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.

    Classroom management aide for teachers

    This well-written book is grounded in the reality of teaching today to show real-world teachers who want to use assessment in their classroom the latest tools necessary to teach more effectively. The fifth edition of Classroom Assessment addresses the range of assessments that teachers are likely to use in their classrooms. With expanded coverage of problems related to measurement of special education children, a new student website with online activities, and an improved instructor's manual, this book continues to be a cutting-edge and indispensable resource not only for instructors, but also for pre- and in-service teachers. New to This Edition: *Chapter 12 contains new material dealing with formative assessment as well as assessment FOR learning. *The text is committed to fostering readers' realizations regarding the critical link between testing and teaching. Instructional implications are constantly stressed in the text. early childhood assessment throughout the text. *The 5th edition contains a brand-new website providing readers with Extra Electronic Exercises for each chapter, so readers, if they wish, can solidify their understanding of what chapters address (go to www.ablongman.com/popham5e). *A newly revised Instructor's Resource Manual contains Instructor-to-Instructor suggestions as well as a test for each chapter. It also includes a mid-term and final exam and an effective inventory measuring students' confidence in assessment. Here's what your colleagues have to say about this book: Dr. Popham has done a tremendous job in researching and incorporating current trends throughout the entire text! Terry H. Stepka, Arkansas State University Overall, I am extremely satisfied with the text. It is well-written, and I love the author's sense of humor! Terry H. Stepka, Arkansas State University I LOVE the arrangement of the chapters and the high quality of the self-checks and discussion questions that are provided. Karen E. Eifler, University of Portland

    In his new book, Well Spoken, veteran teacher and education consultant Erik Palmer shares the art of teaching speaking in any classroom. Teachers will find thoughtful and engaging strategies for integrating speaking skills throughout the curriculum. Palmer stresses the essential elements of all effective oral communication, including: • Building a Speech: Audience, Content, Organization, Visual Aids, and Appearance • Performing a Speech: Poise, Voice, Life, Eye Contact, Gestures, and Speed • Evaluating a Speech: Creating Effective Rubrics,  Guiding Students to ExcellenceWell Spoken contains a framework for understanding the skills involved in all effective oral communication, offers practical steps and lesson ideas that any teacher needs to successfully teach speaking in a variety of situations—from classroom discussions to  formal presentations—and includes a set of tools for students—from how to grab the audience’s attention to how to use emphatic hand gestures and adjust speed for effect.Discover why, year after year, students returned to Palmer’s classroom to thank him for teaching them how to be well spoken. You may find, after reading this book, that you have become a better speaker, too.

    The Sixth Edition of Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students continues to be one of the most comprehensive, practical texts on the market, and includes a new focus on higher-level literacy practices. Written by distinguished author Tom Gunning, Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students provides readers with step-by-step guidance for teaching reading and writing, including sample lessons for virtually every major literacy skill/strategy. Reflecting the author's ongoing extensive hands-on work with schools coping with the demands of No Child Left Behind, the Sixth edition includes teaching tips and materials that are more practical, more realistic, more effective, and more extensive than ever. With its careful balance between the theory and the practice, the book always gives readers the theories behind the methods, encouraging them to choose, adapt, and construct their own approaches as they create a balanced program of literacy instruction. learners, struggling readers and writers, and special needs students, Creating Literacy for All Students, Sixth Edition, looks at developing higher-level literacy requirements for reading and writing, including those stemming from No Child Left Behind regulations and high-stakes tests. The new edition stresses effective steps for closing the gap between the reading, writing, discussion, and thinking skills as mandated by No Child Left Behind and Reading First

    According to Kafele, educators can achieve remarkable results by focusing on five key areas:* The teacher's attitude toward students* The teacher's relationship with students* The teacher's compassion for students* The learning environment* The cultural relevance of instructionReplete with practical strategies and illustrative anecdotes drawn from the author's 20-plus years as a teacher and principal in inner-city schools, Closing the Attitude Gap offers a wealth of lessons and valuable insights that educators at all levels can use to fire up their students' passion to learn.

    As a parent, it's important that you help your baby acquire the foundation they need to speak earlier, read on their own sooner, and benefit from an increased vocabulary and attention span.Baby Read-Aloud Basics shows you how to establish an effective daily read-aloud routine to take charge of your baby's future understanding and success. Organized around the six stages of early language development from birth to age two, the book provides simple but effective techniques to help you:- Make reading aloud an interactive experience--from intonation and speech patterns to gesture.- Select what to read aloud by looking at how much the text of the book repeats, whether it rhymes, and the types of interactive elements it incorporates.- Know when to read and how often in order to create a reading routine that's both enjoyable and effective.- Ensure your baby gets the right amount of language from a nanny or a caretaker.- Effectively incorporate reading in a bilingual home.Filled with step-by-step instructions, scripted demonstrations, and a list of recommended titles, Baby Read-Aloud Basics gives you all the guidance and information you need to instill a lifelong love of reading and learning, and start your baby along on the road to success."

