This time I'm writing a letter. So begins this picture book about a girl who prefers running and jumping to listening and learning and the teacher who gently inspires her. From stomping through creeks on a field trip to pretending to choke when called upon to read aloud, this book's young heroine would be a challenge to any teacher. But this teacher isn't just any teacher. By listening carefully and knowing just the right thing to say, she quickly learns that the girl's unruly behavior is due to her struggles with reading. And at the very end, we learn what this former student is now: a teacher herself.

    You'll learn where to find the treasure that's already in your classrooms and schools--and how to bring out the very best in your educators.What does it take to be a PIRATE Leader?Passion--both professional and personalA willingness to Immerse yourself in your workGood Rapport with your staff, students and communityThe courage to Ask questions and Analyze what is and isn't workingThe determination to seek positive TransformationAnd the kind of Enthusiasm that gets others excited about educationThe ultimate goal for any education leader is to create schools and districts where students and staff are knocking down the doors to get in rather than out. This book will equip and encourage you to be relentless in your quest to make school amazing for your students, staff, parents, and communities.Are you ready to set sail?

    (Just think about all those New Year’s resolutions that revert to status quo by January 5th!) But real change is possible, sustainable, and even easy when it happens little by little. In Shift This! educator and speaker Joy Kirr identifies how to make gradual shifts—in your thinking, teaching, and approach to classroom design—that will have a massive impact in your classroom. You’ll learn how to… Shift learning to make it authentic and student-led. Shift the classroom environment to make it a space in which students thrive. Shift conversations and classwork to get kids thinking rather than repeating. Shift away from homework and grades to keep the focus on learning. Shift the way you spend your time at school so you have more time to enjoy life at home. You can create the kind of classroom you’ve always dreamed of. Make the first shift today!

    His well is deep; he draws from it the best tools from practitioners, the wisdom of experience, and research-based insights. And he never loses sight of the bigger picture: the point of all this is to have more impact in this life we're lucky enough to live." --MICHAEL BUNGAY STANIER, Author of The Coaching Habit "Coaching done well may be the most effective intervention designed for human performance. Jim Knight's work has helped me understand the details of how effective coaching can and should be done." --DR. ATUL GAWANDE, surgeon, public health researcher, and author of The Checklist Manifesto Identify . . . Learn . . . Improve When it comes to improving practice, few professional texts can rival the impact felt by Jim Knight's Instructional Coaching. For hundreds of thousands of educators, Jim bridged the long-standing divide between staff room and classroom offering up a much a more collaborative, respectful, and efficient PD model for achieving instructional excellence. Now, one decade of research and hundreds of in-services later, Jim takes that work a significant step further with The Impact Cycle an all-new instructional coaching cycle to help teachers and, in turn, their students improve in clear, measurable ways. Quintessential Jim, The Impact Cycle comes loaded with every possible tool to help you reach your coaching goals, starting with a comprehensive video program, robust checklists, and a model Instructional Playbook. Quickly, you'll learn how to Interact and dialogue with teachers as partners Guide teachers to identify emotionally compelling, measurable, and student-focused goals Set coaching goals, plan strategies, and monitor progress for optimal impact Use documentary-style video and text-based case studies as models to promote maximum teacher clarity and proactive problem solving Streamline teacher enrollment, data collection, and deep listening Jim writes, "When we grow, improve, and learn, when we strive to become a better version of ourselves, we tap into something deep in ourselves that craves that kind of growth." Read The Impact Cycle and soon you'll discover how you can continually refine your practice to help teachers and students realize their fullest potential. View Jim Knight's Impact Cycle video trailer:

    Incorporating his own misadventures as a developing writer, Gantos inspires readers to build confidence and establish good writing habits as they create, revise, and perfect their stories. Pop-out text boxes highlight key tips, alongside Gantos's own illustrations, sample stories, and snippets from his childhood journals. More than just a how-to guide, Writing Radar is a celebration of the power of storytelling and an ode to the characters who--many unwittingly--inspired Gantos's own writing career.

    "Let's move to Japan!? I'm sure it will be fine!Let's Speak English follows the adventures of artist Mary Cagle during a three year experience teaching English to elementary students in the rural town of Kurihara, Japan.These hand-drawn strips explore Mary's daily life as she works with kids far too adorable and clever for their own good, and experiences the excitement and challenges of living in a foreign country.Read it online at marycragle.com "

    To devour ravenously. To seize as spoil. I am Raven. I knew what it meant to fight my way through life. To be the victim, the spoil, the prey. I decided long ago I would take control of my future. No more bug infested couches. No more drug-addicted mothers or absentee fathers.No more welfare checks or moldy bread. No more settling. I thought I had it all figured out, a way out of the hand I’d been dealt. Until my life got turned upside down by two very different men who look at me with mirrored lust in their eyes. Their want is palpable, heady. Their desire makes me reckless.I no longer know who I am or who I want.The only thing I do know is, I am ravenous.Voracious. Intensely eager for gratification or satisfaction. Despite the fact I know it is a disaster waiting to happen, I can’t stop it. I’m afraid I will never be sated.

