Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind: 16 Essential Characteristics for Success


Arthur L. Costa - 2008
    Costa and Bena Kallick present a comprehensive guide to shaping schools around Habits of Mind. The habits are a repertoire of behaviors that help both students and teachers successfully navigate the various challenges and problems they encounter in the classroom and in everyday life. The Habits of Mind include* Persisting* Managing impulsivity* Listening with understanding and empathy* Thinking flexibly* Thinking about thinking (metacognition)* Striving for accuracy* Questioning and posing problems* Applying past knowledge to new situations* Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision* Gathering data through all senses* Creating, imagining, innovating* Responding with wonderment and awe* Taking responsible risks* Finding humor* Thinking interdependently* Remaining open to continuous learningThis volume brings together--in a revised and expanded format--concepts from the four books in Costa and Kallick's earlier work Habits of Mind: A Developmental Series. Along with other highly respected scholars and practitioners, the authors explain how the 16 Habits of Mind dovetail with up-to-date concepts of what constitutes intelligence; present instructional strategies for activating the habits and creating a thought-full classroom environment; offer assessment and reporting strategies that incorporate the habits; and provide real-life examples of how communities, school districts, building administrators, and teachers can integrate the habits into their school culture. Drawing upon their research and work over many years, in many countries, Costa and Kallick present a compelling rationale for using the Habits of Mind as a foundation for leading, teaching, learning, and living well in a complex world.

This Is Disciplinary Literacy: Reading, Writing, Thinking, and Doing . . . Content Area by Content Area


ReLeah Cossett Lent - 2015
     In this important reference, content teachers and other educators explore why students need to understand how historians, novelists, mathematicians, and scientists use literacy in their respective fields. ReLeah shows how to teach students to:Evaluate and question evidence (Science) Compare sources and interpret events (History) Favor accuracy over elaboration (Math) Attune to voice and fi gurative language (ELA)

The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility, Healing, and Hope in Schools


Katherine Evans - 2016
    The wisdom embedded within its principles and practices is being welcomed at a time when exclusionary discipline and zero tolerance policies are recognized as perpetuating student apathy, disproportionality, and the school-to-prison pipeline.Relying on the wisdom of early proponents of restorative justice, the daily experiences of educators, and the authors’ extensive experience as classroom teachers and researchers, this Little Book guides the growth of restorative justice in education (RJE) into the future. Incorporating activities, stories, and examples throughout the book, three major interconnected and equally important aspects of restorative justice in education are explained and applied: creating just and equitable learning environments; building and maintaining healthy relationships; healing harm and transforming conflict. Chapters include:The Way We Do ThingsA Brief History of Restorative Justice in EducationBeliefs and Values in Restorative Justice in EducationCreating just and Equitable Learning EnvironmentsNurturing Healthy relationshipsRepairing Harm and Transforming ConflictA Tale of Two Schools: Thoughts and SustainabilityThe Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education is a reference that practitioners can turn to repeatedly for clarity and consistency as they implement restorative justice in educational settings.

Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares about Education


Peter M. Senge - 2000
    The problems are sparking a national debate as educators, school boards, administrators, and parents search for ways to strengthen our school system at all levels, more effectively respond to the rapidly changing world around us, and better educate our children.Bestselling author Peter Senge and his Fifth Discipline team have written Schools That Learn because educators—who have made up a sizable percentage of the audience for the popular Fifth Discipline books—have asked for a book that focuses specifically on schools and education, to help reclaim schools even in economically depressed or turbulent districts. One of the great strengths of Schools That Learn is its description of practices that are meeting success across the country and around the world, as schools attempt to learn, grow, and reinvent themselves using the principles of organizational learning. Featuring articles, case studies, and anecdotes from prominent educators such as Howard Gardner, Jay Forrester, and 1999 U.S. Superintendent of the Year Gerry House, as well as from impassioned teachers, administrators, parents, and students, the book offers a wealth of practical tools, anecdotes, and advice that people can use to help schools (and the classrooms in them and communities around them) learn to learn.You'll read about schools, for instance, where principals introduce themselves to parents new to the school as "entering a nine-year conversation" about their children's education; where teachers use computer modeling to galvanize student insight into everything from Romeo and Juliet to the extinction of the mammoths; and where teachers' training is not just bureaucratic ritual but an opportunity to recharge and rethink the classroom.In a fast-changing world where school violence is a growing concern, where standardized tests are applied as simplistic "quick fixes," where rapid advances in science and technology threaten to outpace schools' effectiveness, where the average tenure of a school district superintendent is less than three years, and where students, parents, and teachers feel weighed down by increasing pressures, Schools That Learn offers much-needed material for the dialogue about the educating of children in the twenty-first century.

For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education


Christopher Emdin - 2016
    He begins by taking to task the perception of urban youth of color as unteachable, and he challenges educators to embrace and respect each student’s culture and to reimagine the classroom as a site where roles are reversed and students become the experts in their own learning.Putting forth his theory of Reality Pedagogy, Emdin provides practical tools to unleash the brilliance and eagerness of youth and educators alike—both of whom have been typecast and stymied by outdated modes of thinking about urban education. With this fresh and engaging new pedagogical vision, Emdin demonstrates the importance of creating a family structure and building communities within the classroom, using culturally relevant strategies like hip-hop music and call-and-response, and connecting the experiences of urban youth to indigenous populations globally. Merging real stories with theory, research, and practice, Emdin demonstrates how by implementing the “Seven C’s” of reality pedagogy in their own classrooms, urban youth of color benefit from truly transformative education.Lively, accessible, and revelatory, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y’all Too is the much-needed antidote to traditional top-down pedagogy and promises to radically reframe the landscape of urban education for the better.