    

    With clear and accessible language, Carl guides you through the three main parts of a writing conference, and shows you the teaching moves and intentional language that can be used in each one. He helps you understand: - how to get started with conferring, or improve your existing conferences - how to use conferences to meet the diverse needs of your student writers - how to fit conferences into your busy writing workshop schedule. More than 25 videos bring the content to life, while Teacher Tips, Q&A's, and Recommended Reading lists provide everything you need to help you become a better writing teacher.

    The field's leading authorities present accessible recommendations for best practices that can be tailored to fit specific classroom circumstances and student populations. Provided are strategies for helping all students succeed—including struggling readers and English language learners—and for teaching each of the major components of literacy. The book also addresses ways to organize instruction and innovative uses of technology. Chapters include concrete examples, Engagement Activities, and resources for further learning. New to This Edition*Incorporates the latest research findings and instructional practices.*Chapters on motivation, content-area teaching, new literacies, and family literacy.*Addresses timely topics such as response to intervention, the new common core standards, English language learning, and policy issues.

    The authors give teachers criteria for evaluating books of all genres.

    And not just for kids who read well. They also work for kids who struggle in reading, who don't respond to abstract concepts. -Tanny McGregorInside, every kid wants to love reading-sometimes they need our help to see it.That's where Tanny McGregor's memorable, sensory-driven lessons come in.The chapters in this book, she writes, are a collection of ideas about how to launch genres, how to introduce your students to the personalities of each, and how to build a curiosity and appreciation for what each genre has to offer. Use the seed ideas suggested in this volume with a genre of your choice and see how it grows!Genre Connections makes learning achievable, accessible, and incremental for all readers-including struggling readers. Tanny's lessons use everyday objects, works of art, music, and her much-loved anchor charts to help readers get acquainted with seven commonly taught genres and to discover what makes them unique.Her launching sequences gradually release responsibility for learning about text types, and they can be adapted for any genre. They help readers weave creative, sensory threads into a tapestry of understanding by taking them from a fun introductory object lesson to an immersive experience.Looking for the perfect partner for Tanny's Comprehension Connections? Or for a new way to bring the inner reader out in any student? Let the ideas in Genre Connections inspire you to help your students get to know genres quickly, confidently, and effectively.

    The contributors are leading authorities who demonstrate proven ways to teach different aspects of writing, with chapters on planning, revision, sentence construction, handwriting, spelling, and motivation. The use of the Internet in instruction is addressed, and exemplary approaches to teaching English-language learners and students with special needs are discussed. The book also offers best-practice guidelines for designing an effective writing program. Focusing on everyday applications of current scientific research, the book features many illustrative case examples and vignettes.

    While the transition to standards-based practices may be challenging, it is essential for effective instruction and assessment. In this practical guide, the author outlines specific steps your team can take to transform grading and reporting schoolwide. Each chapter includes examples of grading dilemmas, vignettes from teachers and administrators, and ideas for bringing parents on board with change.

    Moss and Susan M. Brookhart contend that improving student learning and achievement happens in the immediacy of an individual lesson--what they call today's lesson--or it doesn't happen at all.The key to making today's lesson meaningful? Learning targets. Written from students' point of view, a learning target describes a lesson-sized chunk of information and skills that students will come to know deeply. Each lesson's learning target connects to the next lesson's target, enabling students to master a coherent series of challenges that ultimately lead to important curricular standards.Drawing from the authors' extensive research and professional learning partnerships with classrooms, schools, and school districts, this practical book- Situates learning targets in a theory of action that students, teachers, principals, and central-office administrators can use to unify their efforts to raise student achievement and create a culture of evidence-based, results-oriented practice. - Provides strategies for designing learning targets that promote higher-order thinking and foster student goal setting, self-assessment, and self-regulation. - Explains how to design a strong performance of understanding, an activity that produces evidence of students' progress toward the learning target. - Shows how to use learning targets to guide summative assessment and grading. Learning Targets also includes reproducible planning forms, a classroom walk-through guide, a lesson-planning process guide, and guides to teacher and student self-assessment.What students are actually doing during today's lesson is both the source of and the yardstick for school improvement efforts. By applying the insights in this book to your own work, you can improve your teaching expertise and dramatically empower all students as stakeholders in their own learning.