Book picks similar to
The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton


education
teaching
professional-development
professional

Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers


Steven L. Layne - 2009
    But how can you teach the "how" without the "why?" In his new book, Igniting a Passion for Reading, Steve Layne shows teachers how to develop readers who are not only motivated to read great books, but also love reading in its own right. Packed with practical ways to engage and inspire readers from kindergarten through high school, this book is a "must have" on every teacher's professional book shelf.Well known for his children's books, young adult novels, and keynote speeches across the nation and around the world, Steve, aka Dr. Read, offers teachers everywhere a plan for engaging even the most reluctant reader. From read-alouds to creating reading lounges to author visits and so much more, this book will help schools create a vibrant reading culture. The book also includes reminiscences from many of today's well-known children's and young adult authors—Mem Fox, Sharon Draper, Steven Kellogg, Candace Fleming, Eric Rohman, Neal Shusterman, and Joan Bauer—about the teacher who ignited their passion for reading.Written with humor, grace, and poignancy, Igniting a Passion for Reading will have a profound effect on the teaching of reading in our nation's schools.

Lost at School: Why Our Kids with Behavioral Challenges are Falling Through the Cracks and How We Can Help Them


Ross W. Greene - 2008
    Detentions. Suspensions. Expulsions. These are the established tools of school discipline for kids who don't abide by school rules, have a hard time getting along with other kids, don't seem to respect authority, don't seem interested in learning, and are disrupting the learning of their classmates. But there's a big problem with these strategies: They are ineffective for most of the students to whom they are applied.It's time for a change in course.Here, Dr. Ross W. Greene presents an enlightened, clear-cut, and practical alternative. Relying on research from the neurosciences, Dr. Greene offers a new conceptual framework for understanding the difficulties of kids with behavioral challenges and explains why traditional discipline isn't effective at addressing these difficulties. Emphasizing the revolutionarily simple and positive notion that kids do well if they can, he persuasively argues that kids with behavioral challenges are not attention-seeking, manipulative, limit-testing, coercive, or unmotivated, but that they lack the skills to behave adaptively. And when adults recognize the true factors underlying difficult behavior and teach kids the skills in increments they can handle, the results are astounding: The kids overcome their obstacles; the frustration of teachers, parents, and classmates diminishes; and the well-being and learning of all students are enhanced.In Lost at School, Dr. Greene describes how his road-tested, evidence-based approach — called Collaborative Problem Solving — can help challenging kids at school.His lively, compelling narrative includes:• tools to identify the triggers and lagging skills underlying challenging behavior.• explicit guidance on how to radically improve interactions with challenging kids — along with many examples showing how it's done.• dialogues, Q & A's, and the story, which runs through the book, of one child and his teachers, parents, and school.• practical guidance for successful planning and collaboration among teachers, parents, administrations, and kids.Backed by years of experience and research, and written with a powerful sense of hope and achievable change, Lost at School gives teachers and parents the realistic strategies and information to impact the classroom experience of every challenging kid.

Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level


Sally E. Shaywitz - 2003
    Now a world-renowned expert gives us a substantially updated and augmented edition of her classic work: drawing on an additional fifteen years of cutting-edge research, offering new information on all aspects of dyslexia and reading problems, and providing the tools that parents, teachers, and all dyslexic individuals need. This new edition also offers:- New material on the challenges faced by dyslexic individuals across all ages - Rich information on ongoing advances in digital technology that have dramatically increased dyslexics' ability to help themselves - New chapters on diagnosing dyslexia, choosing schools and colleges for dyslexic students, the co-implications of anxiety, ADHD, and dyslexia, and dyslexia in post-menopausal women - Extensively updated information on helping both dyslexic children and adults become better readers, with a detailed home program to enhance reading - Evidence-based universal screening for dyslexia as early as kindergarten and first grade - why and how - New information on how to identify dyslexia in all age ranges - Exercises to help children strengthen the brain areas that control reading - Ways to raise a child's self-esteem and reveal her strengths - Stories of successful men, women, and young adults who are dyslexic

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.

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

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.

The 9 Rights of Every Writer: A Guide for Teachers


Vicki Spandel - 2005
    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.

Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading


Tanny McGregor - 2007
    It's not easy to explain these abstract reading strategies to elementary readers, yet knowing how they work and how to use them is an important first step to connecting with texts. Fortunately Tanny McGregor has developed visual, tangible, everyday lessons that make abstract thinking concrete and that can help every child in your classroom make more effective use of reading comprehension strategies.Comprehension Connections is a guide to developing children's ability to fully understand texts by making the comprehension process achievable, accessible, and incremental. McGregor's approach sequences stages of learning for each strategy that take students from a fun object lesson to a nuanced and lasting understanding. Her lessons build bridges between the concrete and the abstract by incorporating writing, discussion, song, art, and movement into a web of creative connections that reinforce each strategy on a variety of levels. All the while Comprehension Connections offers an inside look at the dynamic of McGregor's teaching, showing you how her ideas look in action, and including the language she uses and that she encourages her students to use as they build their facility with: schema inferring questioning determining importance visualizing synthesizing. Many students struggle to understand what it is they are supposed to do as they learn to read strategically. Help them make connections to the ideas behind reading and watch as your readers go deeper into texts than ever before.

Learn Like a PIRATE: Empower Your Students to Collaborate, Lead, and Succeed


Paul Solarz - 2015
    Empowerment. Student Leadership. These buzz words get a lot of press, but what do they really mean for today's students? Can students really handle the responsibility of leading the class? Can they actually learn what they need to if they are working together so often? Won't all this freedom cause chaos in the classroom? Not if you're teaching them to learn like PIRATES! Peer Collaboration builds community and supports teamwork and cooperation. Improvement-focused learning challenges students to constantly strive to be their best. Responsibility for daily tasks builds ownership in the classroom. Active learning turns boring lessons into fun and memorable experiences. Twenty-first century skills engage students now and prepare them for their futures. Empowerment allows students to become confident risk-takers who make bold decisions. In Learn Like a PIRATE, teachers will discover practical strategies for creating a student-led classroom in which students are inspired and empowered to take charge of their learning experience. You'll learn strategies for: - Crafting active, relevant, and interesting lessons - Creating opportunities for student leadership - Providing effective and beneficial feedback - Instilling confidence so students can take risks - Increasing curiosity and passion for learning Incorporate the techniques and strategies Paul Solarz uses in his student-led classroom and watch your students transform into confident, collaborative leaders."In Learn Like a PIRATE, Paul Solarz explains how to design classroom experiences that encourage students to take risks and explore their passions in a stimulating, motivating, and supportive environment where improvement, rather than grades, is the focus. The particular techniques (and the underlying philosophy) he offers are highly consistent with teaching practice at the distinguished level in my Framework for Teaching. In that model, I tried to describe, at the distinguished level, classrooms in which the teacher has created a community of learners, with the students themselves assuming much of the responsibility for what occurs there. Mr. Solarz offers specific ideas for how to accomplish that." - Charlotte Danielson, author of Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching "As I read Learn Like A PIRATE I regretted that I was not teaching in the classroom where I would be able to work with students in the thoughtful and imaginative ways that he suggests. It is rare that we have a first hand report of the day to day practicalities of transforming classes into places where students can become self-directed, curious, interdependent learners. Paul has succeeded in sharing his passion for authentic 21st century teaching as well as inspiring us to imitate and invent our own models for preparing our students for an increasingly complex world of invention and problem solving." - Bena Kallick, Co-director of the Institute for Habits of Mind

Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14


Chip Wood - 1994
    This comprehensive, user-friendly reference helps teachers and administrators use knowledge of child development to shape classrooms and schools where all children can succeed.For each age, this book includes:Narrative description of developmental traitsCharts summarizing physical, social, language, and cognitive growth patternsSuggestions for curricular areas: reading, writing, mathematics, and thematic unitsFavorite books for different ages.What's new in the third edition:A new, brief overview of issues in the development of bilingualism and biliteracy among Latino/Hispanic childrenA new appendix on the "birthday cluster exercise" for applying the information in the book to working with a whole class of studentsAn updated list of recommended children's booksAn updated list of recommended resources for teachers and parents.

Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom


Katie Wood Ray - 1999
    Draws from stories from classrooms, examples, of student writing, and illustrations.

Conscious Classroom Management: Unlocking the Secrets of Great Teaching


Rick Smith - 2004
    His deep understanding of how we learn, his highly nuanced, empathetic humor, and his gentle regard for fellow learners of any age combine to provide the reader with 'aha after aha.'-Bea Warner, Staff Development DirectorEscondido, CAMake your job easier! Find out what really works for effective classroom management and reap the benefits of engaged and productive students!Conscious Classroom Management is a delightfully rich text that incorporates meaningful stories, insights, humor, and invaluable strategies for what really works in the classroom. And while classroom management is the primary factor behind how successful teachers can achieve sustained student learning, this wonderful text also addresses the human elements of teaching, focusing on three primary subjects: the students, the teacher, and the relationship between the two. Comprehensive and practical, Conscious Classroom Management helps teachers to: Eliminate power struggles with your most challenging students Discover how holding your ground can help students cooperate Uncover your teacher presence while reducing stress Create lessons that help students remainfocused, eager, and willing to learn Appreciate your craft at a deeper level Think ahead and prepare to teach Energize and invigorate how you mentor and train other teachersFor the novice, first-year teacher to the veteran, classroom-tested teacher, classroom management is the most critical factor for sustained student learning. And eliminating the cycle of student misbehavior is the cornerstone for effective classroom management. This reference transcends every level of preparation and provides new and experienced teachers with the practical and comprehensive strategies necessary to get the most out of every student. Written in an easy-to-read and humorous, conversational style, this resource is indispensable for new teacher induction or regular staff development.

The Art of Teaching Reading


Lucy Calkins - 1985
    This is the story of brilliant teachers whose children learn to read with eagerness and to talk and write in stunning ways about their reading. Full of inspirational classroom stories, The Art of Teaching Reading is even more powerful when one considers that the methods Calkins describes are transforming teaching practices across the largest school district in the world.Lucy Calkins is a Professor of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University, and an acclaimed speaker, with frequent keynote addresses at conferences across the country.

Fires in the Bathroom: Advice for Teachers from High School Students


Kathleen Cushman - 2003
    Now in paperback, Kathleen Cushman's groundbreaking book offers original insights into teaching teenagers in today's hard-pressed urban high schools from the point of view of the students themselves. It speaks to both new and established teachers, giving them firsthand information about who their students are and what they need to succeed.Students from across the country contributed perceptive and pragmatic answers to questions of how teachers can transcend the barriers of adolescent identity and culture to reach the diverse student body in today's urban schools. With the fresh and often surprising perspectives of youth, they tackle tough issues such as increasing engagement and motivation, teaching difficult academic material, reaching English-language learners, and creating a classroom culture where respect and success go hand in hand.

Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management from a Softy Who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher


Gary Rubinstein - 1999
    Based on the author's disastrous first year of teaching, which began with no classroom management skills, this work offers advice based on what he learned on the way to becoming Teacher of the Year four years later.