    Aimed at teachers of all kinds, busy people working in complex environments with little time to spare, it is a celebration of great teaching - the joy of it and the intellectual and personal rewards that teaching brings.The core of the book is a guide to making teaching both effective and manageable; it provides an accessible summary of key contemporary evidence-based ideas about teaching and learning and the debates that all teachers should be engaging in. It's a book packed with strategies for making great teaching attainable in the context of real schools.The Learning Rainforest metaphor is an attempt to capture various different elements of our understanding and experience of teaching. Tom's ideas about what constitutes great teaching are drawn from his experiences as a teacher and a school leader over the last 30 years, alongside everything he has read and all the debates he's engaged with during that time.An underlying theme of this book is that a career in teaching is a process of continual personal development and professional learning as is engaging in fundamental debates rage on about the kind of education we value. As you meet each new class and move from school to school, your perspectives shift; your sense of what seems to work adjusts to each new context.In writing this book, Tom is trying to capture some of the journey he's been on. He has learned that it is ok to change your mind. More than that - sometimes it is simply necessary to get your head out of the sand, to change direction; to admit your mistakes.

    When Clark crash-lands on the inhospitable planet of Festus Middle School, he soon learns the natives don t take kindly to newcomers . . . particularly ones who practice Jedi mind tricks and follow nerdy TV shows like Star Survivors. As he faces a conspiring group of violent bullies, browbeaten teachers and a fiendish principal, Clark knows he ll be lucky just to survive eighth grade.Then, hope appears on the horizon: there is Les, the enigmatic boy who seems to disappear at will; Ricki, a fellow Star Survivors fan; and the independent-minded librarian, Ms. Beacon. When Clark and his newfound allies are imperiled, he gathers his courage and the consequences of his actions ripple through the galaxy in life-altering ways."

    The answer? Incorporating instructional coaching techniques as an integral part of serious school improvement.The authors explain how principals canMaster the skill of "switching hats" between the nonjudgmental coach role and the evaluative supervisor role. Expand their classroom visits and combine coaching with evaluation requirements. Nurture relationships with teachers and build a positive school culture. Provide high-quality feedback to support the development of both teachers and students. Empower teachers to lead their own professional learning and work together as a team. Drawing from the authors' work with schools as well as their conversations with educators across the globe, this thought-provoking book speaks to the unique needs of principals as instructional leaders, providing solutions to challenges in every aspect of this complex endeavor.The role of the principal is changing at a rapid pace. Let this resource guide you in improving your own practice while helping teachers master the high-quality instruction that leads to student success.

    Organized into 21 chapters designed to be read over a period of 21 school days, Now We're Talking! presents a results-driven approach that far surpasses traditional walkthrough models of feedback for teachers. School leaders will complete two cycles of classroom visits while reading the book and establish the necessary foundation for subsequent visits.This plan will help you incorporate daily classroom walkthroughs to improve teaching and learning: -Understand how daily classroom observation can help you make informed decisions that foster rich relationships with teachers, improve professional practices, reduce stress, and increase student learning. - Discover how to conduct teacher evaluations and classroom walkthroughs to improve teaching and learning, fostering high-performance results and high-quality instructional leadership. - Take part in 21 days of action challenges toward making teacher observations and giving feedback to teachers after observation a daily practice. - Learn supervision and instructional leadership skills that establish effective communication in schools. - Gain time-management tips for streamlining your inboxes, staying organized, and prioritizing work so you have time for daily classroom visits and lesson observation feedback.Contents: Week 1: High-Performance Instructional Leadership Fundamentals Chapter 1: Understanding Why Instructional Leaders Belong in Classrooms Chapter 2: Following the High-Performance Instructional Leadership Model Chapter 3: Acknowledging Related Instructional Leadership, Supervision, and Walkthrough Models Chapter 4: Conducting Your First Two Cycles of Visits Chapter 5: Thinking Ahead to Your Third Cycle of VisitsWeek 2: High-Performance Habits Chapter 6: Making Time to Visit Classrooms Chapter 7: Keeping Your Communication Channels Under Control Chapter 8: Managing the Work You're Not Doing Yet Chapter 9: Organizing Your To-Do List Chapter 10: Maximizing Your Mental Energy With HabitsWeek 3: High-Impact Instructional Conversations Chapter 11: Going Beyond Data Collection and the Feedback Sandwich Chapter 12: Facilitating Evidence-Based Conversations Chapter 13: Bringing a Shared Instructional Framework Into the Conversation Chapter 14: Developing Skills for High-Impact Conversations Chapter 15: Handling the Toughest ConversationsWeek 4: High-Performance Instructional Leadership Enhancement Chapter 16: Building Your Feedback Repertoire Chapter 17: Balancing Your Formal Evaluation Responsibilities Chapter 18: Identifying Improvements From Classroom Visits Chapter 19: Opening the Door to New Models of Professional Learning Chapter 20: Choosing an Instructional Focus for an Observation Cycle Chapter 21: Scaling Classroom Visits Across Your School and District

    Strategies include ways to develop confidence and self-belief. The contributors have outlined specific approaches they feel have helped them, and others that haven't. The book contains stunning illustrations by 8-18 year olds with dyslexia.The first-hand accounts are inspiring in the way they normalise dyslexia and reveal the many success stories. There is an additional section for professionals who work in education or special learning environments, with advice given by school students themselves.