The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a Time


Stephen R. Covey - 2008
    Stephen R. Covey illustrates how his principles of leadership can be applied to children of all ages. In today’s world, we are inundated with information about who to be, what to do, and how to live. But what if there was a way to learn not just what to think about, but how to think? A program that taught young people how to manage priorities, focus on goals, and be a positive influence in their schools?The Leader in Me is that program. In this bestseller, Stephen R. Covey took the 7 Habits that have already changed the lives of millions of readers and showed that even young children can use them as they develop. These habits are being adapted by schools around the country in leadership programs, most famously at the A.B Combs Elementary school in Raleigh. Not only do the programs work, but they work better than anyone could have imagined. This book is full of examples of how the students blossom under the program—from the classroom that decided to form a support group for one of their classmates who had behavioral problems to the fourth grader who overcame his fear of public speaking and took his class to see him compete in a national story telling competition.Perfect for individuals and corporations alike, The Leader in Me shows how easy it is to incorporate these skills into daily life so kids of all ages can be more effective, goal-oriented, and successful.

Word Nerds: Teaching All Students to Learn and Love Vocabulary


Brenda J. Overturf - 2013
    Leslie Montgomery and Margot Holmes Smith weave vocabulary into each school day using multisensory instruction that includes music, art, literature, movement, games, drama, writing, test-taking skills, and technology. Along the way, they turn every student into a lover of language.With support from literacy specialist Brenda Overturf, Leslie and Margot have developed a five-part plan—introducing new words in context, adding related synonyms and antonyms, engaging students in several days of active learning, celebrating new words, and assessing vocabulary development—that teaches all students to learn and love vocabulary.This easy-to-read reference explains how to plan, teach, and assess based on the latest research in vocabulary instruction and learning. Forget copying definitions from the dictionary and completing boring worksheets! Word mastery comes from intimate knowledge of language. From prediction to practice to performance, students from all backgrounds can discover how to make words their own. After incorporating Leslie's and Margot's vocabulary plan into your daily instruction, you and your students can become word nerds, too!

Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year


Esmé Raji Codell - 1999
    Fresh-mouthed and free-spirited, the irrepressible Madame Esmé—as she prefers to be called—does the cha-cha during multiplication tables, roller-skates down the hallways, and puts on rousing performances with at-risk students in the library. Her diary opens a window into a real-life classroom from a teacher’s perspective. While battling bureaucrats, gang members, abusive parents, and her own insecurities, this gifted young woman reveals what it takes to be an exceptional teacher.  Heroine to thousands of parents and educators, Esmé now shares more of her ingenious and yet down-to-earth approaches to the classroom in a supplementary guide to help new teachers hit the ground running. As relevant and iconoclastic as when it was first published, Educating Esmé is a classic, as is Madame Esmé herself.

The Writing Thief: Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing


Ruth Culham - 2014
    Writing thieves read widely, dive deeply into texts, and steal bits and pieces from great texts as models for their own writing. Ruth Culham admits to being a writing thief-and she wants you and your students to become writing thieves, too! A major part of becoming a writing thief is finding the right mentor texts to share with students. Within this book, discover more than 90 excellent mentor texts, along with straight-forward activities that incorporate the traits of writing across informational, narrative, and argument modes. Chapters also include brief essays from beloved writing thieves such as Lester Laminack, David L. Harrison, Lisa Yee, Nicola Davies, Ralph Fletcher, Toni Buzzeo, Lola Schaefer, and Kate Messner, detailing the reading that has influenced their own writing. Ruth's beloved easy-going style and friendly tone make this a book you'll turn to again and again as you guide your students to reach their full potential as deep, thoughtful readers and great writers. There's a writing thief in each of us when we learn how to read with a writer's eye!

Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning


Elizabeth A. City - 2009
    But you will also see a high degree of variability among classrooms—much higher than in most other industrialized countries. Today we are asking schools to do something they have never done before—educate all students to high levels—yet we don’t know how to do that in every classroom for every child.Inspired by the medical-rounds model used by physicians, the authors have pioneered a new form of professional learning known as instructional rounds networks. Through this process, educators develop a shared practice of observing, discussing, and analyzing learning and teaching.

Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion


Jay Heinrichs - 2007
     The time-tested secrets this book discloses include Cicero’s three-step strategy for moving an audience to action—as well as Honest Abe’s Shameless Trick of lowering an audience’s expectations by pretending to be unpolished. But it’s also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians’ use of “code” language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of popular-culture dodges—including The Yoda Technique, The Belushi Paradigm, and The Eddie Haskell Ploy. Whether you’re an inveterate lover of language books or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments on the page, at the podium, or over a beer, Thank You for Arguing is for you. Written by one of today’s most popular language mavens, it’s warm, witty, erudite, and truly enlightening. It not only teaches you how to recognize a paralipsis and a chiasmus when you hear them, but also how to wield such handy and persuasive weapons the next time you really, really want to get your own way.

Well Spoken: Teaching Speaking to All Students


Erik Palmer - 2011
    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.

In Defense of Read-Aloud: Sustaining Best Practice


Steven L. Layne - 2015
    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.

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.

They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing


Gerald Graff - 2006
    In addition to explaining the basic moves, this book provides writing templates that show students explicitly how to make these moves in their own writing.