Best of
Teaching

2016

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools


Monique W. Morris - 2016
    After months on the run, she was arrested and sent to a detention center for violating a court order to attend school.Just 16 percent of female students in the USA, Black girls make up more than one-third of all girls with a school-related arrest. The first book to tell these untold stories, Pushout exposes a world of confined potential and supports the growing movement to address the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy that push countless students out of school and into unhealthy, unstable, and often unsafe futures.For four years Monique W. Morris, author of Black Stats, chronicled the experiences of black girls across America whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged—by teachers, administrators, and the justice system—and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. Morris shows how, despite obstacles, stigmas, stereotypes, and despair, black girls still find ways to breathe remarkable dignity into their lives in classrooms, juvenile facilities, and beyond.

Equipped for Reading Success


David A. Kilpatrick - 2016
    Research-based methods for boosting phonemic awareness, phonics, and instant word recognition

The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading: An Assess-Decide-Guide Framework for Supporting Every Reader


Jan Richardson - 2016
    - Prompts, discussion starters, teaching points, word lists, intervention suggestions, and more to support all students, including dual language learners and struggling readers. - 29 comprehension modules that cover essential strategies—monitoring, retelling, inferring, summarizing, and many others. - Plus an online resource bank with dozens of downloadable assessment and record-keeping forms, Richardson’s all-new, stage-specific lesson plan templates.- More than 40 short videos showing Jan modeling key parts of guided reading lessons for every stage.

Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide


Michael Geisen - 2016
        Everything You Need to Ace Science . . . takes readers from scientific investigation and the engineering design process to the Periodic Table; forces and motion; forms of energy; outer space and the solar system; to earth sciences, biology, body systems, ecology, and more. The BIG FAT NOTEBOOK™ series is built on a simple and irresistible conceit—borrowing the notes from the smartest kid in class. There are five books in all, and each is the only book you need for each main subject taught in middle school: Math, Science, American History, English Language Arts, and World History. Inside the reader will find every subject’s key concepts, easily digested and summarized: Critical ideas highlighted in neon colors. Definitions explained. Doodles that illuminate tricky concepts in marker. Mnemonics for memorable shortcuts. And quizzes to recap it all. The BIG FAT NOTEBOOKS meet Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and state history standards, and are vetted by National and State Teacher of the Year Award–winning teachers. They make learning fun, and are the perfect next step for every kid who grew up on Brain Quest.

Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide


Jen Haberling - 2016
        Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts . . .takes students from grammar to reading comprehension to writing with ease, including parts of speech, active and passive verbs, Greek and Latin roots and affixes; nuances in word meanings; textual analysis, authorship, structure, and other skills for reading fiction and nonfiction; and writing arguments, informative texts, and narratives. The BIG FAT NOTEBOOK™ series is built on a simple and irresistible conceit—borrowing the notes from the smartest kid in class. There are five books in all, and each is the only book you need for each main subject taught in middle school: Math, Science, American History, English Language Arts, and World History. Inside the reader will find every subject’s key concepts, easily digested and summarized: Critical ideas highlighted in neon colors. Definitions explained. Doodles that illuminate tricky concepts in marker. Mnemonics for memorable shortcuts. And quizzes to recap it all. The BIG FAT NOTEBOOKS meet Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and state history standards, and are vetted by National and State Teacher of the Year Award–winning teachers. They make learning fun, and are the perfect next step for every kid who grew up on Brain Quest.

Cleverlands: The secrets behind the success of the world's education superpowers


Lucy Crehan - 2016
    The ‘top performing’ schools were designing education in completely different ways from the UK and from each other, and yet, despite their differences, they were all getting top marks.Determined to find answers she couldn’t get from reports and graphs, Lucy set off on a journey around the globe to see these schools and students for herself.Cleverlands is the story of her journey through Finland, Canada, Japan, China and Singapore – five countries regularly at the top of the education charts. She spent three weeks immersed in classrooms in each country – living with teachers, listening to parents, teaching, watching and asking questions.The result is a guided tour of the world’s best educational systems and a reflection on what success in the UK might look like in light of these varying possibilities… not just what our politicians would have us believe.

Kids Deserve It: Pushing Boundaries and Challenging Conventional Thinking


Todd Nesloney - 2016
    In Kids Deserve It!, Todd and Adam encourage you to think big and make learning fun and meaningful for students. While you’re at it, you just might rediscover why you became an educator in the first place. - Learn why you should be calling parents to praise your students (and employees). - Discover ways to promote family interaction and improve relationships for kids at school and at home.- Be inspired to take risks, shake up the status quo, and be a champion for your students.#KidsDeserveIt"For anyone working with young people and in need of a pep talk, this is the book for you.” -Brad Montague, creator of Kid President“Kids Deserve It! provides real-life takeaways for anyone involved in making the world a better place for our kids." -Steve Mesler, Olympic Gold Medalist, co-founder and CEO of Classroom Champions"Kids Deserve It! is a brilliant—and much-needed—invitation to educators to dare to innovate.” -Peter H. Reynolds, author of The Dot “After reading this book, you will be crazy about all kids. They deserve it!” -Salome Thomas-EL, award-winning principal and author of The Immortality of Influence“It's an outstanding read for educators at any level.” -Angela Maiers, educator, author, speaker, founder of Choose2Matter“Whether you are a parent, teacher, or administrator, this powerful little collection of ideas and stories will nurture your spirit and refresh your memory about why you chose to work with kids in the first place.” -Erik Wahl, artist, author, ambassador for kids

Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning


James M. Lang - 2016
    But that's easier said than done. Many books about cognitive theory introduce radical but impractical theories, failing to make the connection to the classroom. In "Small Teaching, " James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of modest but powerful changes that make a big difference-many of which can be put into practice in a single class period. These strategies are designed to bridge the chasm between primary research and the classroom environment in a way that can be implemented by any faculty in any discipline, and even integrated into pre-existing teaching techniques. Learn, for example: How does one become good at retrieving knowledge from memory? How does making predictions now help us learn in the future? How do instructors instill fixed or growth mindsets in their students?Each chapter introduces a basic concept in cognitive theory, explains when and how it should be employed, and provides firm examples of how the intervention has been or could be used in a variety of disciplines. Small teaching techniques include brief classroom or online learning activities, one-time interventions, and small modifications in course design or communication with students.

Everything You Need to Ace American History in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide


Lily Rothman - 2016
        Everything You Need to Ace American History . . . covers Native Americans to the war in Iraq. There are units on Colonial America; the Revolutionary War and the founding of a new nation; Jefferson and the expansion west; the Civil War and Reconstruction; and all of the notable events of the 20th century—World Wars, the Depression, the Civil Rights movement, and much more. The BIG FAT NOTEBOOK™ series is built on a simple and irresistible conceit—borrowing the notes from the smartest kid in class. There are five books in all, and each is the only book you need for each main subject taught in middle school: Math, Science, American History, English Language Arts, and World History. Inside the reader will find every subject’s key concepts, easily digested and summarized: Critical ideas highlighted in neon colors. Definitions explained. Doodles that illuminate tricky concepts in marker. Mnemonics for memorable shortcuts. And quizzes to recap it all. The BIG FAT NOTEBOOKS meet Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and state history standards, and are vetted by National and State Teacher of the Year Award–winning teachers. They make learning fun, and are the perfect next step for every kid who grew up on Brain Quest.

Purposeful Play: A Teacher's Guide to Igniting Deep and Joyful Learning Across the Day


Kristine Mraz - 2016
    And not just during playtimes. We believe there is play in work and work in play, they write. It helps to have practical ways to carry that mindset into all aspects of the curriculum. In Purposeful Play, they share ways to:optimize and balance different types of play to deepen regular classroom learning teach into play to foster social-emotional skills and a growth mindset bring the impact of play into all your lessons across the day. We believe that play is one type of environment where children can be rigorous in their learning, Kristi, Alison, and Cheryl write. So they provide a host of lessons, suggestions for classroom setups, helpful tools and charts, curriculum connections, teaching points, and teaching language to help you foster mature play that makes every moment in your classroom instructional.Play doesn't only happen when work is over. Children show us time and time again that play is the way they work. In Purposeful Play, you'll find research-driven methods for making play an engine for rigorous learning in your classroom.

The Art of Coaching Teams: Building Resilient Communities that Transform Schools


Elena Aguilar - 2016
    Being a great teacher is one thing, but leading a team, or team development, is an entirely different dynamic. Your successes are public, but so are your failures—and there's no specific rubric or curriculum to give you direction. Team development is an art form, and this book is your how-to guide to doing it effectively. You'll learn the administrative tasks that keep your team on track, and you'll gain access to a wealth of downloadable tools that simplify the "getting organized" process. Just as importantly, you'll explore what it means to be the kind of leader that can bring people together to accomplish difficult tasks. You'll find practical suggestions, tools, and clear instructions for the logistics of team development as well as for building trust, developing healthy communication, and managing conflict. Inside these pages you'll find concrete guidance on: Designing agendas, making decisions, establishing effective protocols, and more Boosting your resilience, understanding and managing your emotions, and meeting your goals Cultivating your team's emotional intelligence and dealing with cynicism Utilizing practical tools to create a customized framework for developing highly effective teams There is no universal formula for building a great team, because every team is different. Different skills, abilities, personalities, and goals make a one-size-fits-all approach ineffective at best. Instead, The Art of Coaching Teams provides a practical framework to help you develop your group as a whole, and keep the team moving toward their common goals.

The Happy Teacher Habits: 11 Habits of the Happiest, Most Effective Teachers on Earth


Michael Linsin - 2016
    In The Happy Teacher Habits, Michael Linsin guides you through 11 little-known habits of the happiest, most effective teachers on Earth. Based on the latest research, and drawing on experts from the worlds of business, marketing, sports, entertainment, music, and medicine, you will learn simple, actionable strategies that will eliminate your teaching stress, supercharge your ability to motivate and inspire your students, and empower you to really love your job. This is no ordinary teaching book. It is a success roadmap through an educational system that is becoming increasingly harder to navigate. It will expose the falsehoods and misinformation teachers are bombarded with every day, and reveal the secrets to what really matters in creating a happy and fulfilling career.

