Book picks similar to
Minds Made for Stories: How We Really Read and Write Informational and Persuasive Texts by Thomas Newkirk
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education
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The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact
Michael Fullan - 2014
But what should the principal do in order to maximize student achievement? One of the best-known leadership authors in education, Fullan explains why the answer lies neither in micro-managing instruction nor in autonomous entrepreneurialism. He shows systematically how the principal's role should change, demonstrating how it can be done in short order, at scale.Reveals the three key roles that administrators must play in today's schools Explains how to choose the right versus wrong drivers of school success Filled with action items to help implement Fullan's program effectively Includes strategies that have been successfully field-tested in schools across the United States and Canada
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Supporting Readers Who Struggle, K-4
Pat Johnson - 2010
They describe classroom environments that support all students and touch upon comprehension strategies and how to help children integrate them.This book is essential reading for all who work with struggling readers in any context and contains a wealth of resources, including a thorough explanation of all the sources of information readers use to solve words, examples and scenarios of teacher/student interactions, prompts to use with struggling readers, lessons on modeling, and assessment guidelines.
Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It
Eric Jensen - 2009
A brain that is susceptible to adverse environmental effects is equally susceptible to the positive effects of rich, balanced learning environments and caring relationships that build students' resilience, self-esteem, and character.Drawing from research, experience, and real school success stories, Teaching with Poverty in Mind reveals* What poverty is and how it affects students in school;* What drives change both at the macro level (within schools and districts) and at the micro level (inside a student's brain);* Effective strategies from those who have succeeded and ways to replicate those best practices at your own school; and* How to engage the resources necessary to make change happen.Too often, we talk about change while maintaining a culture of excuses. We can do better. Although no magic bullet can offset the grave challenges faced daily by disadvantaged children, this timely resource shines a spotlight on what matters most, providing an inspiring and practical guide for enriching the minds and lives of all your students.
Building Teachers' Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders
Pete Hall - 2008
In Building Teachers Capacity for Success, authors Pete Hall (winner of the 2004 ASCD Outstanding Young Educator Award) and Alisa Simeral offer a straightforward plan to help site-based administrators and instructional coaches collaborate to bring out the best in every teacher, build a stronger and more cohesive staff, and achieve greater academic success. Their model of Strength-Based School Improvement is an alternative to a negative, deficit-approach focused on fixing what s wrong. Instead, they show school leaders how to achieve their goals by working together to maximize what s right. Filled with clear, proven strategies and organized around two easy-to-use tools the innovative Continuum of Self-Reflection and a feedback-focused walk-through model this book offers a differentiated approach to coaching and supervision centered on identifying and nurturing teachers individual strengths and helping them reach new levels of professional success and satisfaction. Here, you ll find front-line advice from the authors, one a principal and the other an instructional coach, on just what to look for, do, and say in order to start seeing positive results right now.
Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School (Hack Learning #3)
Starr Sackstein - 2015
Now, you can easily stop reducing students to a number, letter, or any label that misrepresents learning and assessment in education. Now, you can help children see the value in every single assignment. Today, you can make assessment a rich, ongoing conversation that inspires learning for the sake of learning, rather than as a punishment or a reward. All you have to do is go gradeless. Throw out your grade book tomorrow! In Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School, award-winning teacher and world-renowned formative assessment expert Starr Sackstein unravels one of education's oldest mysteries: how to assess learning without grades -- even in a school that uses numbers, letters, GPAs, and report cards. While many educators can only muse about the possibility of a world without grades, teachers like Sackstein are reimagining education. In this unique, eagerly-anticipated book, Sackstein shows you exactly how to create a remarkable no-grades classroom like hers, a vibrant place where students grow, share, thrive, and become independent learners who never ask, "What's this worth?"
Learn what formative assessment really looks like.
