Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom


bell hooks - 1994
    Teaching students to "transgress" against racial, sexual, and class boundaries in order to achieve the gift of freedom is, for hooks, the teacher's most important goal.Bell hooks speaks to the heart of education today: how can we rethink teaching practices in the age of multiculturalism? What do we do about teachers who do not want to teach, and students who do not want to learn? How should we deal with racism and sexism in the classroom?Full of passion and politics, Teaching to Transgress combines practical knowledge of the classroom with a deeply felt connection to the world of emotions and feelings. This is the rare book about teachers and students that dares to raise critical questions about eros and rage, grief and reconciliation, and the future of teaching itself."To educate as the practice of freedom," writes bell hooks, "is a way of teaching that any one can learn." Teaching to Transgress is the record of one gifted teacher's struggle to make classrooms work.–from the back of the book

No More Teaching a Letter a Week


Rebecca McKay - 2015
    In No More Teaching a Letter a Week, early literacy researcher Dr. William Teale helps us understand that alphabet knowledge is more than letter recognition, and identifies research-based principles of effective alphabet instruction, which constitutes the foundation for phonics teaching and learning. Literacy coach Rebecca McKay shows us how to bring those principles to life through purposeful practices that invite children to create an identity through print.Children can and should do more than glue beans into the shape of a B; they need to learn how letters create words that carry meaning, so that they can, and do, use print to expand their understanding of the world and themselves.

Letters to a Young Teacher


Jonathan Kozol - 2007
    "Letters to a Young Teacher" reignites a numberof the controversial issues Jonathan has powerfully addressed in recent years: the mania of high-stakes testing that turns many classrooms into test-prep factories where spontaneity and critical intelligence are no longer valued, the invasion of our public schools by predatory private corporations, and the inequalities of urban schools that are once again almost as segregated as they were a century ago. But most of all, these letters are rich with the happiness of teaching children, the curiosity and jubilant excitement children bring into the classroom at an early age, and their ability to overcome their insecurities when they are in the hands of an adoring and hard-working teacher.

The Reading Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers


Jennifer Serravallo - 2015
    Learn more. With hit books that support strategic reading through conferring, small groups, and assessment, Jen Serravallo gets emails almost daily asking, Isn't there a book of the strategies themselves? Now there is.Strategies make the often invisible work of reading actionable and visible, Jen writes. In The Reading Strategies Book, she collects 300 strategies to share with readers in support of thirteen goals-everything from fluency to literary analysis. Each strategy is cross-linked to skills, genres, and Fountas & Pinnell reading levels to give you just-right teaching, just in time. With Jen's help you'll:develop goals for every reader give students step-by-step strategies for skilled reading guide readers with prompts aligned to the strategies adjust instruction to meet individual needs with Jen's Teaching Tips craft demonstrations and explanations with her Lesson Language learn more with Hat Tips to the work of influential teacher-authors. Whether you use readers workshop, Daily 5/CAFE, guided reading, balanced reading, a core reading program, whole-class novels, or any other approach, The Reading Strategies Book will complement and extend your teaching. Rely on it to plan and implement goal-directed, differentiated instruction for individuals, small groups, and whole classes.We offer strategies to readers to put the work in doable terms for those who are still practicing, writes Jen Serravallo. The goal is not that they can do the steps of the strategy but that they become more comfortable and competent with a new skill. With The Reading Strategies Book, you'll have ways to help your readers make progress every day.

Helping Teens Who Cut: Understanding and Ending Self-Injury


Michael Hollander - 2008
    What can you do to help when every attempt to address the behavior seems to push him or her further away? In this compassionate, straightforward book, Dr. Michael Hollander, a leading authority on self-injury, spells out the facts about cutting--and what to do to make it stop. You’ll learn how overwhelming emotions lead some teens to hurt themselves, and how proven treatments--chief among them dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)--can help your child become well again. Helping Teens Who Cut demonstrates how to talk to your teen about cutting without making it worse, and explains exactly what to look for in a therapist or treatment program. Drawing on decades of clinical experience as well as the latest research, Dr. Hollander provides concrete ways to help your son or daughter cope with extreme emotions without resorting to self-injury. You’ll also learn practical communication and problem-solving skills that can reduce family stress, making it easier to care for yourself and your teen during the recovery process. Winner--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award

The Leadership Challenge


James M. Kouzes - 1987
    This new edition includes the latest research and case studies, and offers inspiring new and relevant stories of real people achieving extraordinary results.

