UDL Now!: A Teacher's Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning in Today's Classrooms


Katie Novak - 2016
    UDL is a framework for inclusive education that aims to lower barriers to learning and optimize each individual's opportunity to learn. Novak shows how to use the UDL Guidelines to plan lessons, choose materials, assess learning, and improve instructional practice. Novak discusses key concepts such as scaffolding, vocabulary-building, and using student feedback to inform instruction. She also provides tips on recruiting students as partners in the teaching process, engaging their interest in how they learn. UDL Now! is a fun and effective Monday-morning playbook for great teaching.

A Fresh Look at Phonics, Grades K-2: Common Causes of Failure and 7 Ingredients for Success (Corwin Literacy)


Wiley Blevins - 2016
    Rather, a combination of causes can create a perfect storm of failure.” —Wiley BlevinsPicture a class of kindergarteners singing the alphabet song, and teaching phonics  seems as easy as one-two, three, A, B, C, right? In a Fresh Look at Phonics, Wiley Blevins explains why it can get tricky, and then delivers a plan so geared for success, that teachers, coaches, and administrators will come to see owning this book as a before and after moment in their professional lives. In this amazing follow up to his renowned resource Phonics From A-Z, Wiley uses the data he has collected over two decades to share which approaches truly work, which have failed, and how teachers can fine-tune their daily instruction for success. You will learn to focus on the seven critical ingredients of phonics teaching that produce the greatest student learning gains— readiness skills, scope and sequence, blending, dictation, word awareness, high frequency words, and reading connected texts. Then, for each ingredient, Wiley shares:   Activities, routines, word lists, and lessons that develop solid foundations for reading Ideas for differentiation, ELL, and advanced learners to ensure adequate progress for all learners Help on decodable texts, what not to over-do, and what you can’t do enough of for your students’ achievement Interactive “Day Clinic” activities that facilitate teacher self-reflection and school wide professional learning In a final section, Wiley details the ten common reasons instruction fails and shows teachers how to correct these missteps regarding lesson pacing, transitions, decodable texts, writing activities, assessment and more. A Fresh Look at Phonics is the evidence-based solution you have been seeking. Wiley Blevins, Ph.D., is a world-renowned expert on early reading, and author of the seminal book Phonics From A-Z among many other works. He has taught in both the United States and South America, and regularly trains teachers throughout Asia. He holds a Doctorate in Education from Harvard University, and has worked with numerous educational scholars, including Jeanne Chall, Isabel Beck, Marilyn Adams, Louisa Moats, and Dianne August, and others.

The Inclusive Classroom: Strategies for Effective Instruction


Margo A. Mastropieri - 1999
    The Inclusive Classroom: Strategies for Effective Instruction provides a wealth of practical and proven strategies for successfully including students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The text is unique for its three-part coverage of fundamentals of teaching students with special needs (including legal and professional issues, and characteristics of students with special needs); effective general teaching practices (including such topics as strategies for behavior management, improving motivation, increasing attention and memory, and improving study skills); and inclusive practices in specific subject areas (including literacy, math, science and social studies, vocational and other areas). This approach allows readers to understand students with special learning needs, effective general practices for inclusive instruction, and content-specific strategies. The overall approach is one of effective instruction, those practices that are most closely aligned with academic success.

Differentiation and the Brain


David A. Sousa - 2010
    This research pool offers information and insights that can help educators decide whether certain curricular, instructional, and assessment choices are likely to be more effective than others. Learn how to implement differentiation so that it achieves the desired result of shared responsibility between teacher and student.

Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook


Aimee Buckner - 2005
    It is here that students brainstorm topics, play with leads and endings, tweak a new revision strategy, or test out a genre for the first time.In Notebook Know-How, Aimee Buckner provides the tools teachers need to make writers' notebooks an integral part of their writing programs. She also addresses many of the questions teachers ask when they start using notebooks with their students, including:How do I launch the notebook?What mini-lessons can be used throughout the year to help students become more skilled in keeping notebooks?How do I help students who are stuck in writing ruts with notebooks?How do I help students use their learning from notebooks for other writing?How do I organize notebooks so that the design is flexible, yet still allows students to access information easily?How can writers' notebooks help students become better readers? How do I assess notebooks?This compact guide is packed with lessons, tips, and samples of student writing to help teachers make the most of writers' notebooks, without sacrificing time needed for the rest of the literacy curriculum. In fact, Notebook Know-How shows how smart and focused use of writers' notebooks enhances and deepens literacy learning in both reading and writing for students in grades 3–8.