One Without the Other: Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion


Shelley Moore - 2016
    Her willingness to be vulnerable and share the moments she has experienced inclusion, and exclusion, power, and need allow all of us to see the connection between our own lives and the experiences of our students. Shelley is passionate and inspirational – she will cause you to think, to cry, to laugh, and to dream.—JENNIFER KATZ, PhD, AUTHOR OF TEACHING TO DIVERSITYIn One Without the Other: Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion, Shelley Moore explores the changing landscape of inclusive education. Presented through real stories from her own classroom experience, this passionate and creative educator tackles such things as inclusion as a philosophy and practice, the difference between integration and inclusion, and how inclusion can work with a variety of students and abilities. Explorations of differentiation, the role of special education teachers and others, and universal design for learning all illustrate the evolving discussion on special education and teaching to all learners. This book will be of interest to all educators, from special ed teachers, educational assistants and resource teachers, to classroom teachers, administrators, and superintendents.

The HyperDoc Handbook: Digital Lesson Design Using Google Apps


Lisa Highfill - 2016
    With a HyperDoc you can repackage your lesson plans on a Google Doc to engage students in innovative ways! The HyperDoc Handbook is a practical reference guide for all K-12 educators looking to transform their teaching into blended learning environments. This book strikes a perfect balance between pedagogy and how-to tips, while also providing several lesson plans to get you going. After reading this handbook, educators will feel equipped to design their own HyperDocs using both Google Apps and the myriad of web tools available online. Let this book become your guide to: Explore the pedagogy behind digital lesson design Follow step-by-step directions on how to create a HyperDoc Reflect and revise digital lessons using a checklist to “hack” your own HyperDocs Select tech tools best suited for lessons Connect and share with other educators Copy and customize sample HyperDocs to use in your own classroom HyperDocs will improve collaboration and instruction between all education stakeholders, including: students, teachers, administrators, instructional coaches, professional developers, and families. After reading The HyperDoc Handbook you will be inspired to create and share!

Supporting Positive Behavior in Children and Teens with Down Syndrome: The Respond But Don't React Method


David Stein - 2016
    Another bolts across a busy parking lot, turns and smiles at his mom. An eighteen-year-old student bursts into tears when asked to change activities at school. Sound familiar? These and other common behavior issues in children with Down syndrome can quickly become engrained and may even persist into adulthood. No parent wants that to happen, and thankfully, help is available! Dr. David Stein, a psychologist and Co-Director of the Down Syndrome Program at Boston Children's Hospital, shares his approach to behavior management in this new book for parents. Supporting Positive Behavior in Children and Teens with Down Syndrome examines how the brain of a person with Down syndrome works, how those differences impact behavior, and why bad behavior should not be viewed as a willful act. Governed by this new awareness, parents are in a better position to change and manage their child's behavior using these guiding principles: [[Be proactive, not reactive [[Be consistent [[Use visual schedules & Social Stories to direct behavior [[Develop a token reward chart [[Keep gut reactions in check [[Teach siblings to ignore bad behavior [[Learn effective disciplinary techniques [[Know when professional help is needed Some of these parenting concepts are intuitive, others are not, but when they are followed consistently, children and teens with Down syndrome do their best behaviorally and the parent-child relationship remains as positive and loving as it should be.

DIY Literacy: Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor, and Independence


Kate Roberts - 2016
    These tools inspire kids to work as hard as we are."-Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie RobertsWhat's DIY Literacy? It's making your own visual teaching tools instead of buying them. It's using your teaching smarts to get the most from those tools. And it's helping kids think strategically so they can be DIY learners."Teaching tools create an impact on students' learning," write Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts. "They help students hold onto our teaching and become changed by the work in the classroom." Of course, you and your students need the right tools for the job, so first Kate and Maggie share four simple, visual tools that you can make. Then they show how to maximize your instructional know-how with suggestions for using the tools to:make your reading and writing strategies stick motivate students to reach for their next learning goal differentiate instruction simply and quickly. Kate and Maggie are like a friendly, handy neighbor. They offer experience-honed advice for using the four tools for assessment, small-group instruction, conferring, setting learning goals, and, most important, helping students learn to apply strategies and make progress without prompting from you. In other words, to do it themselves."It is our greatest hope," write Kate and Maggie, "that the tools we offer here will help your students to work hard, to hold onto what they know, and to see themselves in the curriculum you teach." Try DIY Literacy and help your readers and writers take learning into their own hands.

Who's Doing the Work?: How to Say Less So Readers Can Do More


Jan Burkins - 2016
    Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris rethink traditional teaching practices in  Who's Doing the Work: How to Say Less So Readers Can Do More . They review some common instructional mainstays such as read-aloud, guided reading, shared reading, and independent reading and provide small, yet powerful, adjustments to help hold students accountable for their learning.Next generation reading instruction is much more responsive to student needs and aims to remove some of the scaffolding that can hinder reader development. Instead of relying on teacher prompts,  Who's Doing the Work  asks teachers to have students take ownership of their reading by managing their challenges independently and working through any plateaus they encounter. Whether you are an elementary teacher, literacy coach, reading specialist, or parent,  Who's Doing the Work  provides numerous examples on how to readjust the reading process and teach students to gain proficiency and joy in their work.

A Fresh Look at Phonics, Grades K-2: Common Causes of Failure and 7 Ingredients for Success (Corwin Literacy)


Wiley Blevins - 2016
    Rather, a combination of causes can create a perfect storm of failure.” —Wiley BlevinsPicture a class of kindergarteners singing the alphabet song, and teaching phonics  seems as easy as one-two, three, A, B, C, right? In a Fresh Look at Phonics, Wiley Blevins explains why it can get tricky, and then delivers a plan so geared for success, that teachers, coaches, and administrators will come to see owning this book as a before and after moment in their professional lives. In this amazing follow up to his renowned resource Phonics From A-Z, Wiley uses the data he has collected over two decades to share which approaches truly work, which have failed, and how teachers can fine-tune their daily instruction for success. You will learn to focus on the seven critical ingredients of phonics teaching that produce the greatest student learning gains— readiness skills, scope and sequence, blending, dictation, word awareness, high frequency words, and reading connected texts. Then, for each ingredient, Wiley shares:   Activities, routines, word lists, and lessons that develop solid foundations for reading Ideas for differentiation, ELL, and advanced learners to ensure adequate progress for all learners Help on decodable texts, what not to over-do, and what you can’t do enough of for your students’ achievement Interactive “Day Clinic” activities that facilitate teacher self-reflection and school wide professional learning In a final section, Wiley details the ten common reasons instruction fails and shows teachers how to correct these missteps regarding lesson pacing, transitions, decodable texts, writing activities, assessment and more. A Fresh Look at Phonics is the evidence-based solution you have been seeking. Wiley Blevins, Ph.D., is a world-renowned expert on early reading, and author of the seminal book Phonics From A-Z among many other works. He has taught in both the United States and South America, and regularly trains teachers throughout Asia. He holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University, and has worked with numerous educational scholars, including Jeanne Chall, Isabel Beck, Marilyn Adams, Louisa Moats, and Dianne August, and others.

Visible Learning for Literacy, Grades K-12: Implementing the Practices That Work Best to Accelerate Student Learning


Douglas B. Fisher - 2016
    These practices are "visible" because their purpose is clear, they are implemented at the right moment in a student's learning, and their effect is tangible.Through dozens of classroom scenarios, learn how to use the right approach at the right time for surface, deep, and transfer learning and which routines are most effective at each phase of learning.

The Growth Mindset Coach: A Teacher's Month-by-Month Handbook for Empowering Students to Achieve


Annie Brock - 2016
    The Growth Mindset Coach provides all you need to foster a growth mindset classroom, including:A Month-by-Month ProgramResearch-Based ActivitiesHands-On Lesson PlansReal-Life Educator StoriesConstructive FeedbackSample Parent LettersStudies show that growth mindsets result in higher test scores, improved grades and more in-class involvement. When your students understand that their intelligence is not limited, they succeed like never before. With the tools in this book, you can motivate your students to believe in themselves and achieve anything.

The Bridge to Brilliance: How One Principal in a Tough Community Is Inspiring the World


Nadia Lopez - 2016
    Everything was an uphill battle--to get the school approved, to recruit faculty and students, to solve a million new problems every day, from violent crime to vanishing supplies--but Lopez was determined to break the downward spiral that had trapped too many inner-city children. The lessons came fast: unengaged teachers, wayward students, and the educational system itself, rarely in tune with the already disadvantaged and underprepared.Things were at a low ebb for everyone when one of her students told a photographer that his principal, "Ms. Lopez," was the person who most influenced his life. The posting on Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York site was the pebble that started a lucky landslide for Lopez and her team. Lopez found herself in the national spotlight and headed for a meeting with President Obama, as well as the beneficiary of a million-dollar campaign for the school, to fund her next dream: a field trip for her students to visit another school--Harvard.The Bridge to Brilliance is a book filled with common sense and caring that will carry her message to communities and classrooms far from Brooklyn. As she says, modestly, "There are hundreds of Ms. Lopezes around this country doing good work for kids. This honors all of them."

Kids Deserve It! Pushing Boundaries and Challenging Conventional Thinking


Todd Nesloney - 2016
    In Kids Deserve It!, Todd and Adam encourage you to think big and make learning fun and meaningful for students. While you're at it, you just might rediscover why you became an educator in the first place. Learn why you should be calling parents to praise your students (and employees). Discover ways to promote family interaction and improve relationships for kids at school and at home. Be inspired to take risks, shake up the status quo, and be a champion for your students. #KidsDeserveIt

The Trauma-Informed School: A Step-by-Step Implementation Guide for Administrators and School Personnel


Jim Sporleder - 2016
    

Self-Reg: How to Help Your Child (and You) Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage with Life


Stuart Shanker - 2016
    Rooted in decades of clinical practice and research by leading child psychologist Dr. Stuart Shanker, Self-Reg realigns the power of the parent-child relationship for positive change. Self-regulation is the nervous system's way of responding to stress. We are seeing a generation of children and teens with excessively high levels of stress and, as a result, an explosion of emotional, social, learning, behavior, and physical health problems. But few parents recognize the "hidden stressors" that their children are struggling with: physiological as well as social and emotional. An entrenched view of child rearing is seeing our children as lacking self-control or will-power, but the real basis for these problems lies in excessive stress.Self-regulation can dramatically improve a child's mood, attention, and concentration. It can help children to feel empathy and to develop the sorts of virtues that every parent knows are vital for their child's long-term well-being. Self-regulation brings about profound and lasting transformation that continues to mature throughout life. Shanker translates decades of his findings from working with children into practical, prescriptive advice for parents, giving them concrete ways to develop their self-regulation skills and teach their children how to do the same for optimal learning, social, and emotional growth as well as for overall well-being.