    Staid, serious, calm. A librarian. When he meets preschool teacher Deeze Long, he discovers joy for the first time in his life. With joy comes laughter, excitement, and a new way to look at the world through the eyes of the kindest, most loving man he has ever met.When tragedy strikes and Deeze loses his joy, it is Wyeth who helps him find it again. It is Wyeth, the man who never truly understood happiness, who pays that gift back. Giving all he can of himself to the man who changed his life. Restoring in Deeze what he now so desperately needs.But the road of their relationship doesn’t end there. The joys and sorrows of life are never-ending. As they set out to weather the highs and lows together, Wyeth and Deeze hang on to the one thing that makes all the tears and laughter worthwhile.Love.For only through love can life be truly savored at all.

    Sit back with the hot chocolate and enjoy! A teacher’s life is never easy … especially at Christmas! Working at a tiny village school in rural Yorkshire has its own unique set of challenges – but when teachers Lydia Knight and Jake Immingham are tasked with getting the children to put on a Christmas play for the local elderly people’s home, they know they’re in for a tricky term! But in between choreographing sugar plum dance routines, reindeer costume malfunctions and trying to contain Rory Scott’s wannabe rap star aspirations, Lydia realises that, even as a teacher, she isn’t past being taught a couple of things – and one of those things is a much-needed lesson in Christmas spirit.

    

    Unfortunately, they also have to deal with the base bully, who seems determined to make Tom's life completely miserable by telling everyone he's a wimp.When the Baileys discover a mystery on base--an abandoned building long rumored to be haunted--they know that this is the way to show the world how brave Tom truly is. But when they go to investigate, they find there's more to the house than some old rumors. What is that weird equipment? And who is that suspicious man sneaking around inside?It's up to Charlotte, Tom, and Rosie to figure out the base's secrets-and prove to everyone that no bully can keep the Bailey kids down.Daphne Benedis-Grab's Army Brats is an exciting romp that celebrates friendship, bravery, and being true to yourself.

    Such was the case ten years ago with Jim Knight's Instructional Coaching. Now, it's about to happen again with The Impact Cycle and this The Reflection Guide to The Impact Cycle, in which Jim shares his latest thinking, and advances an all-new instructional coaching cycle to help teachers and, in turn, their students improve in clear, measurable ways. What makes this Reflection Guide the perfect companion to The Impact Cycle? Because it functions almost like a daily planner for reaching, even exceeding, your coaching goals. Jam-packed with key concepts, prompts, and exercises, this guide will prove indispensable toCoaches who wish to accelerate progress toward goals and move their practices forward Leaders of coaches looking for a simple, effective model to get all stakeholders on the same page Join the hundreds of thousands of educators who already have benefited from Jim's ground-breaking work. Read The Impact Cycle, build upon your expertise with this companion Reflection Guide, and soon enough you, too, will experience the next "Jim Knight phenomenon."

    Song and poem lamentations have a widespread history from all over the globe and carry a wealth of forms and a few requirements they must read well out loud, they must address current pressing issues, and they must make every attempt to be truthful. Here Grahn s steadfast and rhythmic verse directs our eyes to crucial yet often buried tribulations of our times by critiquing white supremacy, honoring battered women, exalting the powers of menstruation, conflating all labor with birth imagery, and revealing lateral hostilities among potential allies all in order to arouse a meaningful social critique."

    In Cultivation and Catastrophe, Sonya Posmentier uncovers a vivid diasporic tradition of Black environmental writing that responds to the aftermath of plantation slavery, urbanization, and free and forced migrations. While humanist discourses of African American and postcolonial studies often sustain a line between nature and culture, this book instead emphasizes the relationship between them, offering an innovative environmental history of modern black literature.

    A Treasure Chest Full of Jewels. A Zombie DJ. These are just a few of the many stickers ready to be peeled off Martina Rivera's new sticker sheet and come to life in Book 2 of the Sticker Girl series, Sticker Girl Rules the School. With a newfound confidence in hand, Martina is thinking about running for student council. Of course, her rambunctious sticker sidekick Craig―a talking cupcake―thinks this is a great idea and volunteers her to run for class president. As Martina soon discovers, running a campaign is a piece of cake compared to organizing a class trip and managing a horde of unruly stickers determined to create chaos within her group of friends. A magical new adventure awaits with Sticker Girl!A Christy Ottaviano Book

    Concept-based teaching helps students uncover conceptual relationships and transfer them to new problems. Readers of this must-have road map for implementing concept-based teaching in elementary classrooms will learn - Why conceptual learning is a natural fit for children - Strategies for introducing conceptual learning - Instructional strategies to help students uncover and transfer concepts - How to write lessons, assess understanding, and differentiate in a concept-based classroom - How concept-based teaching aligns with best practices and initiatives