With the introduction of the rigorous Common Core State Standards, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement and facilitating deeper learningCulturally responsive pedagogy has shown great promise in meeting this need, but many educators still struggle with its implementation. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction.The book includes:*Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships*Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners*Prompts for action and valuable self-reflectionWith a firm understanding of these techniques and principles, teachers and instructional leaders will confidently reap the benefits of culturally responsive instruction.

    Controlling a class isn't something that comes naturally to everyone - but it can be learned.This no-nonsense guide tells teachers what the teacher training didn't, and offers instant strategies for dealing with the most common, and extreme, classroom scenarios.Using his experiences of teaching in inner-city schools, as Behaviour Guru on the TES advice forum and working as a nightclub bouncer, Tom Bennett helps teachers, old and new, to assert their authority in the classroom.

    In his extensively revised fourth edition, Frank Smith brings teachers and teacher educators up to date on how reading should not be taught. It is a necessary reminder that reading and learning to read are natural activities.There is a massive assault on the independence of teachers of reading, mandated under the No Child Left Behind legislation, which regards reading as an unnatural act requiring contrived systematic instruction. Now more important than ever, Reading Without Nonsense, Fourth Edition provides the evidence and arguments that teachers need to resist this mechanistic view. As Frank Smith emphasizes, the act of reading has never changed despite all the changes in materials, procedures, and methodology proposed by people with an interest in how reading is taught.Reading Without Nonsense remains one of the most authoritative, influential, informative, and accessible texts on reading and learning to read. This bestseller is popular with classroom teachers and university professors as well as administrators, parents, and everyone concerned with literacy and education.

    - 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.

    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.

    Education is the platform for our success or failure, but is our system still fit for purpose? Will our children be equipped to face the challenges the future holds: the rapidly changing employment patterns and the global environmental, economic and social crises ahead of us? Or will our children grow up to resent their school years and blame them for their unfulfilled potential and achievement?Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today explores these questions in the context of early schooling and primary education, presents powerful arguments for change and highlights strategies that offer a solution.

    

     In EXPLORE LIKE A PIRATE, Matera serves as your experienced guide to help you apply the most motivational techniques of gameplay to your classroom using strategies that work with and enhance (rather than replace) your current curriculum. Part I debunks common myths and fears about gamification and explains why and how game-based learning effectively engages students in any subject or grade level. Part II focuses on how you can empower students to take control of their learning. You’ll also learn all about the different kinds of players in your classroom—and how to inspire them to set and achieve big goals. Part III is an all-in-one treasure chest, tool box, and field guide. Packed with ideas and examples that can be applied or adapted to any classroom—from badges and points, to mini-games and yearlong adventures—this is a resource you’ll return to again and again. Join the adventure with EXPLORE LIKE A PIRATE and discover how gamification can enrich your classroom!

    In Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions , authors Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz provide teachers with a framework for planning and facilitating purposeful math talks that move group discussions to the next level while achieving a mathematical goal.Through detailed vignettes from both primary and upper elementary classrooms, the authors provide a window into how teachers lead discussions and make important pedagogical decisions along the way. By creating equitable opportunities to share ideas, teachers can orient students to one another while enforcing that all students are sense makers and their ideas are valued. They examine students’ roles as both listeners and talkers, offering numerous strategies for improving student participation. Intentional Talk includes a collection of lesson planning templates in the appendix to help teachers apply the right structure to discussions in their own classrooms.