If You Were Me And Lived In ... Egypt: A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World


Carole P. Roman - 2016
    Roman when she visits the stunning and exciting land of Egypt in the newest book of her informative series. Learn why this ancient land often called "the cradle of civilization." Travel down the Nile to discover Egypt's fascinating history. See the land through the eyes of a youngster like you and understand what life is like in this exotic place. Don't forget to look at the other books in the series so that you can be an armchair world traveler.

The Big Book of Details: 46 Moves for Teaching Writers to Elaborate


Rozlyn Linder - 2016
     -Rozlyn LinderHave you ever told a writer to add more details, only to see their writing get longer not better? That's why Roz Linder wrote The Big Book of Details. To help our students use details and elaborate effectively, she writes, we need to find out what they want their writing to do, and then show them explicit moves to make it happen.Roz breaks elaboration into 5 categories and shares 46 lessons based on the moves that professional writers use. With if-then charts that connect student needs to just-right strategies, you'll help writers master details that:Describe for people, places, and thingsDance for showing action and sequencing eventsConvince for questions, persuasion, and argumentsInform for defining, comparing, and clarifyingSpeak for conversation and speech. The Big Book of Details supports planning and on-the-go teaching for one-on-one conferences, whole-class instruction, or commercial writing programs. Its lessons are organized to help kids understand each move quickly. Roz's strategy lessons include:examples from real-world writers the reason writers use the strategy advice for introducing it to writers ideas for guided practice with writers examples of one of Roz's famous classroom charts This is what I want for my students, writes Roz Linder, to use details in their writing in a meaningful way that conveys their ideas and their purpose. If you want that too, then make her Big Book of Details part of your teaching toolkit.

If You Were Me and Lived in... Poland: A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World


Carole P. Roman - 2016
    Roman when she visits Poland in the newest book of her informative series. Learn about the varied customs and cultures. Travel to Eastern Europe to discover what you would eat and do for fun. See the land through the eyes of a youngster like you and understand what life is like in this exciting place. Don't forget to look at the other books in the series so that you can be an armchair world traveler.

I AM...: Positive Affirmations for Brown Boys


Ayesha Rodriguez - 2016
    In this book for boys, author Ayesha Rodriguez uses rhyming verses, followed by a positive affirmation. I am and the words that follow are powerful. Repeated affirmations will build up your child’s self-esteem and transform his sense of self!

If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient China


Carole P. Roman - 2016
    Roman and travel through time to visit the most interesting civilizations throughout history in the first four books of her new series. Learn what kind of food you might eat in Ancient Greece, the clothes you wore in 15th century Renaissance Italy, what your name could be in Viking Europe, and what children in the Han Dynasty children did for fun. If You Were Me and Lived in...does for history what her other award-winning series did for culture. So get on-board this time-travel machine and discover the world through the eyes of a young person just like you.

The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries


Zoe Weil - 2016
    To create a more sustainable, equitable, and peaceful world, we must reimagine education and prepare a generation to be solutionaries—young people with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to create a better future. This book describes how we can (and must) transform education and teaching; create such a generation; and build such a future.

Play Like a Pirate: Engage Students with Toys, Games, and Comics


Quinn Rollins - 2016
    But what if school were fun - for you and your students? What would life be like if you felt excited about your lessons? Better yet, what if your students actually looked forward to your class every day? Yes! School can be simultaneously fun and educational. In fact, as Quinn Rollins explains in Play Like a PIRATE, when your class is engaging and entertaining, students are more likely to remember what they've learned. Invite kids to use their imaginations and help them create meaningful connections with your content by making play part of the learning experience. Play Like a Pirate shows you how! You'll learn: Why bringing passion to the classroom works - even if it isn't related to your subject. Why action figures, Hot Wheels, LEGO, and other toys belong in your classroom. Why comic books and graphic novels aren't "just for fun" How to use or create games that make content memorable all year long. In addition to insights that will help you remember why you became an educator in the first place, Play Like a Pirate includes practical strategies and QR code links to resources and templates that make it easy to integrate fun into your curriculum. Regardless of the grade level you teach, you'll find inspiration and ideas that will help you engage your students in unforgettable ways.

The Google Infused Classroom


Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith - 2016
    In this book, Holly Clark and Tanya Avrith, explore the ways in which technology can be purposefully used to amplify and disrupt the learning experience. This beautifully designed book walks teachers through the process of rethinking the delivery model of instruction and is focused around the ideas of using technology to make student thinking visible, give every student a voice and allowing them to share their work. The Google Infused Classroom is packed full of examples of how you can use just ten simple online tools, to completely transform your classroom. In addition, it includes a special section on student digital portfolios.

WASP QUEEN


Claudia Cortese - 2016
    Back home, Lucy decks the tree in Barbie heads, watches snow cut the landscape, all those little white knives. She leaves a hill of Jujubes where her mother’s ant traps should be. Lucy loves the carmine glory of her arm, the blood medals of a champion! She calls Milo to her, bites his fur till the roots let go. His yelps shine like sequins, the way snow is sequins, and her arms. Lucy demands Santa stitch her a skin of bees, that her screams be not sound but solid: a stinger that stings and stings. PRAISE FOR WASP QUEEN:Claudia Cortese has given to Lucy what Anne Carson has given to Geryon: a life as desperate and fraught as our own, which is to say, a human rendition of the poetic potential. Here, memory is a potent point of inner excavation, where the threshold of danger and love are often one beam, a beam in which Cortese navigates with harrowingly deft eyes and ears, where Lucy, like so many of us citizens of earth and flesh, "shines like a gun." Wasp Queen possesses something permanent and searing at its core: the will to live, even thrive, despite the shackles of childhood, despite even oneself. I finished this book only to read it all over again, finding and losing myself, gladly, at every turn.—Ocean VuongOpen this book to ANY PAGE! Then buy it and read it from start to finish, running the length of the strangest of lives. I LOVE Lucy who has been waiting to inform us that “the button that ignites the blaze is hidden in a mountain and one man knows how to find it.” Claudia Cortese’s masterpiece Wasp Queen will open you all the way up!—CAConradWasp Queen is astonishingly, importantly, disturbingly alive to so much that most writers would be afraid to engage with and then perform. Cortese graphically exposes and explores what it would mean if a young girl, brutalized by all that is considered allowable by the social norms of our debased culture, could actually speak her mind. This is the poison without antidote that positions us to experience with dread immediacy the suffering hidden within so many ‘normal’ homes. A subversively political work, Wasp Queen navigates the boundaries of a girlhood, conjuring damage with image after image—nothing is rationalized into explanation, only razored into our psyches. Cortese’s syntactic torsions are tight, rapid twists that expose a complex of contradictory desires and demands. All ring—no, I will say vibrate—with revelations regarding how such a childhood is formed, which a reader will find impossible to ignore or refute. Dare yourself entry, you too will “never forget when we fingered the dirt—it glowed.” —Rusty Morrison

If You Were Me and Lived in...Israel: A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World


Carole P. Roman - 2016
    Roman when she visits the exciting land of Israel in the newest book of her informative series. Learn about the varied customs and cultures. Travel to the Middle East to discover what you would eat and do for fun. See the land through the eyes of a youngster like you and understand what life is like in this exciting place. Don't forget to look at the other books in the series so that you can be an armchair world traveler.

Catching Ricebirds: A Story of Letting Vengeance Go


Marcus Doe - 2016
    Catching Ricebirds: A Story of Letting Vengeance Go is Marcus Doe's true story as a Liberian refugee who lost his family and fled his country, and ultimately learns to forgive and find peace again.Marcus Doe was born in Liberia, West Africa, in 1979. Affectionately nicknamed Jungle Boy by his family, he reveled in his childhood life and was hardly aware of the dangerous political climate swirling around him. But by mid-July 1990, a violent civil war erupted and Liberia was thrown into a time of fear, starvation, and death. Separated from his family, Marcus embarked on a remarkable journey to escape the war-ravaged country he loves and the wounds that he carries in his memory. Marcus's life unfolds in four movements: first as a young boy living in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, during a period of growing unrest; second as a refugee fleeing from rebel forces that would kill him and his family without a second thought; third as a wanderer in foreign countries (Ghana and the United States) unable to return to his childhood home; and finally as an adult, coming to grips with the loss he experienced and longing to see his own healing extend to others still haunted by Liberia's suffering. Where he had been filled with hatred, Marcus slowly learned to forgive. Now his mission is to bring the hope and the peace of Christ to others.Fans of the New York Times bestseller Unbroken about Louis Zamperini will love this story of one man's struggle to find redemption in the face of incredible hardship.

The Language Teacher Toolkit


Steve Smith - 2016
    It is a comprehensive and clearly written handbook, particularly useful for teachers of modern foreign languages (world languages) who work in high schools (secondary education). Written by two highly-experienced teachers with an interest in research and theory, it offers a reflective approach along with many practical classroom activities which can immediately be applied in daily teaching. The book closes with sample lessons for French, German and Spanish. Chapters include: - methods - classroom oral techniques - teaching in the target language - developing spontaneous talk - teaching grammar and vocabulary - listening, reading and writing - subject knowledge - using song, drama and games - assessment - using pictures - teaching advanced level students - technology - behaviour and motivation - evaluating and writing resources - translation - lesson planning - example lesson plans The busy languages teacher can quickly find ideas for enhancing practice, while insightful consideration of research helps create a basis for personal development in the field. The authors are two internationally well-known bloggers in the field of language teaching and applied linguistics: Steve Smith is a former Head of Languages, taught languages for over 30 years, holds an MA in applied linguistics, writes the very popular resources site frenchteacher.net and the widely-read blog frenchteachernet.com Dr Gianfranco Conti has taught languages for over twenty years, holds a PhD in applied linguistics, is as award-winning blogger and resource writer for TES and runs the popular interactive website language-gym.com

The Classroom Chef: Sharpen Your Lessons, Season Your Classes, Make Math Meaninful


John Stevens - 2016
    You can use these ideas and methods as-is, or better yet, tweak them and create your own enticing educational meals. The message the authors share is that, with imagination and preparation, every teacher can be a Classroom Chef.

