When you add in the ever-changing dynamics of technology and current events, the complexity of both students' and teachers' lives grows exponentially. Far too few teachers, however, successfully teach the whole class with the individual student in mind.In Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, Carol Ann Tomlinson and Marcia B. Imbeau tackle the issue of how to address student differences thoughtfully and proactively. The first half of the book focuses on what it means for a teacher to effectively lead a differentiated classroom. Readers will learn how to be more confident and effective leaders for and in student-focused and responsive classrooms.The second half of the book focuses on the mechanics of managing a differentiated classroom. A teacher who has the best intentions, a dynamic curriculum, and plans for differentiation cannot--and will not--move forward unless he or she is at ease with translating those ideas into classroom practice. In other words, teachers who are uncomfortable with flexible classroom management will not differentiate instruction, even if they understand it, accept the need for it, and can plan for it.Tomlinson and Imbeau argue that the inherent interdependence of leading and managing a differentiated classroom is at the very heart of 21st-century education. This essential guide to differentiation also includes a helpful teacher's toolkit of activities and teaching strategies that will help any teacher expand his or her capacity to make room for and work tirelessly on behalf of every student.

    Efforts to define and then assess the key qualities of writing have helped pinpoint what outcomes matter most and how to measure them, yet they threaten to become an end in themselves. Meanwhile, high-quality instruction seeks to create a safe environment that applauds risk taking by supporting students through strategies that are not readily measured. In this landmark book, Vicki Spandel takes on the immeasurable, opening an exciting discussion about the conditions writers need to achieve their full potential and offering practical applications for any writing classroom.In The 9 Rights of Every Writer Spandel invites nine published authors into a discussion of what makes writing work. Well-known novelists, researchers, science writers, and teacher-writers join this dynamic conversation, and together they draw vital conclusions about teaching strategies that both lead to growth in craft and allow good teaching to flourish. Join Spandel and friends in discovering the personal and instructional importance of:reflecting finding personally important topics going off topic personalizing the writing process writing badly to unearth and clarify meaning observing other writers at work assessing constructivelyand well experiencing structural freedom unearthing the power of each writer's voice. As you will discover, The 9 Rights of Every Writer weaves the philosophical into the practical, offering powerful, ready-to-use lessons that jumpstart the progress of the writers in your classroom and help them reach writing standards. Harness your passion for writing instruction, let go of rigid practices, and balance the needs of maturing writers with today's classroom realities. Read The 9 Rights of Every Writer, learn to trust your teaching instincts, and concentrate on what matters most: creating an instructional setting where writers can achieve success that soars beyond what can be measured.

    They also argue that it should be taught in the simplest way possible. Drawing on twenty years of experience, the authors present the Question Formulation Technique, a concise and powerful protocol that enables learners to produce their own questions, improve their questions, and strategize how to use them.Make Just One Change features the voices and experiences of teachers in classrooms across the country to illustrate the use of the Question Formulation Technique across grade levels and subject areas and with different kinds of learners.

    Nonetheless, children still bring to literacy a wide range of experiences and competencies. How, then, might teachers best support a literate community yet still meet the needs of individual readers? For Fountas and Pinnell, the answer lies in guided reading, which allows children to develop as individual readers within the context of a small group. Their new book is the richest, most comprehensive guided reading resource available today and the first systematic offering of instructional support for guided reading adherents."Guided Reading" was written for K-3 classroom teachers, reading resource teachers, teacher educators, preservice teachers, researchers, administrators, and staff developers. Based on the authors' nine years of research and development, it explains how to create a balanced literacy program based on guided reading and supported by read aloud, shared reading, interactive writing, and other approaches. While there is an entire chapter devoted solely to the process by which children become literate, every chapter clearly presents the theoretical underpinnings of the practices it suggests. Also included are guidelines for:observation and assessment dynamic grouping of readers creating sets of leveled books selecting and introducing books teaching for strategies classroom management. Best of all, there are well over 2,500 leveled books in the Appendixes, along with many other reproducible resources that teachers will use for years to come."Good first teaching is the foundation of education and the right of every child," assert the authors. With the publication of this book, educators themselves will find the foundation in reading skills instruction they so rightly deserve.

    This is something all teachers want and all students deserve. In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart, author of Making Thinking Visible, explains how creating a culture of thinking is more important to learning than any particular curriculum and he outlines how any school or teacher can accomplish this by leveraging 8 cultural forces: expectations, language, time, modeling, opportunities, routines, interactions, and environment.With the techniques and rich classroom vignettes throughout this book, Ritchhart shows that creating a culture of thinking is not about just adhering to a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A culture of thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work.