What Works in Schools: Translating Research Into Action


Robert J. Marzano - 2003
    If we follow the guidance offered from 35 years of research, says author Robert J. Marzano, we can enter an era of unprecedented effectiveness for the public practice of education. In What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action, Marzano synthesizes that research to provide clear and unequalled insight into the nature of schooling.Marzano defines the factors affecting student achievement and offers compelling answers to once-elusive questions:How can schools set academic goals that do not underestimate student potential?How critical are staff collegiality and professional development?Do all students have equal opportunity to learn, given current curriculum requirements?Supplemental versus required content-is there room for redefinition?What types of parental and community involvement make a real difference?What instructional strategies really work?What influence can an individual teacher have (as separate from the influence of the overall school)?How can teachers manage classrooms that promote positive student-and-teacher relationships?How can teachers structure their curricula to better sequence and pace content?Can teachers really overcome a student's negative home environment?How does an understanding of motivation theories help students and teachers overcome learning obstacles?What specific learning strategies can enhance learned intelligence and background knowledge?In each chapter, Marzano recommends specific-and attainable-action steps to implement successful strategies culled from the wealth of research data.Schools can and do affect student achievement. In his latest work, Marzano leads the way in establishing positive approaches that can make the long-held dream of effective public education a reality.

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain


Brock L. Eide - 2011
     In this paradigm-shifting book, neurolearning experts Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide describe an exciting new brain science that reveals that dyslexic people have unique brain structure and organization. While the differences are responsible for certain challenges with literacy and reading, the dyslexic brain also gives a predisposition to important skills, and special talents. While dyslexics typically struggle to decode the written word, they often also excel in such areas of reasoning as mechanical (required for architects and surgeons), interconnected (artists and inventors); narrative (novelists and lawyers), and dynamic (scientists and business pioneers). The Dyslexic Advantage provides the first complete portrait of dyslexia.

Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices


Ralph Fletcher - 2006
    In general, boys don't enjoy writing as much as girls. What's wrong? How can we do a better of job of creating “boy-friendly” classrooms so their voices can be heard?In Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices Ralph Fletcher draws upon his years of experience as staff developer, children's book author, and father of four boys. He also taps the insights from dozens of writing teachers around the US and abroad. Boy Writers asks teachers to imagine the writing classroom from a boy's perspective, and consider specific steps we might take to create stimulating classrooms for boys.Topic choice emerges as a crucial issue. The subjects many boys like to write about (war, weapons, outlandish fiction, zany or bathroom humor) often do not get a warm reception from teachers. Ralph argues that we must “widen the circle” and give boys more choice if we want to engage them as writers. How? We must begin by recognizing boys and the world in which they live. Boy Writers explores important questions such as:What subjects are boy writers passionate about, and what motivates them as writers?Why do boys like to incorporate violence into their stories, and how much should be allowed?Why do we so often misread and misunderstand the humor boys include in their stories?In addition, the book looks at: how handwriting can hamstring boy writers, and how drawing may help; welcoming boy-friendly writing genres in our classrooms; ways to improve our conferring with boys; and more.Each chapter begins with a thorough discussion of a topic and ends with a highly practical section titled: "What can I do in my classroom?" Boy Writers does not advocate promoting the interests of boys at the expense of girls. Rather, it argues that developing sensitivity to the unique facets of boy writers will help teachers better address the needs of all their students.

Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty


Elizabeth F. Barkley - 2009
    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

No More Fake Reading: Merging the Classics with Independent Reading to Create Joyful, Lifelong Readers


Berit Gordon - 2017
    In this groundbreaking book, Berit Gordon offers the complete solution, a blended model that combines the benefits of classic literature with the motivational power of choice reading. With the blended model, teachers lead close examinations of key passages from classic texts, guiding students to an understanding of important reading strategies they can transfer to their choice books. Teachers gain a platform for demonstrating the critical reading skills students so urgently require, and students thrive on reading what they want to read. In this research-backed book, Gordon leads you step by step to classroom success with the blended model, showing:The basics of getting your classroom library up and running How to build a blended curriculum for both fiction and non-fiction units, keeping relevant standards in mind Tips and resources to help with day-to-day planning Ideas for selecting class novel passages that provide essential cultural capital and bolster students' reading skills Strategies for bringing talk into your blended reading classroom How to reach the crucial learning goal of transfer A practical, user-friendly approach for assessing each student's progress No More Fake Reading gives you all the tools you need to put the blended model to work for your students and transform your classroom into a vibrant reading environment. Berit Gordon coaches teachers as they nurture lifelong readers and writers. Her path as an educator began in the classroom in the Dominican Republic before teaching in New York City public schools. She also taught at the Teachers College of Columbia University in English Education. She currently works as a literacy consultant in grades 3-12 and lives in Maplewood, New Jersey with her husband and three children.

Know Better, Do Better: Teaching the Foundations So Every Child Can Read


Meredith Liben - 2019
    

The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction


Sean Cain - 2011
    The Fundamental Five: The Formula for Quality Instruction, shares with teachers and school leaders the five practices that every teacher can, and should, use to dramatically improve instuctional rigor and relevance, and student performance.

What's the Big Idea?: Question-Driven Units to Motivate Reading, Writing, and Thinking


Jim Burke - 2010
    -Arthur Applebee NAEP advisor, Validation committee member for Common Core, Author of Curriculum as Conversation Why a book about questions? Because when students' instruction is organized around meaningful, clear questions, writes Jim Burke in What's the Big Idea? they understand better, remember longer, and engage much more deeply and for greater periods of time. Listen to a podcast where Jim explains how How big questions can engage and motivate students who have grown up digitally. Listen to a podcast where Jim explains how big questions can help you integrate standards, differentiation, and engagement. Jim shows how making essential questions the center of your teaching can ease the tension between good teaching and teaching to the test while giving students dependable, transferable tools for reading, writing, thinking, and participating in the real world. Going in depth on his own units for frequently taught books, Jim shows how to plan lessons, units, and even entire courses around big ideas to help students:grapple with content and deepen comprehension through reading, writing, and discussion make learning stick by connecting it to texts, to students' experiences, and to the world clarify and extend their thinking by learning which questions to ask and when improve school and test performance by honing academic language and skills. Although no one thing can ever be the solution to all problems, Jim writes, this book demonstrates the ways in which questions can address your concerns and develop in our students the mental acuity and fluency necessary to succeed in school and at work, as well as to achieve a sense of purpose in their personal lives. The only question now is, Are you ready to change your students' learning and lives?

Educating Ruby: What our children really need to learn


Guy Claxton - 2015
    It is for everyone who cares about education in an uncertain world and explains how teachers, parents and grandparents can cultivate confidence, curiosity, collaboration, communication, creativity, commitment and craftsmanship in children, at the same time as helping them to do well in public examinations. Educating Ruby shows, unequivocally, that schools can get the right results in the right way, so that the Rubys of tomorrow will emerge from their time at school able to talk with honest pleasure and reflective optimism about their schooling. Featuring the views of schoolchildren, parents, educators and employers and drawing on Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas’ years of experience in education, including their work with Building Learning Power and the Expansive Education Network, this powerful new book is sure to provoke thinking and debate. Just as Willy Russell’s Educating Rita helped us rethink university, the authors of Educating Ruby invite fresh scrutiny of our schools.