If You Were Me and Lived in... the Ancient Mali Empire


Carole P. Roman - 2016
    Roman as she travels back in time to visit the exciting Ancient Empire of Mali in Africa during the 1300s. Learn about the varied customs and cultures. Travel to the past to discover what you would eat and do for fun. See the land and its rich history through the eyes of a youngster like you. Don't forget to look at the other books in the series so that you can be an armchair time traveler.

Get Better Faster: A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers


Paul Bambrick-Santoyo - 2016
    What does a teacher actually have to do to make sure students are following? Even the leader delivering this direction may not know, and the first-year teacher almost certainly doesn’t. The vast majority of teachers are only observed one or two times per year on average—and even among those who are observed, scarcely any are given feedback as to how they could improve. The bottom line is clear: teachers do not need to be evaluated so much as they need to be developed and coached. In Get Better Faster: A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo shares instructive tools of how school leaders can effectively guide new teachers to success. Over the course of the book, we break down the most critical actions leaders and teachers must enact to achieve exemplary results. Designed for coaches as well as beginning teachers, Get Better Faster is an integral coaching tool for any school leader eager to help their teachers succeed. It’s the book’s focus on the actionable—the practice-able—that drives effective coaching. By practicing the concrete actions and micro-skills listed here, teachers will markedly improve their ability to lead a class, producing a steady chain reaction of future teaching success. Though focused heavily on the first 90 days of teacher development, it’s possible to implement this work at any time. New and old teachers alike can benefit from the guidance of Get Better Faster and close their existing instructional gaps. Packed with practical training tools, including agendas, presentation slides, a coach’s guide, handouts, planning templates, and 35 video clips of real teachers at work, Get Better Faster will teach you: The core principles of coaching: Go Granular, Make Feedback More Frequent,  Top action steps to launch a teacher’s development in an easy-to-read scope and sequence guide The four phases of skill building: Phase 1 (Pre-Teaching): Dress Rehearsal Phase 2: Instant Immersion Phase 3: Getting into Gear Phase 4: The Power of Discourse

The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading book + The Guided Reading Teacher's Companion


Jan Richardson - 2016
    - Prompts, discussion starters, teaching points, word lists, intervention suggestions, and more to support all students, including dual language learners and struggling readers. - 29 comprehension modules that cover essential strategies—monitoring, retelling, inferring, summarizing, and many others. - Plus an online resource bank with dozens of downloadable assessment and record-keeping forms, Richardson’s all-new, stage-specific lesson plan templates.- More than 40 short videos showing Jan modeling key parts of guided reading lessons for every stage.- A handy flip-chart guide with prompts, discussion starters, and teaching points for use during guided reading to inform your next step forward.

Leadership Matters: How leaders at all levels create great schools


Andy Buck - 2016
    Andy takes in-depth and diagnostic approach, encouraging leaders at all levels in schools to think about their own personal qualities; their specific situation; their own leadership actions; and their own overall leadership approach.

Ministering Cross-Culturally: A Model for Effective Personal Relationships


Sherwood G. Lingenfelter - 2016
    On the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary, this contemporary classic has been thoroughly updated to reflect Sherwood Lingenfelter's mature thinking on the topic and to communicate with modern readers, helping them minister more effectively to people of different cultural and social backgrounds. It is accessible, practical, and applicable to many ministry situations. An accompanying interactive questionnaire, designed to help students reflect on their own cultural values, is available online through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.

The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum: A Tool for Assessment, Planning, and Teaching, Prek-8


Irene C. Fountas - 2016
    These behaviors and understandings describe what students will be expected to do in order to effectively read and understand the text.More in-depth, more intuitive, and more essential than ever-The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum, Expanded Edition enables teachers to construct a common vision for student achievement that effectively and efficiently engages all students in the robust, authentic and meaningful literacy learning every child deserves. The Literacy Continuum provides a way to look for specific evidence of learning from prekindergarten through grade eight, and across eight instructional contexts. Each instructional context contributes substantially, in different but complementary ways, to students' development of the literacy process. With this indispensable literacy tool, Fountas and Pinnell remind you of The Literacy Continuum's critical role in transforming literacy teaching and learning.(Re)Discover The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum, Expanded Edition to:elevate your language and literacy expertise develop an understanding of the demands of texts on readers build your understanding of the reading and writing process and how it changes over time hone your observation of students' literacy behaviors teach toward student integration of the Systems of Strategic Actions articulate the literacy curriculum within and across grade levels activate the responsive teaching that meets students where they are and brings them forward with intention and precision build professional learning opportunities with colleagues create a common vision and common language for literacy in your school. Look for these new enhancements inside: Streamlined organization and navigation Expanded behaviors and examples across the continua First appearance of a behavior or goal or text characteristic is indicated by a red square (Behaviors are acquired and then elaborated over time) Clear organization of and explicit links to the Systems of Strategic Actions Four-color design for clarity and focus Also check out our on-demand mini-course: Thinking and Talking About Books Across the Day.

If You Were Me and Lived in...Brazil: A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World


Carole P. Roman - 2016
    Roman when she visits the stunning and diverse land of Brazil in the newest book of her informative series. Learn about the varied customs and cultures. Travel to South America to discover what you would eat and do for fun. See the land through the eyes of a youngster like you and understand what life is like in this exciting place. Don't forget to look at the other books in the series so that you can be an armchair world traveler.

The Write Stuff


Jane Considine - 2016
    The methods explained are effective, exciting and they work. What makes good writing? More importantly, what makes a good teacher of writing? This book is for busy teachers and interested parents overwhelmed by curriculum change and inundated with educational initiatives. It has been written to bring clarity to an arena where so much data is available but this data is not transferred to useful information or to effective practice. "This is a must have book for every school teacher, who will ask themselves "How on earth did I teach kids to write before I read this book?"" Rob Smith - Literacy Shed "Before I met Jane Considine I was working really hard on the wrong things. The FANTASTICs, GRAMMARISTICs and BOOMTASTICs have changed how I teach for life! Pupils respond so well to the structure and understand how to build effective pieces of writing." Gill Clarke - Carlton Primary School

The Journey Is Everything: Teaching Essays That Students Want to Write for People Who Want to Read Them


Katherine Bomer - 2016
     -Katherine BomerSadly, many students only know essay as a 5-paragraph, tightly structured writing assignment that must check all the boxes of a standardized formula. How did essays in school get so far away from essays in the world? Katherine makes a powerful case for teaching the essay as a way to restore writing to think-that it is in fact necessary for students' success in college and career. Essay helps students write flexibly, fluently, and with emboldened voices, she writes in The Journey Is Everything, qualities they can translate into any assigned writing task in school or in life. She argues that the close reading of essays fulfills the recommendations of state and national standards, while practice in essay writing leads to better academic and test writing. More importantly, Essay gives its author the space, time, and freedom to think about and make sense of things, take a journey of discovery, and speak her mind, without boundaries.Don't students deserve the chance to develop their own topics, discover their own writing voices, and learn to structure prose organically, according to the content? Katherine gives you tools, strategies, and activities to bring a unit on more authentic writing into your practice. Rediscover the power of the essay to bring out students' true thinking-their true selves. Because after all, the journey is everything.

Visible Learning for Mathematics, Grades K-12: What Works Best to Optimize Student Learning (Corwin Mathematics Series)


John Hattie - 2016
    This results in “visible” learning because the effect is tangible. The framework is forged out of current research in mathematics combined with John Hattie’s synthesis of more than 15 years of education research involving 300 million students. Chapter by chapter, and equipped with video clips, planning tools, rubrics, and templates, you get the inside track on which instructional strategies to use at each phase of the learning cycle: Surface learning phase: When—through carefully constructed experiences—students explore new concepts and make connections to procedural skills and vocabulary that give shape to developing conceptual understandings.Deep learning phase: When—through the solving of rich high-cognitive tasks and rigorous discussion—students make connections among conceptual ideas, form mathematical generalizations, and apply and practice procedural skills with fluency.Transfer phase: When students can independently think through more complex mathematics, and can plan, investigate, and elaborate as they apply what they know to new mathematical situations. To equip students for higher-level mathematics learning, we have to be clear about where students are, where they need to go, and what it looks like when they get there. Visible Learning for Math brings about powerful, precision teaching for K-12 through intentionally designed guided, collaborative, and independent learning.

Pocket Prayers for Teachers: 40 Simple Prayers That Bring Peace and Renewal


Max Lucado - 2016
    Where would we be without them? But a teacher's job is often a difficult one. Sometimes anxiety and exhaustion become the norm. For those in need of a little peace and renewal, Max Lucado points to the Teacher who offered just that.Suited for gift-giving and written especially for those special people who inspire our students, Pocket Prayers for Teachers containsPrayers for Inspiration and EncouragementPrayers for Clarity and CreativityPrayers for Love and PatiencePrayers for Peace and ProtectionPrayers for Integrity and GracePrayers for Strength and EnduranceToday, lift the spirits of your favorite teacher.