    The book is rooted in Jennifer's belief that teachers know what they need when it comes to professional development in literacy, and the best literacy leaders are those who listen to and respect the educators in their midst. Grounded in research but thoroughly practical, Jennifer shares advice on:organizing a literacy room with resources for classroom teachers, including book lists, bins of children's books tied to craft and strategy lessons, bulletin board ideas, and files with instructional materials;developing intervention classrooms for struggling readers and writers built on collaboration between teachers and literacy specialists;setting up assessment notebooks for teachers, and preparing new and veteran teachers for student assessments across grades;creating model programs for dealing with schoolwide problems like reading fluency, and then moving from the pilot to implementation in many classrooms;coaching new and veteran teachers in the latest literacy practices, without taking on the role of expert;analyzing and using books, videos and journals in professional development programs;infusing routine staff meetings with discussions of new literacy curricula;leading teacher study groups using a variety of formats;finding and budgeting money for professional development programs in literacy;protecting time and scheduling priorities, to ensure the literacy specialist position doesn't become a “catch-all” for the random needs of teachers or administrators.At a time when all administrators are urged to be literacy leaders, this insider's view helps to define what leadership looks like and shows how to create an environment that fosters professional development. Jennifer Allen shares the balance leaders struggle with, as they strive to support and honor the fine practices of teachers, even as they nudge colleagues to improve their literacy instruction. Ultimately, Becoming a Literacy Leader is a hopeful book, an optimistic and realistic portrait of life in schools among teachers committed to doing their jobs well.

    Information accessibility grows while attention spans shrink. Media is king and yet teachers are expected to effectively harness it for learning while also managing the distractions technology tools bring. Keeping up with the times while keeping time-wasters and senseless screen staring down is new and difficult territory for the most seasoned educator.Don't fear the devices! In the willing teacher's hands, this is a new and welcome age to harness for exponential learning. It is a frontier where technology equipped teachers learn alongside students and utilize current tools to maximize collaboration, creativity, and communication in relevant ways. Classroom Management in the Digital Age guides and supports established and transitioning device-rich classrooms, providing practical strategy to novice and expert educators K-12. Update your own operating system for the digital age by Getting attention from those device focused facesEstablishing procedures for daily class routines that harness the power of technology toolsCultivating a culture of student ownership and responsibilityDeveloping routines that increase on-task behavior and lessen teacher anxietyCommunicating with parents on best practices and consistent school to home behaviorsDecreasing distraction with simple, helpful tipsLetting go of being the expert and taking charge by partnering in learningClassroom Management in the Digital Age offers teachers competency and confidence. If you have devices in your classroom already or if you're moving towards implementing tablets, iPads, Chromebooks, or any other device, Classroom Management in the Digital Age will partner with you in creating relevant classrooms where learning rules.

    Buckner describes her model as flexible enough for students to respond in a variety of ways yet structured enough to provide explicit instruction. Inside Notebook Connections , you’ll find:Ways to launch, develop, and fine-tune a reader’s notebook programTeacher-guided lessons for each chapterAssessment tips to review student growth and comprehension levelsHow to select the strategies that work for them and incorporate into the workshop  Notebook Connections provides a comprehensive model for making reader’s notebooks the centerpiece of your reading workshop. Reader’s notebooks become a bridge that helps students make connections between ideas, texts, strategies, and their work as readers and writers.

    Hailed for its practical, systematic approach, the book showed hundreds of thousands of teachers how to address the needs of the whole classroom as well as individual readers. Now, with the publication of Word Matters, Pinnell and Fountas offer K-3 teachers the same unparalleled support, this time focusing on phonics and spelling instruction.Word Matters presents essential information on designing and implementing a high-quality, systematic literacy program to help children learn about letters, sounds, and words. The central goal is to teach children to become "word solvers": readers who can take words apart while reading for meaning, and writers who can construct words while writing to communicate. Where similar books are narrow in focus, Word Matters presents the theoretical underpinnings and practical wherewithal of word study in three contexts:word study that includes systematically planned and applied experiences focusing on the elements of letters and wordswriting, including how children use phoneme-grapheme relationships, word patterns, and principles to develop spelling abilityreading, including teaching children how to solve words with the use of phonics and visual-analysis skills as they read for meaning.Each topic is supported with a variety of practical tools: reproducible sheets for a word study system and for writing workshop; lists of spelling minilessons; and extensive word lists, including frequently used words, antonyms, synonyms, and more. Armed with these tools-and the tried-and-true wisdom of Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas-teachers can help students develop not just the "essential skills," but also a joyful appreciation of their own literacy.

