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Project Appendix D Promote the inclusion of diverse voices in K-12 classrooms with a unique model for culturally responsive text selection and a growing list of teacher-recommended titles. A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts Appendix D: A Tool for Selecting Diverse Texts walks users through four distinct—but interconnected—considerations: complexity, diversity and representation, critical literacy, and reader and task, modeling the method we used to identify texts for our K-12 anti-bias curriculum, Perspectives for a Diverse America. Traditionally, tools that aid text selection have focused on quantitative and qualitative measures, giving teachers the means to select based on inherent text complexities; for example, word and sentence length, text cohesion, language features and knowledge demands.

Bad Blurbs Leaves of Grass -- "Walt Whitman is as unacquainted with art as a hog is with mathematics. His poems, we must call them so for convenience, resemble nothing so much as the war-cry of the red Indians . . . or rather, perhaps, this Walt Whitman reminds us of Caliban flinging down his logs, and setting himself to write a poem." London Critic, 1855

15 Famous Authors’ Beautiful Estates “Decidedly, I’m a better landscape gardener than a novelist,” Edith Wharton once declared. Indeed, Wharton, whose birthday we celebrate today, was as much a designer and tastemaker during her life as she was a writer. In fact, her first published book, The Decoration of Houses, was a design manual, and so many of her novels glow with beautiful descriptions of design, atmosphere, and costume that could only have come from a knowledgeable hand. Wharton built her estate, The Mount, in 1902, and if you ask us, its rolling green gardens certainly do her claim justice. So, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of her birth, we’ve collected fifteen gorgeous authors’ homes and estates — though none, perhaps, are as gorgeous as hers. Click through to check out our list, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your own favorite writers’ homes in the comments.

Free Study Guides 15 Vintage Photos of Libraries Here are some old photos of librarians showing both the diversity of their duties and the diversity of the workers themselves. All images courtesy of the Library of Congress, unless otherwise mentioned. Helping Others Here are a few images of librarians being their wonderfully helpful selves. Story time duty is nothing new for librarians, as you can see in this image, taken by Jessie Tarbox Beals in 1910. Most Beautiful College Libraries No major introduction needed here, as a picture is worth a thousand words. Here we take a look at some of the most magnificent university libraries across the country. Comfort and atmosphere play a huge role in getting in a quality study session. The problem is that some of these libraries are so beautiful that they almost become too distracting to study in. Special offer for library lovers: Get a free audiobook from Amazon.

Over 5000 Historical Novels Listed by Time and Place