookbook

A while back, a friend shared a daily newsletter called “TLDR AI” (“Too Long Didn’t Read AI”). At first I was ecstatic, thinking, I’m gonna be a pro at this stuff in no time. Then I read the first entry. … Continue reading →

Posted in AI tools, Prompt Engineering, Resources, TLC Website Resources, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A.I. TOOL: Parlay Genie, for A.I. Generated Discussion Prompts

Posted on October 31, 2023 by theliteracycookbook

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Parlay Genie, an A.I. tool that generates discussion prompts and enables the running of discussions for free on the platform. The directions are simple: You can run discussions in person or online. … Continue reading →

Posted in AI tools, Class discussions, Resources, Socratic Seminars, Speaking and Listening, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Teaching Writing with A.I.: Exemplars and a Lesson Sequence

Posted on August 15, 2023 by theliteracycookbook

[This post originally appeared in slightly different form on MiddleWeb on 8/8/23.] As we look ahead to a new school year with A.I. tools widely available, many teachers are wondering not just “How can I prevent my students from using … Continue reading →

Posted in AI tools, MiddleWeb, Technology, TLC Website Resources, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

ChatGPT: TLC Website Resources

Posted on August 3, 2023 by theliteracycookbook

In case you haven’t seen the updated A.I. TIPS page on The Literacy Cookbook Website, here’s a preview of the ChatGPT page.  As you’ll see, it answers key questions and includes brief demos. What is ChatGPT? According to ChatGPT itself … Continue reading →

Posted in AI tools, ChatGPT, Professional Development, Resources, TLC Website Resources | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments