. . but many are also avid readers. What motivates some of these "typical teens" to become lifelong readers and others to slide by with the minimum amount of assigned reading? Teri Lesesne says the key is finding the books that get them hooked in the first place.In Making the Match she focuses on three distinct areas that will assist teachers and librarians in steering students to the literature they love:Knowing the readers: discussion of important theories in the development of adolescents (mentally, physically, morally, socially) and how that information helps educators to reach these kids with books. This background information is brought home through the book's “snapshots” which profile many of the adolescents the author has worked with.Knowing the books: examination of the various forms, formats, and genres that YA literature has to offer, as well as what special challenges educators face when selecting quality nonfiction or realistic fiction, and the role picture books can play in this process.Knowing the strategies: an overview of concrete ideas for motivating students to read as well as follow-up activities for post-reading assessment. Strategies discussed include reading aloud, booktalking, alternatives to traditional book reports, and literature circles.A delightful feature of the book that will help inspire teachers and students alike—as well as underscore the concepts contained in the text—is a series of vignettes by popular, award-winning YA authors that offer glimpses into their own feelings and memories of books and reading. Authors include: Sharon Creech, Jack Gantos, Chris Crutcher, Mel Glenn, Paul Janeczko, and others.The book concludes with an invaluable set of appendices providing an FAQ on YA literature, bibliographies of professional materials, books by the vignette authors, and over twenty booklists with hundreds of books organized by genre or topic, all with suggested grade levels.

    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.

    Zajac's fifth-grade classroom in the depressed "Flats" of Holyoke, Massachusetts. For an entire year he lived among twenty schoolchildren and their indomitable, compassionate teacher—sharing their joys, their catastrophes, and their small but essential triumphs. As a result, he has written a revealing, remarkably poignant account of education in America.

    These skill areas include sensory perceptions, body coordination, language, understanding of numbers, and movement. This practical, color-illustrated parenting book is filled with activities and instructions for overseeing children as they carry out a variety of learning activities. Most activities will seem simple to parents, because once mastered, adults perform them automatically. However, toddlers experience a sense of accomplishment and self-worth when they learn to perform them independently. The many activities start with dressing and personal hygiene, then go on to include . . .Pouring activitiesThreading and sewing activitiesPeg activitiesCutting with scissorsSorting activities by touchA color matching gameMaking musical scales with bottles and waterUsing alphabet tiles to make wordsGrowing things in a window boxMaking finger puppetsActivities are described in detail and include checklists of needed items, as well as variations and related activities for children to try.

    Student Engagement Techniques is a comprehensive resource that offers college teachers a dynamic model for engaging students and includes over one hundred tips, strategies, and techniques that have been proven to help teachers from a wide variety of disciplines and institutions motivate and connect with their students. The ready-to-use format shows how to apply each of the book's techniques in the classroom and includes purpose, preparation, procedures, examples, online implementation, variations and extensions, observations and advice, and key resources. "Given the current and welcome surge of interest in improving student learning and success, this guide is a timely and important tool, sharply focused on practical strategies that can really matter." ?Kay McClenney, director, Center for Community College Student Engagement, Community College Leadership Program, the University of Texas at Austin "This book is a 'must' for every new faculty orientation program; it not only emphasizes the importance of concentrating on what students learn but provides clear steps to prepare and execute an engagement technique. Faculty looking for ideas to heighten student engagement in their courses will find usefultechniques that can be adopted, adapted, extended, or modified." ?Bob Smallwood, cocreator of CLASSE (Classroom Survey of Student Engagement) and assistant to the provost for assessment, Office of Institutional Effectiveness, University of Alabama "Elizabeth Barkley's encyclopedia of active learning techniques (here called SETs) combines both a solid discussion of the research on learning that supports the concept of engagement and real-life examples of these approaches to teaching in action." ?James Rhem, executive editor, The National Teaching & Learning Forum

    What does great writing instruction look like and sound like How do successful teachers of writing get great writers who enjoy writing Where do they find the time for instruction assessment and test prep In Writing Essentials Regie Routman demystifies the process of teaching writing well and gives you the knowledge research precise instructional language and confidence you need to succeed With Regie s help you ll transform your classroom into an organized joyful writing environment where students connect reading with writing every day across the curriculum learn essential skills like grammar and spelling and achieve higher scores on high stakes tests through sensible writing based test preparation and daily classroom based assessment Writing Essentials specifically and explicitly demonstrates practical easy to do strategies that turn your writing instruction practices into best practices Follow Routman s path for successfully leading all students including English language learners writers who struggle and students coping with learning disabilities from first draft to publication You ll find expert advice and specific demonstrations on a wide variety of techniques including demonstrating your own writing process for students organizing and managing the writing classroom conducting effective efficient writing conferences creating meaningful rubrics for better assessment teaching various forms of narrative and informational writing and poetry applying shared writing across the grades and across the curriculum teaching editing and revision mapping out your writing instruction with Regie s own flexible five day lesson planning model In addition Writing Essentials includes a DVD with eight three to four minute video clips from primary and intermediate classrooms that show Regie conferring with writers and celebrating their work as she teaches and assesses These invaluable clips and the detailed notes that accompany them take you insi