    The practice of reading aloud to children may be viewed by some educators as an “extra”—a bit of fluff used solely for the purposes of enjoyment or filling a few spare minutes, but researchers and practitioners stand in solidarity: the practice of reading aloud throughout the grades is not only viable but also best practice.  In Defense of Read-Aloud: Sustaining Best Practices, author Steven Layne reinforces readers’ confidence to continue the practice of reading aloud and presents the research base to defend the practice in grades K–12. Layne also offers significant practical insights to strengthen instructional practice—answering the questions of “Why should we?” and “How should we?”—and provides practical advice about how to use read-alouds most effectively. Leading researchers in the field of literacy provide position statements, authors of professional books share insights on books they have loved, leaders of the largest literacy organizations in the United States write about their favorite read-alouds, award-winning authors of children’s and young adult book (Katherine Paterson, Andrew Clements, Lois Lowry, to name a few) share the powerful behind-the-scenes stories of their greatest books, and real classroom teachers and librarians speak about books that have “lit up” their classrooms and libraries around the world. Last but not least, In Defense of Read-Aloud features many great recommendations of books to share with children.Read-aloud is an essential practice in teaching literacy in grades K–12. In this book, Steven Layne has provided everything needed to support, sustain, and celebrate the power of read-aloud.

    Diane Ravitch—former assistant secretary of education and a leader in the drive to create a national curriculum—examines her career in education reform and repudiates positions that she once staunchly advocated. Drawing on over forty years of research and experience, Ravitch critiques today’s most popular ideas for restructuring schools, including privatization, standardized testing, punitive accountability, and the feckless multiplication of charter schools. She shows conclusively why the business model is not an appropriate way to improve schools. Using examples from major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, Ravitch makes the case that public education today is in peril. Ravitch includes clear prescriptions for improving America’s schools:*Leave decisions about schools to educators, not politicians or businessmen*Devise a truly national curriculum that sets out what children in every grade should be learning*Expect charter schools to educate the kids who need help the most, not to compete with public schools*Pay teachers a fair wage for their work, not “merit pay” based on deeply flawed and unreliable test scores*Encourage family involvement in education from an early ageThe Death and Life of the Great American School System is more than just an analysis of the state of play of the American education system. It is a must-read for any stakeholder in the future of American schooling.

    This book is about making those encounters as compelling as we can make them." -Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Steven ZemelmanWe are specialists to the bone-in science, math, social studies, art, music, business, and foreign language. But now, the Common Core and state standards require us to help our students better understand the distinctive texts in our subject areas. "Nobody's making us into reading teachers," write Smokey Daniels and Steve Zemelman, "but we must become teachers of disciplinary thinking through our students' reading."If this shift sounds like a tough one, Subjects Matter, Second Edition is your solution. Smokey and Steve, two of America's most popular educators, share exactly what you need to help students read your nonfiction content closely and strategically: 27 proven teaching strategies that help meet-and exceed-the standards how-to suggestions for engaging kids with content through wide, real-world reading a lively look at using "boring" textbooks motivating instruction that's powered by student collaboration specifics for helping struggling readers succeed.Subjects Matter, Second Edition enables deep, thoughtful learning for your students, while keeping the irreverent, inspiring heart that's made the first edition indispensable. You'll discover fresh and re-energized lessons, completely updated research, and vibrant vignettes from new colleagues and old friends who have as much passion for their subjects as you do."We'll be using methods particular to our fields as well as engaging reading materials that help students understand and remember our content better," write Smokey and Steve. "We can realize that vision of the light going on in kids' heads and maybe fill them with enthusiasm about the amazing subject matter that we have to offer. Sound good? Let's get to work." Read a sample chapter from Subjects Matter, Second Edition.

    No student wants to be bored. So why isn't every classroom teeming with discussion and activity centered on the day's learning expectations? Engagement by Design gives you a framework for making daily improvements in engaging your students, highlighting opportunities that offer the greatest benefit in the least amount of time. You'll learn how focusing on relationships, clarity, and challenge can make all the difference in forging a real connection with students. Engagement by Design puts you in control of managing your classroom's success and increasing student learning, one motivated student at a time.

    But what about the elements that make up a picture? Using the tale of Little Red Riding Hood as an example, Molly Bang uses boldly graphic artwork to explain how images -- and their individual components -- work to tell a story that engages the emotions: Why are diagonals dramatic? Why are curves calming? Why does red feel hot and blue feel cold?

    Now this new edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook imparts the benefits, rewards, and importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research, The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies—and the reasoning behind them—for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.