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Georgia Scurletis

Georgia Scurletis is Director of Curriculum for the Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com. Before coming to Thinkmap, she spent 18 years as a curriculum writer and classroom teacher. Georgia has written curriculum materials for a variety of Web sites (WGBH, The New York Times Learning Network, Edsitement) and various school districts. While teaching high school English in Brooklyn, she was a recipient of the New York State English Council's Educators of Excellence Award, the Brooklyn High Schools' Recognition Award, and The New York Times' Teachers Who Make a Difference Award.
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Vocab activities for your classroom

For the New Year: Five Simple Vocabulary Resolutions for Educators
Thu Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2013
By Georgia Scurletis

The bad news: SAT reading scores have reached an all-time low, and recently released NAEP scores reveal that American students' vocabulary growth is "flat." The good news: It's no longer 2012. It's 2013, a new year, a time to buy gym memberships and to overhaul your vocabulary instruction. Just do it.  Continue reading...
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Vocab activities for your classroom

Prefixes: Windows into Unfamiliar Words
Wed Oct 03 00:00:00 EDT 2012
By Georgia Scurletis

As teachers begin to grapple with the demands of the Common Core State Standards, they may be overlooking a discrete language standard living in the shadows of those major shifts.  Continue reading...
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Vocab activities for your classroom

Readability, the Common Core, and Vocabulary
Tue Jul 17 00:00:00 EDT 2012
By Georgia Scurletis

One way to help students grapple with more complex texts is to be more transparent about measurements of readability in the classroom. Reveal to students the readability of a text before reading it, and engage in meaningful discussions about what makes a text difficult.  Continue reading...
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Vocab activities for your classroom

Teaching Verbs and Confronting the Skunk
Tue May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2012
By Georgia Scurletis

If "grammar is the skunk at the garden party of the language arts," how can teachers confront the skunk when it comes to explaining how verbs work?  Continue reading...
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Vocab activities for your classroom

"Said": Outlaw or Verb of Choice?
Tue Apr 03 00:00:00 EDT 2012
By Georgia Scurletis

Some writing students are taught that there is a four letter word that they should avoid using in their writing: S-A-I-D. They are cautioned that if they repeat the use of said (or say) for attributing quotes or for introducing dialogue, that this repetition will bog down their writing and bore their readers.  Continue reading...
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Vocab activities for your classroom

Better Off Banished?
Tue Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2012
By Georgia Scurletis

Lake Superior State University released its 2012 List of Banished Words this month — a collection of words they deem as "Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness." Teachers, if you shared this news with your students, however, they probably wouldn't recognize this list of words and phrases as "overused."  Continue reading...
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Vocab activities for your classroom

Getting at Connotation by Interviewing a Word
Thu Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2011
By Georgia Scurletis

A dictionary definition is a place to start (or end); it cannot capture a word's essence or connotation. Students need to learn that words — like people — have personalities. Some get along with everybody. Some only get along with other select words. Some are comfortable everywhere, while some have special hangouts or niches.  Continue reading...
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1 2 3 4 5 Displaying 8-14 of 37 Articles