    How many authors would travel coast to coast on a bus to get their book into as many hands as possible? Not many. But that's just what Ron Clark, author of The Essential 55, did to keep his book and message in the public eye. And it worked. After his Oprah appearance, sales skyrocketed: we've sold more than 850,000 copies in six months! The book sat tenaciously on the New York Times bestseller list for 11 weeks. Ron Clark was featured on the Today show, and in the Chicago Tribune, Good Housekeeping, and the New York Daily News--not to mention the calls we've received from teachers and parents who want to get their hands on Ron's guidelines for teaching children. Now in paperback, The Essential 55 will be the perfect book for parents and teachers to slip into their own backpacks, to read on the train or at lunch, and to highlight the sections that resonate for them. And with an author who is truly a partner in getting his message to the masses, we just can't lose.

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

    Each chapter includes:how to introduce the station;innovative ways to use materials;what to model to guarantee independence;how to troubleshoot;assessment and accountability ideas;how the station supports student achievement on state tests;reflection questions for professional development.The extensive appendix includes time-saving tools such as management board icons, graphic organizers, task cards, and recommended Web sites and children's literature.

    This is true both in airplanes and in classrooms--you have to take care of yourself before you can help someone else. If teachers are stressed out and exhausted, how can they have the patience, positive energy, and enthusiasm to provide the best instruction for students? Author Mike Anderson asked that question as a teacher himself, and the answers he found form the basis of The Well-Balanced Teacher. He found that teachers need to take care of themselves in five key areas to keep themselves in shape to care for their students.In addition to paying proper attention to their basic needs for nutrition, hydration, sleep, exercise, and emotional and spiritual refreshment, teachers also needBelonging: Teachers need to feel positive connections with other people, both in school and outside school. Significance: Teachers want to know that they make a positive difference through the work they do.Positive engagement: When teachers enjoy their work, they have great energy and passion for their teaching.Balance: Healthy teachers set boundaries and create routines so that they can have rich lives both in the classroom and at home.Anderson devotes a chapter to each of these needs, describing in frank detail his own struggles and offering a multitude of practical tips to help readers find solutions that will work for them. When teachers find ways to take care of their own needs, they will be healthier and happier, and they will have the positive energy and stamina needed to help their students learn and grow into healthy adults themselves.

    Most young writers are not intimidated by personal narrative, fiction, or even poetry, but when they try to put together a "teaching book," report, or persuasive essay, they often feel anxious and frustrated.JoAnn Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher believe that young nonfiction writers supply plenty of passion, keen interest, and wonder. Teachers can provide concrete strategies to help students scaffold their ideas as they write in his challenging genre.Like the authors' best-selling Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8, this book is divided into sections for K-2, 3-4, and middle school (grades 5-8) students. These divisions reflect various differences between emerging, competent, and fluent writers. In each section you'll find a generous collection of craft lessons directed at the genre that's most appropriate for that particular age. In the K-2 section, for example, a number of craft lessons focus on the all-about or concept book. In the 3-4 section there are several lessons on biography. In the 5-8 section a series of lessons addresses expository writing. Throughout the book each of the 80 lessons is presented on a single page in an easy-to-read format.Every lesson features three teaching guidelines:Discussion--A brief look at the reasons for teaching the particular element of craft specifically in a nonfiction context.How to Teach It--Concrete language showing exactly how a teacher might bring this craft element to students in writing conferences or a small-group setting.Resource Material--Specific book or text referred to in the craft lesson including trade books, or a piece of student writing in the Appendixes.This book will help students breathe voice into lifeless "dump-truck" writing and improve their nonfiction writing by making it clearer, more authoritative, and more organized. Nonfiction Craft Lessons gives teachers a wealth of practical strategies to help students grow into strong writers as they explore and explain the world around them.Be sure to look at the When Students Write videotapes too.

    There are a variety of approaches or programs, but none of them matches the writing workshop when it comes to growing strong writers. That's why, despite the pressures of testing, the writing workshop has endured and even flourished in thousands of schools across the country. Today we face a time when as many as ten million new teachers are entering the profession. It is for these teachers, and others who are unfamiliar with writing workshop, that Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi wrote this book - as a way to introduce and explain the writing workshop . . . to reveal what a potent tool the writing workshop can be for empowering young writers.Above all Writing Workshop is a practical book, providing everything a teacher needs to get the writing workshop up and running. In clear language, Fletcher and Portalupi explain the simple principles that underlie the writing workshop and explore the major components that make it work. Each chapter addresses an essential element, then suggests five or six specific things a teacher can do to implement the idea under discussion. There's also a separate chapter entitled "What About Skills," which shows how to effectively teach skills in the context of writing. The book closes with practical forms in the appendixes to ensure that the workshop runs smoothly.Fletcher and Portalupi's twenty-plus years working with teachers have convinced them that there is no better way to teach writing. This important book is the culmination of all their years of effort, a synthesis of their best thinking on the subject.