Summative assessment is typically an end-of-unit exam or standardized test, but what is formative assessment? Many teachers struggle with the concept. Hacking Assessment not only explains what formative assessment is, it provides blueprints for implementation and examples from educators around the world, who use this strategy successfully every day. Read It and You Can Take These Actions Immediately: Shift everyone's mindset away from grades Track student progress without a grade book Communicate learning to all stakeholders in real time Maximize time while providing meaningful feedback Teach students to reflect and "self-grade" Deliver feedback in a digital world Create e-portfolios and cloud-based learning archives Inspire Students to share their work openly This is not your average assessment book Hacking Assessment won't bore you with outdated research or unrealistic strategies. In her captivating, conversational style, Sackstein provides practical ideas woven into a user-friendly success guide with actionable steps for creating an amazing conversation about learning that does not require a traditional grade. Each chapter is neatly wrapped in this simple Hack Learning Series formula: The Problem (an assessment issue that plagues education) The Hack (a ridiculously easy solution that you've likely never considered) What You Can Do Tomorrow (no waiting necessary) Blueprint for Full Implementation (a step-by-step action plan for capacity building) The Hack in Action (yes, someone has actually done this)
Close Reading of Informational Texts: Assessment-Driven Instruction in Grades 3-8
Sunday Cummins - 2012
This book has been replaced by Close Reading of Informational Sources, Second Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-3945-1.
Great Habits, Great Readers: A Practical Guide for K-4 Reading in the Light of Common Core: Teaching the Skills and Strategies Students Need for Success
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo - 2013
The early formal years of education are the key to reversing the reading gap and setting up children for success. But K-4 education seems to widen the gap between stronger and weaker readers, not close it. Today, the Common Core further increases the pressure to reach high levels of rigor. What can be done?This book includes the strategies, systems, and lessons from the top classrooms that bring the habits of reading to life, creating countless quality opportunities for students to take one of the most complex skills we as people can know and to perform it fluently and easily.Offers clear teaching strategies for teaching reading to all students, no matter what levelIncludes more than 40 video examples from real classroomsWritten by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, bestselling author of "Driven by Data" and "Leverage Leadership""Great Habits, Great Readers" puts the focus on: learning habits, reading habits, guided reading, and independent reading.NOTE: Content DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download after purchase
The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation
Elena Aguilar - 2013
Established coaches will find numerous ways to deepen and refine their coaching practice. Principals and others who incorporate coaching strategies into their work will also find a wealth of resources.Aguilar offers a model for transformational coaching which could be implemented as professional development in schools or districts anywhere. Although she addresses the needs of adult learners, her model maintains a student-centered focus, with a specific lens on addressing equity issues in schools.Offers a practical resource for school coaches, principals, district leaders, and other administrators Presents a transformational coaching model which addresses systems change Pays explicit attention to surfacing and interrupting inequities in schools The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation offers a compendium of school coaching ideas, the book's explicit, user-friendly structure enhances the ability to access the information.
Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom
Linda Christensen - 2009
Christensen is recognized as one of the country's finest teachers. Her latest book shows why. Through story upon story, Christensen demonstrates how she draws on students' lives and the world to teach poetry, essay, narrative, and critical literacy skills. Teaching for Joy and Justice reveals what happens when a teacher treats all students as intellectuals, instead of intellectually challenged. Part autobiography, part curriculum guide, part critique of today's numbing standardized mandates, this book sings with hope -- born of Christensen's more than 30 years as a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, and teacher educator. Practical, inspirational, passionate: this is a must-have book for every language arts teacher, whether veteran or novice. In fact, Teaching for Joy and Justice is a must-have book for anyone who wants concrete examples of what it really means to teach for social justice.
Equipped for Reading Success
David A. Kilpatrick - 2016
Research-based methods for boosting phonemic awareness, phonics, and instant word recognition
Best Practices in Writing Instruction
Steve Graham - 2007
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.
