Books by Dan Feigelson
Reading Projects Reimagined
Student-Driven Conferences to Deepen Critical Thinking
Veteran teacher and author Dan Feigelson raises an important question about the larger goal of reading instruction: while it’s our job as reading teachers to introduce students to new ideas and comprehension strategies, shouldn’t we also teach them to come up with their own ideas - without teacher prompting? In Reading Projects Reimagined, Feigelson shows us how conference-based, individual reading projects help students learn how to think for themselves. He provides a concrete picture of what reading projects look and sound like in the classroom with:
- step-by-step guidelines on how to conduct a productive conference
- categories to help teachers narrow down possible directions a conference could go
- examples of student work and teacher-student dialogue.
When readers go beyond simple comprehension questions to extend their own ideas, they’re on their way to becoming independent, critical thinkers who can read any text with depth and thoughtfulness.
“This book contains some of the best writing about conferring with children that I’ve read.”
“If you have ever wondered how to bring more substance, more gravitas, to reading conferences, this book will provide you with an array of possibilities. Dan Feigelson is absolutely clear that he is not offering a set of scripts for conferences; instead he shows us how to help each child develop a sense of the possible.”
Practical Punctuation
Lessons on Rule-Making and Rule-Breaking in Elementary Writing
Good writers know the rules, but skilled punctuators don’t simply go by the conventions. They use punctuation to make meaning. Practical Punctuation shows you how to help students discover the relationship between punctuation and meaning—and how they can use it to improve their writing.
Practical Punctuation’s strategies help writers connect periods, commas, and dashes to mood, emphasis, and rhythm. Dan Feigelson’s ready-to-use lessons provide opportunities to:
- show students the purposes of punctuation before teaching them the rules
- give writers chances to experiment with punctuating
- model the thinking that goes into punctuating
- teach conventions explicitly, but not absolutely
- hold students accountable for punctuation in formal writing.
“In all the books I’ve read about written language, Dan’s is the first to explore the mind’s ear…. He has actually changed the way I read as well as write. ”
“Dan has made it his business to delve into punctuation, and we are all the wiser for the impressive and exciting writing about the subject that he has done in this book.”