    

    Stories help children manage their emotions, empathize with others, and better understand the complex world we live in. More importantly, storytelling cultivates a rich and meaningful bond between storyteller and listener, building intimacy and trust between parent and child. In this delightful book, Silke Rose West and Joseph Sarosy—early childhood educators with thousands of storytelling hours between them—distill the key ingredients of storytelling into a surprisingly simple method that can make anyone an expert storyteller. Their intuitive technique uses events and objects from your child’s daily life to make storytelling easy and accessible. By shifting the focus from crafting a narrative to strengthening your relationship with your child, this book will awaken skills you never knew you had. Complete with practical advice, helpful prompts, and a touch of science to explain how stories enrich our lives in so many ways, How to Tell Stories to Children is a must-read for parents, grandparents and educators.

    She wants children to learn how to care for themselves, their fellow students, their environment, and their work. Her book is loaded with practical wisdom. Using Charney's positive approach to classroom management will make the whole school day go better."- Nel Noddings, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, and author of CaringThis definitive work about classroom management will show teachers how to turn their vision of respectful, friendly, academically rigorous classrooms into reality.The new edition includes:More information on teaching middle-school studentsAdditional strategies for helping children with challenging behaviorUpdated stories and examples from real classrooms."Teaching Children to Care offers educators a practical guide to one of the most effective social and emotional learning programs I know of. The Responsive Classroom approach creates an ideal environment for learning—a pioneering program every teacher should know about."- Daniel Goleman, Author of Emotional Intelligence"I spent one whole summer reading Teaching Children to Care. It was like a rebirth for me. This book helped direct my professional development. After reading it, I had a path to follow. I now look forward to rereading this book each August to refresh and reinforce my ability to effectively manage a social curriculum in my classroom."- Gail Zimmerman, second-grade teacher, Jackson Mann Elementary School, Boston, MA

    Wright's class can't believe it. What will it be like without question marks, apostrophes, periods, and commas? Punctuation has never been as entertaining as it is in this wacky picture book.

    You'll learn how to: - Tap into and dramatically increase your passion as a teacher - Develop outrageously engaging lessons that draw students in like a magnet - Establish rapport and a sense of camaraderie in your classroom - Transform your class into a life-changing experience for your students This groundbreaking inspirational manifesto contains over 30 hooks specially designed to captivate your class and 170 brainstorming questions that will skyrocket your creativity. Once you learn the Teach Like a PIRATE system, you'll never look at your role as an educator the same again.

    Morris’ strange, funny, and sometimes unbelievable teaching experiences are told through a collection of short stories, essays and artifacts including real emails from parents, students and administrators. From the parents who blame their son’s act of arson on the teacher for causing him low self-esteem, to the student who offers to teach the teacher how to sell drugs so she can pay her bills, to the administrator whose best advice is to “treat kids like sacks of shit,” one story is more shocking than the next. An important read for teachers and non-teachers alike-- Teacher Misery paints an amusing and thoroughly entertaining picture of what has become of our education system, without detracting from the overall point that what teachers have to put up with today is complete, utter, unacceptable insanity.

    A guide for educators of students in K-12, readers will find a wealth of research evidence, statistical data, and case studies. Nine categories of instructional strategies that maximize student learning are introduced, along with the pertinent information to understand and synthesize each: * Studies in effect size and percentile gain units * Guiding principles for using the strategies * Classroom examples of model instructional practice * Charts, frames, rubrics, organizers, and other tools--will help teachers to apply the strategies immediately in the classoom.

    of Tennessee, Knoxville). In this text for potential researchers, he focuses on what the US needs to learn if it is to have half a chance at meeting the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. He describes the characteristic

    INCLUDED IN THIS HANDBOOK:• A Definition of Morning Time• Specific Tips for Planning Your Morning Time• Advice on Including Shakespeare and Plutarch• Lists of Great Books, Poems, Hymns, and More• Suggestions on How to Read & Memorize Scripture and Poetry Together• And More!