Courageous Edventures: Navigating Obstacles to Discover Classroom Innovation


Jennie Magiera - 2016
    Packed with lesson plans, examples, and solutions, Courageous Edventures will show you: How to create your own Teacher-IEP (Innovation Exploration Plan) Strategies and solutions for tackling common educational technology problems Methods for putting learning into the hands of students How to find innovation in everyday places

Chicano Movement For Beginners


Maceo Montoya - 2016
    Thus, "Chicano Movement For Beginners" is an important attempt to stave off historical amnesia. It seeks to shed light on the multifaceted civil rights struggle known as "El Movimiento" that galvanized the Mexican American community, from laborers to student activists, giving them not only a political voice to combat prejudice and inequality, but also a new sense of cultural awareness and ethnic pride.Beyond commemorating the past, "Chicano Movement For Beginners" seeks to reaffirm the goals and spirit of the Chicano Movement for the simple reason that many of the critical issues Mexican American activists first brought to the nation's attention then--educational disadvantage, endemic poverty, political exclusion, and social bias--remain as pervasive as ever almost half a century later."

Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom


Kristin Van Marter Souers - 2016
    The authors--a mental health therapist and a veteran principal--provide proven, reliable strategies to help youUnderstand what trauma is and how it hinders the learning, motivation, and success of all students in the classroom. Build strong relationships and create a safe space to enable students to learn at high levels. Adopt a strengths-based approach that leads you to recalibrate how you view destructive student behaviors and to perceive what students need to break negative cycles. Head off frustration and burnout with essential self-care techniques that will help you and your students flourish.Each chapter also includes questions and exercises to encourage reflection and extension of the ideas in this book. As an educator, you face the impact of trauma in the classroom every day. Let this book be your guide to seeking solutions rather than dwelling on problems, to building relationships that allow students to grow, thrive, and--most assuredly--learn at high levels.

Pete the Cat Giant Sticker Book


James Dean - 2016
    Full of a variety of fun pages, Pete fans can decorate groovy scenes with their favorite picture book characters!This interactive workbook is the first Pete the Cat sticker-activity book. It’s the perfect entertainment for any family on the go. Bring it along on vacations, road trips, and to restaurants!

Why Knowledge Matters: Rescuing Our Children from Failed Educational Theories


E.D. Hirsch Jr. - 2016
    D. Hirsch, Jr., presents evidence from cognitive science, sociology, and education history to further the argument for a knowledge-based elementary curriculum.Influential scholar Hirsch, author of The Knowledge Deficit, asserts that a carefully planned curriculum that imparts communal knowledge is essential in achieving one of the most fundamental aims and objectives of education: preparing students for lifelong success. Hirsch examines historical and contemporary evidence from the United States and other nations, including France, and affirms that a knowledge-based approach has improved both achievement and equity in schools where it has been instituted.In contrast, educational change of the past several decades in the United States has endorsed a skills-based approach, founded on, Hirsch points out, many incorrect assumptions about child development and how children learn. He recommends new policies that are better aligned with our current understanding of neuroscience, developmental psychology, and social science.The book focuses on six persistent problems that merit the attention of contemporary education reform: the over-testing of students in the name of educational accountability; the scapegoating of teachers; the fadeout of preschool gains; the narrowing of the curriculum to crowd out history, geography, science, literature, and the arts; the achievement gap between demographic groups; and the reliance on standards, such as the Common Core State Standards, that are not linked to a rigorous curriculum.Why Knowledge Matters makes a clear case for educational innovation and introduces a new generation of American educators to Hirsch’s astute and passionate analysis.

The ABCs of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically Proven Approaches, How They Work, and When to Use Them


Daniel L. Schwartz - 2016
    The purpose of this book is to present this new science of learning so that educators can creatively translate the science into exceptional practice. The book is highly appropriate for the preparation and professional development of teachers and college faculty, but also parents, trainers, instructional designers, psychology students, and simply curious folks interested in improving their own learning.Based on a popular Stanford University course, The ABCs of How We Learn uses a novel format that is suitable as both a textbook and a popular read. With everyday language, engaging examples, a sense of humor, and solid evidence, it describes 26 unique ways that students learn.Each chapter offers a concise and approachable breakdown of one way people learn, how it works, how we know it works, how and when to use it, and what mistakes to avoid. The book presents learning research in a way that educators can creatively translate into exceptional lessons and classroom practice.The book covers field-defining learning theories ranging from behaviorism (R is for Reward) to cognitive psychology (S is for Self-Explanation) to social psychology (O is for Observation). The chapters also introduce lesser-known theories exceptionally relevant to practice, such as arousal theory (X is for eXcitement). Together the theories, evidence, and strategies from each chapter can be combined endlessly to create original and effective learning plans and the means to know if they succeed.

Teaching and Learning Stem: A Practical Guide


Richard M. Felder - 2016
    The book draws on the authors' extensive backgrounds and decades of experience in STEM education and faculty development. Its engaging and well-illustrated descriptions will equip you to implement the strategies in your courses and to deal effectively with problems (including student resistance) that might occur in the implementation. The book will help you:Plan and conduct class sessions in which students are actively engaged, no matter how large the class is Make good use of technology in face-to-face, online, and hybrid courses and flipped classrooms Assess how well students are acquiring the knowledge, skills, and conceptual understanding the course is designed to teach Help students develop expert problem-solving skills and skills in communication, creative thinking, critical thinking, high-performance teamwork, and self-directed learning Meet the learning needs of STEM students with a broad diversity of attributes and backgrounds The strategies presented in Teaching and Learning STEM don't require revolutionary time-intensive changes in your teaching, but rather a gradual integration of traditional and new methods. The result will be continual improvement in your teaching and your students' learning.More information about Teaching and Learning STEM can be found at http: //educationdesignsinc.com/book including its preface, foreword, table of contents, first chapter, a reading guide, and reviews in 10 prominent STEM education journals.

Blood Sugar Canto


Ire'ne Lara Silva - 2016
    Blood Sugar Canto, Ire'ne Lara Silva's third book, is a powerful hymn to life and to her own body by a "curandera-poet" struggling to transmute the fear and despair of diabetes into healing.She sings of the syringes, the paraphernalia of this new world she must live in, its losses and griefs, its pain, and her memories of those in her family who have died of this disease.

Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge


Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo - 2016
    There are the rich and vibrant stories of her Mexican grandparents and parents, stories she carries with her and finds still relevant in modern-day Los Angeles; there is a traditional view of womanhood and the reality of being a contemporary woman in the United States; there is a straddle of Spanish and English, a clamor of tongues; there is the dividing actual line between Mexico and the United States, which people risk their lives to cross each day. To the people, not so different than herself, she writes, 'I promise you are not invisible, nor discarded, people traveling when the land is dark.'”-Terry Wolverton, Author of Embers

Grammar to Get Things Done: A Practical Guide for Teachers Anchored in Real-World Usage


Darren Crovitz - 2016
    It shows how form, function, and use can help teachers move away from decontextualized grammar instruction (such as worksheets and exercises emphasizing rule-following and memorizing conventional definitions) and begin considering grammar in applied contexts of everyday use. Modules (organized by units) succinctly explain common grammatical concepts. These modules help English teachers gain confidence in their own understanding while positioning grammar instruction as an opportunity to discuss, analyze, and produce language for real purposes in the world. An important feature of the text is attention to both the history of and current attitudes about grammar through a sociocultural lens, with ideas for teachers to bring discussions of language-as-power into their own classrooms.

Teacher: Two Years in the Mississippi Delta


Michael Copperman - 2016
    Well-meaning but naive, the Asian American from the West Coast soon lost his bearings in a world divided between black and white. He had no idea how to manage a classroom or help children navigate the considerable challenges they faced. In trying to help students, he often found he couldn't afford to give what they required--sometimes with heartbreaking consequences. His desperate efforts to save child after child were misguided but sincere. He offered children the best invitations to success he could manage. But he still felt like an outsider who was failing the children and himself.Teach For America has for a decade been the nation's largest employer of recent college graduates but has come under increasing criticism in recent years even as it has grown exponentially. This memoir considers the distance between the idealism of the organization's creed that "One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education and reach their full potential" and what it actually means to teach in America's poorest and most troubled public schools.Copperman's memoir vividly captures his disorientation in the divided world of the Delta, even as the author marvels at the wit and resilience of the children in his classroom. To them, he is at once an authority figure and a stranger minority than even they are--a lone Asian, an outsider among outsiders. His journey is of great relevance to teachers, administrators, and parents longing for quality education in America. His frank story shows that the solutions for impoverished schools are far from simple.

For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education


Christopher Emdin - 2016
    He begins by taking to task the perception of urban youth of color as unteachable, and he challenges educators to embrace and respect each student’s culture and to reimagine the classroom as a site where roles are reversed and students become the experts in their own learning.Putting forth his theory of Reality Pedagogy, Emdin provides practical tools to unleash the brilliance and eagerness of youth and educators alike—both of whom have been typecast and stymied by outdated modes of thinking about urban education. With this fresh and engaging new pedagogical vision, Emdin demonstrates the importance of creating a family structure and building communities within the classroom, using culturally relevant strategies like hip-hop music and call-and-response, and connecting the experiences of urban youth to indigenous populations globally. Merging real stories with theory, research, and practice, Emdin demonstrates how by implementing the “Seven C’s” of reality pedagogy in their own classrooms, urban youth of color benefit from truly transformative education.Lively, accessible, and revelatory, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y’all Too is the much-needed antidote to traditional top-down pedagogy and promises to radically reframe the landscape of urban education for the better.

Spelling It Out: How Words Work and How to Teach Them


Misty Adoniou - 2016
    Yet the spelling of words in English is not as random or chaotic as it is often perceived to be; rather, it is a system based on both meaning and a fascinating linguistic history. Misty Adoniou's public articles on the processes of teaching and learning spelling have garnered an overwhelming response from concerned parents and teachers looking for effective solutions to the problems they face in teaching English spelling to children. Spelling It Out aims to ease anxiety and crush the myth that good spelling comes naturally. Good spelling comes from good teaching. Based on Misty Adoniou's extensive research into spelling learning and instruction, this book encourages children and adults to nurture a curiosity about words, discover their history and, in so doing, understand the logic behind the way they are spelled.