The New Art and Science of Teaching: More Than Fifty New Instructional Strategies for Academic Success
Robert J. Marzano - 2017
While the previous model focused on teacher outcomes, the new version places focus on student outcomes, with strategies teachers can use to help students grasp the information and skills transferred through their instruction. Throughout the book, Marzano details the elements of three overarching categories of teaching, which define what must happen to optimize student learning: students must receive feedback, get meaningful content instruction, and have their basic psychological needs met.BenefitsExplore instructional strategies that correspond to each of the 43 elements of The New Art and Science of Teaching, which have been carefully designed to maximize student engagement and achievement. Gain ten design questions and a general framework that will help determine which classroom strategies you should use to foster student learning. Analyze the behavioral evidence that proves the strategies of an element are helping learners reach their peak academic success. Study the state of the modern standards movement and what changes must be made in K 12 education to ensure high levels of learning for all. Download free reproducible scales specific to the elements in The New Art and Science of Teaching. ContentsChapter 1: Providing and Communicating Clear Learning GoalsChapter 2: Conducting AssessmentChapter 3: Conducting Direct Instruction LessonsChapter 4: Practicing and Deepening LessonsChapter 5: Implementing Knowledge Application LessonsChapter 6: Using Strategies That Appear in All Types of LessonsChapter 7: Using Engagement StrategiesChapter 8: Implementing Rules and ProceduresChapter 9: Building RelationshipsChapter 10: Communicating High ExpectationsChapter 11: Making System Changes"
Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student
John Spencer - 2016
They discover powerful skills—problem-solving, critical thinking, and imagination—that will help them shape the world’s future … our future. If that’s true, why isn’t creativity a priority in more schools today?Educators John Spencer and A.J. Juliani know firsthand the challenges teachers face every day: School can be busy. Materials can be scarce. The creative process can seem confusing. Curriculum requirements can feel limiting. Those challenges too often bully creativity, pushing it to the side as an “enrichment activity” that gets put off or squeezed into the tiniest time block. We can do better. We must do better if we’re going to prepare students for their future.LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student provides a process that can be incorporated into every class at every grade level ... even if you don’t consider yourself a “creative teacher.” And if you dare to innovate and view creativity as an essential skill, you will empower your students to change the world—starting right now. Look, Listen, and LearnAsk Lots of QuestionsUnderstand the Problem or ProcessNavigate IdeasCreateHighlight What’s Working and FailingAre you ready to LAUNCH?"Required reading for every teacher who cares. A dramatic re-framing and a road map on how to rebuild our schools from the inside." —Seth Godin, author of Stop Stealing Dreams“All kids walk into school curious and creative. This book will help weave a path to ensure that these traits are not only maintained, but accentuated when those same students leave.” —George Couros, author of The Innovator’s Mindset“The LAUNCH framework John Spencer and A.J. Juliani present has the potential to dramatically change classrooms to be more engaging, student centric, and most of all, fun!” —Dr. Jackie Gerstein, online faculty for master’s degree programs in educational technology“This book, crafted by John and A.J., provides educators with a series of actionable steps regarding design thinking, while simultaneously dispelling common myths and dissolving perceived roadblocks to success.” —Sarah Thomas, regional technology coordinator, founder of #EduMatch
Embedded Formative Assessment - practical strategies and tools for K-12 teachers
Dylan Wiliam - 2011
Dylan Wiliam faces this challenge head-on by making a case for the important role of formative assessment in increasing teacher quality and student learning. While there are many possible ways in which we could seek to develop the practice of serving teachers, attention to minute-by-minute and day-to-day formative assessment is likely to have the biggest impact on student outcomes. Wiliam s view of formative assessment differs from the popular view in that he regards formative assessment as a process rather than a tool.Wiliam outlines what formative assessment is, and what it is not, and presents the five key strategies of formative assessment:1. Clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success2. Engineering effective classroom discussions, activities, and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning3. Providing feedback that moves learning forward4. Activating learners as instructional resources for one another5. Activating learners as owners of their own learningThe book presents a summary of the research evidence that shows the impact of each strategy and offers a number of practical techniques that teachers have used to incorporate the strategy into their regular classroom practice.
Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning, and Living
Mem Fox - 1993
The internationally acclaimed children’s book writer and educator offers her insights into the learning process, language education, and the pleasure, growth, and power that reading and writing can bring.