Routines for Reasoning: Fostering the Mathematical Practices in All Students


Grace Kelemanik - 2016
    - Elham Kazemi, Geda and Phil Condit Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Washington; coauthor of Intentional TalkThis book is a must read for every K-12 teacher serious about shifting the nature of learning mathematics in the next decade. -Timothy D. Kanold, Former Director of Mathematics and Science, and School Superintendent, Adlai E. Stevenson HSD 125 Routines can keep your classroom running smoothly. Now imagine having a set of routines focused not on classroom management, but on helping students develop their mathematical thinking skills. Routines for Reasoning provides expert guidance for weaving the Standards for Mathematical Practice into your teaching by harnessing the power of classroom-tested instructional routines.Grace Kelemanik, Amy Lucenta, and Susan Janssen Creighton have applied their extensive experience teaching mathematics and supporting teachers to crafting routines that are practical teaching and learning tools, including:Capturing Quantities encouraging abstract and quantitative reasoningConnecting Representations noticing and using mathematical structureRecognizing Repetition developing repeated reasoning skillsThree Reads starting and sustaining thinking in problem solving situations Each routine provides a familiar, accessible structure that supports repeated use until the steps to follow, thinking skills to employ, and questions to ask become automatic-enabling all students to engage more fully in learning opportunities while building crucial mathematical thinking habits.Teaching students to think and reason is perhaps the greatest challenge we face as math educators, the authors remind us, and these routines provide clear pathways to do so. Far beyond simply a collection of strategies, Routines for Reasoning provides significant support for getting started with these routines, incorporating them into the rhythm of your classroom, and ultimately building toward student independence.

Notes on My Dunce Cap


Jesse Ball - 2016
    Ball is renowned for the unique courses he teaches at the Art Institute of Chicago, which are compiled in this volume along with extended notes on pedagogy. His meditations consider pedagogy in terms that are at once usefully broad and insightfully profound: When it is possible for any of us to simply go and sit somewhere in the grass, and when it is such a delightful thing to do, to go and sit in the grass, whether by oneself or with others, then it is important to remember that anytime we think about teaching, or indeed, about any other activity--that we do it instead of sitting somewhere in the grass. We are passing up on the joy of solitude, and all its virtues and pleasures. Therefore, it is crucial that what happens when we teach be of the same value as time spent alone. And that is true both for ourselves and for those we teach. Jesse Ball (born 1978) is the author of five novels, including The Curfew, Silence Once Begun and A Cure for Suicide, which was longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award, as well as several collections of poetry, including March Book. His work has appeared in numerous publications including The New Republic, The Paris Review, Oberon, Circumference and Guernica Magazine.

Heart Maps: Helping Students Create and Craft Authentic Writing


Georgia Heard - 2016
    -Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer You'll find yourself relying on this book again and again as a trusted source as you help your student writers craft a writing life. -Jennifer Serravallo, author of The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book How do we get students to ache with caring about their writing instead of mechanically stringing words together? We spend a lot of time teaching the craft of writing but we also need to devote time to helping students write with purpose and meaning. For decades, Georgia Heard has guided students into more authentic writing experiences by using heart maps to explore what we all hold inside: feelings, passions, vulnerabilities, and wonderings. In Heart Maps, Georgia shares 20 unique, multi-genre heart maps to help your students write from the heart, such as the First Time Heart Map, Family Quilt Heart Map, and People I Admire Heart Map. You'll also find extensive support for using heart maps, including:tips for getting started with heart maps writing ideas to jumpstart student writing in multiple genres from heart maps suggested mentor texts to provide additional inspiration For twenty years I've been a tour guide of sorts for heart-mapping writers, says Georgia. All you need is paper, pen, an open heart and a willingness to explore what matters to you. It is this freedom, this idea of discovery, that makes heart-mapping so inviting; students find they have a lot to write about both beloved and newly discovered topics.Filled with full-color student heart maps, examples of the resulting writing, along with online access to 20 different uniquely designed reproducible heart map templates, Heart Maps will be a practical tool for awakening new writing possibilities and engaging and motivating your students' writing throughout the year.

Every Child a Super Reader


Pam Allyn - 2016
    When we take children's key strengths and immerse them in an intellectually invigorating, emotionally nurturing, literature-rich community, we grow "super readers"—avid readers who consume texts with passion, understanding, and a critical eye.Organized around the 7 Strengths inherent in super readers (belonging, curiosity, friendship, kindness, confidence, courage, and hope), this powerful resource helps children:• Develop reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills • Learn comprehension strategies• Build a robust vocabulary• Deepen analytical prowess and an ability to talk and write about text• Develop empathy, a strong identity as a reader, and an expanded understanding of the worldFeaturing stirring reading and writing lessons, robust assessment tools, ready-to-share Family Guides, and embedded videos that illuminate the 7 strengths and more, Every Child a Super Reader shows teachers, parents, caregivers, and out-of-school providers why reading is the ultimate super power, opening a world of possible for every student.

Teaching in the Savior's Way


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - 2016
    

The Big Book of Nature Activities: A Year-Round Guide to Outdoor Learning


Jacob Rodenburg - 2016
    Soaring levels of obesity, high rates of ADHD, feelings of stress and social awkwardness, and "Nature Deficit Disorder" are further unintended consequences of a childhood spent primarily indoors.The Big Book of Nature Activities is a comprehensive guide for parents and educators to help youth of all ages explore, appreciate and connect with the natural world. This rich, fully illustrated compendium features:Nature-based skills and activities such as species identification, photography, journaling, and the judicious use of digital technology Ideas, games, and activities grounded in what's happening in nature each season Core concepts that promote environmental literacy, such as climate change and the mechanisms and wonder of evolution, explained using a child-friendly, engaging approach Lists of key species and happenings to observe throughout the year across most of North AmericaPerfect for families, educators, and youth leaders , The Big Book of Nature Activities is packed with crafts, stories, information and inspiration to make outdoor learning fun.Jacob Rodenburg is the Executive Director of the Camp Kawartha summer camp and outdoor education centre. As well as publishing numerous articles on children, nature and the environment, he has worked in the field of outdoor education for twenty-five years.Drew Monkman is an award-winning environmental advocate, naturalist, and retired teacher. In addition to his weekly nature column, Drew is the author of two season-based nature guides, including Nature's Year.

If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages


Carole P. Roman - 2016
    Roman and travel through time to visit the most interesting civilizations throughout history in her exciting new series. Learn what kind of food you might have eaten during the Middle Ages, the clothes you might wear, what your name could be, and children did for fun. If You Were Me and Lived in...does for history what her other award-winning series did for culture. So get on-board this time-travel machine and discover the world through the eyes of a young person just like you.

Craft Moves: Lesson Sets for Teaching Writing with Mentor Texts


Stacey Shubitz - 2016
    A step-by-step guide demonstrates how to analyze a picture book for multiple craft moves.Shubitz introduces picture books as teaching tools and offers ways to integrate them into your curriculum and classroom discussions. She then shares different routines and classroom procedures designed to help students focus on their writing during the writer's workshop as well as focusing how teachers can prepare for small group instruction. Using picture books as mentor texts will help your students not only read as writers and write with joy but also become writers who can effectively communicate meaning, structure their writing, write with detail, and give their writing their own unique voice.

100 TESOL Activities for Teachers: Practical ESL/EFL Activities for the Communicative Classroom


Shane Dixon - 2016
    Designed to be practical, these techniques support the general need to communicate, interact, and make language come alive in the classroom. The manual is organized into 3 distinct parts.* The first section introduces teachers to some of the most common activities in English language teaching, followed by activities categorized by reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and icebreakers.*The second section provides a unique model of lesson planning. This adaptable model helps teachers prepare organized routines to make classes more effective and easier to prepare. Includes activities for discussion, giving instructions, guided and less-guided practice, and independent practice. * The third section includes downloadable, photocopiable worksheets for the activities described in the manual.

Get Better Faster: How to Develop a Rookie Teacher in 90 Days


Paul Bambrick-Santoyo - 2016
    Filled to the brim with the coaching techniques to get them there, the book contains every tool you need to guide your own cohort of teachers to success, staring today.

Teaching Lexically: Principles and Practice


Hugh Dellar - 2016
    Teaching Lexically shows what a lexical view of language looks like, and explores how it differs from a more traditional 'grammar + words' view. It then considers what implications such a view might have for classroom practice. At the heart of Teaching Lexically are three main ideas: * Grammar and vocabulary are both taught better in combination. * Context is absolutely central. * Classrooms need to be input-rich; and input needs to be useful. Teaching Lexically contains three distinctive parts which focus in turn on theory, practice and development. Part A provides a detailed exploration of the core ideas behind lexical teaching. The authors begin with the principles that explain how and why people learn, before presenting two competing views of language - 'grammar + words' (and skills) and a lexical view. They close with an in-depth exploration of how language looks when seen from a lexical perspective. Part B contains a bank of activities that puts into practice the particular principles related to such areas of teaching as vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening, and so on. These activities are designed to be applied to any classroom material, and to help teachers build up their own repertoire of lexically-rooted techniques. Part C addresses some of the issues and implications involved in where and how lexical teaching may be applied. It also considers how teacher training and development can become more lexically-oriented, finally suggesting ways to develop as a lexical materials writer.

Whole Child Reading: A Quick-Start Guide to Teaching Students with Down Syndrome and Other Developmental Delays


Natalie Hale - 2016
    Written for today's busy parents and teachers, this easy-to-use guide explains how to "go in through the heart" to hook beginning and struggling readers. The methods in the book can be adapted for learners of any age who are reading at a third grade level or below. If you have at least five minutes a day to work on reading, you have enough time to get started using Whole Child Reading!

Penny Ur's 100 Teaching Tips Pocket Editions: Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers


Penny Ur - 2016
    Tried and tested teaching tips for language teachers. It provides a set of 100 hands-on tips on 19 different areas of classroom teaching, including using a coursebook, giving and checking homework, classroom discipline, testing and assessment. The clear and concise advice is accompanied by brief explanatory notes based on the author's extensive teaching experience.

Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student


John Spencer - 2016
    They discover powerful skills—problem-solving, critical thinking, and imagination—that will help them shape the world’s future … our future. If that’s true, why isn’t creativity a priority in more schools today?Educators John Spencer and A.J. Juliani know firsthand the challenges teachers face every day: School can be busy. Materials can be scarce. The creative process can seem confusing. Curriculum requirements can feel limiting. Those challenges too often bully creativity, pushing it to the side as an “enrichment activity” that gets put off or squeezed into the tiniest time block. We can do better. We must do better if we’re going to prepare students for their future.LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student provides a process that can be incorporated into every class at every grade level ... even if you don’t consider yourself a “creative teacher.” And if you dare to innovate and view creativity as an essential skill, you will empower your students to change the world—starting right now. Look, Listen, and LearnAsk Lots of QuestionsUnderstand the Problem or ProcessNavigate IdeasCreateHighlight What’s Working and FailingAre you ready to LAUNCH?"Required reading for every teacher who cares. A dramatic re-framing and a road map on how to rebuild our schools from the inside." —Seth Godin, author of Stop Stealing Dreams“All kids walk into school curious and creative. This book will help weave a path to ensure that these traits are not only maintained, but accentuated when those same students leave.” —George Couros, author of The Innovator’s Mindset“The LAUNCH framework John Spencer and A.J. Juliani present has the potential to dramatically change classrooms to be more engaging, student centric, and most of all, fun!” —Dr. Jackie Gerstein, online faculty for master’s degree programs in educational technology“This book, crafted by John and A.J., provides educators with a series of actionable steps regarding design thinking, while simultaneously dispelling common myths and dissolving perceived roadblocks to success.” —Sarah Thomas, regional technology coordinator, founder of #EduMatch

The sharing circle


Theresa “Corky” Larsen-Jonasson - 2016
    -- Publisher's website

Hacking Literacy: 5 Ways To Turn Any Classroom Into a Culture of Readers (Hack Learning Series Book 6)


Gerard Dawson - 2016
    Dawson cuts through outdated pedagogy and standardization, turning reading theory to practice, sharing powerful reading strategies, and providing what Hack Learning Series readers have come to expect--actionable, do-it-tomorrow strategies that can be built into long-term solutions.  Ignite lifelong readers today The struggle to get students to read has ended. With a little commitment from teachers, parents, and school leaders, all of your students will read every single day! It all happens when you implement Gerard Dawson's powerful system, clearly outlined in this book: Focus on the Reader Adapt Reading Culture to Fit Curriculum Develop a Classroom Library Implement Assessments that Build Community Spotlight Reading in Your School. What separates Hacking Literacy from other reading books? Dawson provides step-by-step implementation strategies for putting books in kids' hands without breaking the bank and for sparking a genuine love of reading in even the most reluctant readers. This experienced, thoughtful, pragmatic classroom teacher shares amazing, real anecdotes that make you feel like you are a guest at a school filled with avid readers. Along the way, Dawson shares practical solutions that you and all stakeholders will love, using the popular Hack Learning formula: The Problem (a single leadership issue that needs a Hacker's mentality) The Hack (a surprisingly easy solution that you've likely never considered) What You Can Do Tomorrow (no waiting necessary; you can lead from the middle immediately) Blueprint for Full Implementation (a step-by-step action plan for capacity building) The Hack in Action (yes, people have actually done this) Are you ready for your own culture of readers?  Scroll up and grab your copy of Hacking Literacy now.

Temple Reflections: Insights into the House of the Lord


Alonzo L. Gaskill - 2016
    

Number Talks: Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages: A Multimedia Professional Learning Resource


Sherry Parrish - 2016
    A five- to fifteen-minute classroom conversation around purposefully crafted problems that are solved mentally.2. The best part of a teacher’s day. This dynamic multimedia resource was created in response to the requests of teachers—those who want to implement number talks but are unsure of how to begin and those with experience who want more guidance in crafting purposeful problems. It supports teachers in understanding: • what a classroom number talk is; • how to follow students’ thinking and pose the right questions to build understanding; • how to prepare for and design purposeful number talks; and • how to develop fractional reasoning and strategies for operating with fractions, decimals, and percentages.  Number Talks supports the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.Video Clips The online video clips provide a visual platform for teachers to reflect on their current practices and target essential understandings from their readings. The video clips feature number talks filmed in actual classrooms grades 3–6. Clips range from one to ten minutes in length with a total viewing time of approximately two hours. The resource includes reference tables to help you quickly and easily locate the video clips by chapter and grade level.Reproducibles More than 150 pages of user-friendly, reproducible area, set, and linear models from Chapters 4, 6, 7, and 8 are available. To learn more, visit mathsolutions.com/numbertalksfdp_repr....

What Every Teacher Needs to Know About Psychology


David Didau - 2016
    Although what we know about the workings of the human brain is still pitifully little, the science of psychology can and has revealed certain surprising findings that teachers would do well to heed.Over the past few decades, psychological research has made real strides into understanding how we learn, but it's only in the last few years that education has become aware of these insights. Part of the problem is a tendency amongst teachers to resist being told 'what works' if it conflicts with intuition. Whilst we cannot and should not relinquish our professional judgement in the face of outlandish claims, we should at least be aware of what scientists have discovered about learning, thinking, motivation, behaviour and assessment over the past few decades.This though is far easier said than done. Every year thousands of research papers are published, some of which contradict each other. How can busy teachers know which research is worth investing time in reading and understanding?Here, David Didau and Nick Rose attempt to lay out the evidence and theoretical perspectives on what we believe are the most important and useful psychological principles of which teacher ought to be aware. That is not to say this book contains everything you might ever need to know - there is no way it could - it is merely a primer. We hope that you are inspired to read and explore some of the sources for yourself and see what other principles can find a home in your classroom. Some of what we present may be surprising, some dubious, but some in danger of being dismissed as 'blindingly obvious'.Before embracing or dismissing any of these principles we urge you to interrogate the evidence and think carefully about the advice we offer. While nothing works everywhere and everything might work somewhere, this is a guide to what we consider the best bets from the realm of psychology.

High Expectations Teaching: How We Persuade Students to Believe and Act on "Smart Is Something You Can Get"


Jonathon (Jon) D Saphier - 2016
     With the publication of High-Expectations Teaching, Jon Saphier reveals once and for all evidence that the bell curve of ability is plain wrong--that ability is something that can be grown significantly if we can first help students to believe in themselves. In drill-down detail, Saphier provides an instructional playbook for increasing student confidence and agency in the daily flow of classroom life:Powerful strategies for attribution retraining, organized around 50 Ways to Get Students to Believe in Themselves Concrete examples, scripts, and classroom structures and routines for empowering student agency and choice Dozens of accompanying videos showing high-expectations strategies in action All children in all schools, regardless of income or social class, will benefit from the strategies in this book. But for children of poverty and children of color, our proficiency with these skills is essential . . . in many ways life saving. Jon Saphier challenges us all--educators, students, and parents--to get started today. About Jon Saphier The author of nine books, including The Skillful Teacher, Jon Saphier is founder and president of Research for Better Teaching, Inc. (RBT), a professional development organization dedicated since 1979 to improving classroom teaching and school leadership throughout the United States and internationally.

Beyond Satisfaction: The Secret to Crafting a Profitable Online Course That Will Change Lives


Breanne Dyck - 2016
    If your business is to grow and thrive, you need to create transformational learning experiences that delight customers. That’s where Beyond Satisfaction comes in. In Beyond Satisfaction, you’ll discover the underlying principles of transformative learning. With extensive case studies and action steps, you’ll be able to easily apply the principles to your own courses and programs.No longer will you have to wonder what it takes to create the transformational online course, workshop or program you’ve been dreaming of. With Beyond Satisfaction, you get a playbook for creating a course that truly gets results.If you—or your customers—are getting jaded about the online course marketplace, this book is for you. If you’re just getting started with online training and want to create something remarkable, this is for you. If you want to maximize your impact and make a dent in the world, this book is for you.It’s time to go Beyond Satisfaction.

High Challenge, Low Threat: How the Best Leaders Find the Balance


Mary Myatt - 2016
    It is the quality of these, whatever the size of the organisation, which make the difference between organisations which thrive, and those which stagnate.This is not to argue for soft, easy and comfortable options. Instead it considers how top leaders manage to walk the line between the impossible and the possible, between the undoable and the doable, and to create conditions for productive work which transcend the difficulties which come towards us every day. Instead of dodging them, they embrace them. And by navigating high challenge, low threat, they show how others how to do the same.

The Joyful Classroom: Practical Ways to Engage and Challenge Students K-6


Responsive Classroom - 2016
    In this book, you'll find practical, ready-to-use strategies for creating active and exciting lessons. You'll learn about: Partnering and grouping students for optimum learning; using interactive learning structures such as Maitre d' and Swap Meets to support active learning; incorporating acting, drawing, debating, and more into daily lessons while still meeting rigorous learning goals; infusing lessons with choices in what or how to learn to increase students' ownership of their learning; and more.

Tell Me So I Can Hear You: A Developmental Approach to Feedback for Educators


Eleanor Drago-Severson - 2016
    Drawing on constructive-developmental theory, the authors describe four stages of adult growth and development and explain how to differentiate feedback for colleagues with different “ways of knowing,” which include: • Instrumental knowers, who tend to see things in black and white (“Did I do it right or wrong?”) and may need to develop the capacity for reflection. • Socializing knowers, who are concerned with maintaining relationships (“What do you want me to do?”) and may need support developing their own ideas. • Self-authoring knowers, who have strong ideologies and values (“How does this fit with my goals and vision?”) and may need help with perspective taking. • Self-transformative knowers, who are able to examine issues from multiple points of view (“How can I understand this more deeply?”) and may need guidance in resolving tensions and contradictions. The authors show how leaders can provide feedback in ways that “meet people where they are” while expanding the developmental capacities educators bring to their work. Drago-Severson and Blum-DeStefano provide real-life examples with practical strategies for creating a safe space for feedback, finding the right words, and bridging feedback and action. Tell Me So I Can Hear You offers invaluable guidance to help educators support a culture of learning in classrooms, schools, and districts.

Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Writing: With More Than 50 Texts from National Geographic, the New York Times, Prevention, the Washington Post, Smithsonian, Harvard Business Review and Many Others


Harvey Daniels - 2016
    Classes feel crisper and more energetic; there is flow between writing and talking, reflection and action." Three text set lessons designed to be studied, written about, and debated together are divided into three nonfiction writing genres:- Narrative Nonfiction - Explanatory/Informational - Persuasive texts/argumentativeNEW! A new web support feature in this edition includes downloadable copies of all the texts, articles, forms, prompts, and images that accompany lessons. Writing to learn in your content area has never been so cool-or so easy.https: //samplechapters.heinemann.com/texts-an...

CliffsNotes CSET Multiple Subjects 4th Edition


BTPS Testing - 2016
    Given California's adoption of the Common Core State Standards, their revising the CSET Multiple Subjects exam means CliffsNotes' revising this test-prep study guide.Individuals who want to teach at the elementary school level in California must pass the CSET Multiple Subjects exam, which is divided into three subtests:English Language Arts, History, and Social ScienceScience and MathematicsPE, Human Development, and Visual and Performing ArtsThe exam, consisting of multiple-choice questions and constructed-response questions, is computer-based and can be taken anytime during the year.This 4th edition test-prep study guide includes subject-review chapters and two model practice exams.

More about the Authors: Authors and Illustrators Mentor Our Youngest Writers


Lisa B. Cleaveland - 2016
    Lisa Cleaveland will show you why in her classroom authors and illustrators do the mentoring, not their texts. While this may seem like mere semantics, it's actually a singularly powerful instructional shift. Books don't make themselves, writes Lisa, authors and illustrators do, and my students know this because they make books too.About the Authors introduced tens of thousands of teachers to Lisa's primary writing workshop. Now she shares what she considers the most crucial aspect of her teaching. When authors and illustrators are mentors, you teach students more about how to learn from their mentors than what to learn. With Lisa you'll:engage children by helping them discover mentor authors connect writers to the curriculum as they notice and name the moves their mentors make plan powerful units of study around mentor authors position students to mentor one another. Along the way, Lisa illustrates the effectiveness of this approach with full-color examples of students' work as well as transcripts of a question-and-answer session between her writers and famed children's author and illustrator Marla Frazee. You'll see firsthand how closely examining a mentor's work can lead little ones to big insights about writing.What I have realized, writes Lisa Cleaveland, is that it's all about finding mentors for writing and illustrating. Find out just how powerful this slight shift in thinking can be as you find out More About the Authors.

The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility, Healing, and Hope in Schools


Katherine Evans - 2016
    The wisdom embedded within its principles and practices is being welcomed at a time when exclusionary discipline and zero tolerance policies are recognized as perpetuating student apathy, disproportionality, and the school-to-prison pipeline.Relying on the wisdom of early proponents of restorative justice, the daily experiences of educators, and the authors’ extensive experience as classroom teachers and researchers, this Little Book guides the growth of restorative justice in education (RJE) into the future. Incorporating activities, stories, and examples throughout the book, three major interconnected and equally important aspects of restorative justice in education are explained and applied: creating just and equitable learning environments; building and maintaining healthy relationships; healing harm and transforming conflict. Chapters include:The Way We Do ThingsA Brief History of Restorative Justice in EducationBeliefs and Values in Restorative Justice in EducationCreating just and Equitable Learning EnvironmentsNurturing Healthy relationshipsRepairing Harm and Transforming ConflictA Tale of Two Schools: Thoughts and SustainabilityThe Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education is a reference that practitioners can turn to repeatedly for clarity and consistency as they implement restorative justice in educational settings.

Leading with Focus: Elevating the Essentials for School and District Improvement


Mike Schmoker - 2016
    Now, in Leading with Focus, he shows administrators, principals, and other education leaders how to apply his model to the work of running schools and districts. In this companion to his previous book, Schmoker offers* An overview of the case for simple, focused school and district leadership--demonstrating its power for vastly improving the work of teachers and leaders.* Examples of real schools and districts that have embraced focused leadership--and the incredible results for student learning.* A practical, flexible, and easy-to-follow implementation guide for ensuring focused leadership in schools and districts.All students deserve to learn in schools where educators eschew distractions and superfluous activities to concentrate on what's most important. To that end, this book is an essential resource for leaders ready to streamline their practice and focus their efforts on radically improving student learning.

Get Coding! Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and Build a Website, App, and Game


Young Rewired State - 2016
    Crack open this book and set off on several fun missions while simultaneously learning the basics of writing code. Want to make a website from scratch? Create an app? Build a game? All the tools are here, laid out in a user-friendly format that leads kids on an imaginary quest to keep a valuable diamond safe from dangerous jewel thieves. Presented by Young Rewired State an international collective of tech-savvy kids in easy-to-follow, bite-size chunks, the real-life coding skills taught in this engaging, comprehensive guide may just set young readers on the path to becoming technology stars of the future."

Teaching and Christian Imagination


David I. Smith - 2016
    The authors — experienced teachers themselves — encourage teacher-readers to reanimate their work by imagining it differently. David Smith and Susan Felch, along with Barbara Carvill, Kurt Schaefer, Timothy Steele, and John Witvliet, creatively use three metaphors — journeys and pilgrimages, gardens and wilderness, buildings and walls — to illuminate a fresh vision of teaching and learning. Stretching beyond familiar clichés, they infuse these metaphors with rich biblical echoes and theological resonances that will inform and inspire Christian teachers everywhere.

Dad, Who Will I Be?


G. Todd Taylor - 2016
    This book inspires, encourages and educates young readers to be great by introducing to them heroes of color from a number of different professions on an elementary level. Some real-life heroes in the book include Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammed Ali, Mansa Musa, Guion Bluford and Garrett Morgan, W.E.B. Dubois, Tiger Woods and many more. Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu says "This is a fantastic book for children! Children need to have goals and a purpose in life. They need to have their career range expanded. Children need to hear it from their fathers. Garrett truly needs to be commended."

Reclaiming the Multicultural Roots of U.S. Curriculum: Communities of Color and Official Knowledge in Education


Wayne Au - 2016
    This canon has systematically neglected communities of color, all of which were engaged in their own critical conversations about the type of education that would best benefit their children. Building upon earlier work that reviewed curriculum texts, this book serves as a much-needed correction to the glaring gaps in U.S. curriculum history. Chapters focus on the curriculum discourses of African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos during what has been construed as the "founding" period of curriculum studies, reclaiming their historical legacy and recovering the multicultural history of educational foundations in the United States.Book Features: Challenges the historical foundations of curriculum studies in the United States during the turn of and early decades of the 20th century. Illuminates the curriculum conversations, struggles, and contentions of communities of color. Highlights curriculum historically as a site at the intersection of colonization, White supremacy, and Americanization in the United States. Brings marginalized voices from the community into the conversation around curriculum, typically dominated by university voices.

Successful Strategies for Pursuing National Board Certification: Version 3.0, Components 3 and 4 (What Works!)


Bobbie Faulkner - 2016
    

Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum: How to Design, Revise, or Adopt Curriculum Aligned to Student Success


Angela Di Michele Lalor - 2016
    She provides criteria for evaluating each component of a curriculum and end-of-chapter checklists to help you ensure that the criteria are met.Relevant to anyone who is creating or revising curriculum, or evaluating options among published alternatives, Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum is a comprehensive and accessible roadmap to developing a solid foundation for teaching and learning--and better results in the classroom.

What's So Great about Art, Anyway?: A Teacher's Odyssey


Rachel Branham - 2016
    At the center of this work is the author's memoir as a young high school art teacher in the public school system. Through engaging (and frequently funny) anecdotes centered on classroom life, mixed with discussions of education policy and reform, readers explore teacher/student relationships, testing and accountability, 21st-century learning, and the history and purpose of art education. Branham's personal narrative of challenges and triumphs demonstrate why art education should be preserved as a core subject if students are to understand the connection between creativity, critical thinking, and other higher-order skills. What's So Great About Art, Anyway? is a refreshing book for everyone--particularly for in-service teachers--and is a smart foundational text in arts education and introduction to teaching courses.Book Features: A personal narrative that begins with the author's reasons for becoming an art teacher. A visually compelling layout with arresting illustrations drawn by the author. An approach to teaching complex concepts that will appeal to younger generations. A succinct look at art education and its history and function in American schools. A critical examination of current educational policies and how they affect classroom teachers.

No More Reading for Junk: Best Practices for Motivating Readers


Barbara A Marinak - 2016
    Pez dispensers. Nerf balls. When we give students junk to reward reading, we are focusing their intention away from the act of reading and from their own independence as readers. Instead, we can create classrooms where reading is seen as its own reward. In this book, esteemed researcher Linda Gambrell provides a research-based context for cultivating children's intrinsic motivation to read and identifies three essential principles, the ARC of motivation:access: giving kids a wealth of reading materials and opportunities to discuss texts relevance: offering high interest, moderately challenging and authentic reading experiences choice: allowing students to self-select texts and reading activities What exactly do those principles look like in action? Reading specialist and researcher Barbara Marinak shares the strategies and techniques that make a difference for student readers' motivation, turning disengaged readers into passionate ones. Pizza and Pez dispensers are short lived, Linda and Barbara write, but confident and empowered readers are likely to remain motivated for life.

Teal


Renee Galvin - 2016
    Is Teal blue or is he green? This charming fable empowers children to think outside the box and embrace one another’s diversity.

Planning Isn't My Priority: and Making Priorities Isn't In My Plans


Julia Cook - 2016
    Creativity needs structure and structure needs creativity…and Cletus and Bocephus BOTH need to know how to plan and prioritize!“You learn from mistakes and use what you learn,so you don’t make those mistakes again.Every time you play a video game,you plan and prioritize to WIN!”This storybook is the second in the Functioning Executive book series. It highlights the importance of planning and prioritizing. It also spotlights the unique differences and strengths that live in all of us. This book will help teach children to determine the necessary steps, in order, towards fulfilling a goal – which is a vital executive function skill. Children who possess effective prioritizing skills can learn to manage not only daily responsibilities, but also how to prepare for future success.Planning and prioritizing are two of the most difficult executive function skills for people to master. Planning effectively is the thinking skill that helps an individual develop strategies to accomplish goals. It allows a person to think about completing a task before it is started. Life is all about making choices. Prioritizing effectively helps a person make the best choices possible. Time is a limited commodity. To get the most out of your time and accomplish all that you need to do, you have to be able to plan and prioritize both on a long and short-term basis.