The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-Based Strategy for Every Lesson


Harvey F. Silver - 2007
    Twenty reliable, flexible strategies (along with dozens of variations) are organized into these groups of instruction:*mastery style to emphasize the development of student memory;*understanding style to expand students' capacities to reason and explain;*self-expressive style to stimulate and nourish students' imaginations and creativity; *interpersonal style to help students find meaning in the relationships they forge as partners and team members, united in the act of learning; and*four-style strategies that integrate all four styles.To guide teachers in delivering content to students, the authors started with the best research-based teaching and learning strategies and created a tool called the Strategic Dashboard. The dashboard provides information about each teaching strategy in a concise, visual profile; it is also designed to document how you incorporate current, highly respected research into your instructional plans.For each strategy, you'll find the following information:*a brief introduction to the strategy;*an example of a teacher using the strategy in the classroom;*the research base supporting the strategy and how the strategy benefits students;*how to implement the strategy using a list of clear steps; *guidance through the planning process, providing steps, examples, and suggestions for designing superior lessons; and*additional tools, strategies, and resources for adapting and expanding the use of each strategy.The authors have combined their years of research and practice to deliver reliable, high-impact, flexible teaching and learning strategies grounded in current, highly regarded research to teachers at all levels of experience.

Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners, Grades K-12: Maximizing Skill, Will, and Thrill


Nancy Frey - 2018
     This illuminating book shows how to make this scenario an everyday reality. With its foundation in principles introduced in the authors' bestselling Visible Learning for Literacy, this resource delves more deeply into the critical component of self-assessment, revealing the most effective types of assessment and how each can motivate students to higher levels of achievement.

Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres


Troy Hicks - 2013
    Troy Hicks explores the questions of how to teach digital writing by examining author's craft, demonstrating how intentional thinking about author's craft in digital texts engages students in writing that is grounded in their digital lives. Troy draws on his experience as a teacher, professor, and National Writing Project site director to show how the heart of digital composition is strong writing, whether it results in a presentation, a paper, or a video. Throughout the book, Troy offers: in-depth guidance for helping students to compose web texts (such as blogs and wikis), presentations, audio, video, and social media mentor texts that give you a snapshot into what professionals and students are doing right now to craft digital writing suggestions for using each type of digital text to address the narrative, informational, and argument text types identified in the Common Core State Standards a wealth of student-composed web texts for each digital media covered, along with links to them on the web technology tips and connections, as well as numerous tools for creating a digital writing assignment. To preview a sample of Crafting Digital Writing click here.

In the Middle: New Understandings about Writing, Reading, and Learning


Nancie Atwell - 1987
    One of the rare breed of teachers who do know this is Nancie Atwell. - The New York TimesReading this book can be revolutionary. . . . Atwell leads us to new understandings of teaching and learning in a workshop classroom. - Voices from the Middle When first published in 1987, this seminal work was widely hailed for its honest examination of how teachers teach, how students learn, and the gap that lies in between. In depicting her own classroom struggles, Nancie Atwell shook our orthodox assumptions about skill-and-drill-based curriculums and became a pioneer of responsive teaching. Now, in the long awaited second edition, Atwell reflects on the next ten years of her experience, rethinks and clarifies old methods, and demonstrates new, more effective approaches.The second edition still urges educators to "come out from behind their own big desks" to turn classrooms into workshops where students and teachers create curriculums together. But it also advocates a more activist role for teachers. Atwell writes, "I'm no longer willing to withhold suggestions and directions from my kids when I can help them solve a problem, do something they've never done before, produce stunning writing, and ultimately become more independent of me."More than 70 percent of the material is new, with six brand-new chapters on genres, evaluation, and the teacher as writer. There are also lists of several hundred minilessons, and scripts and examples for teaching them; new expectations and rules for writing and reading workshops; ideas for teaching conventions; new systems for record keeping; lists of essential books for students and teachers; and forms for keeping track of individual spelling, skills, proofreading, homework, writing, and reading.The second edition of In the Middle is written in the same engaging style as its predecessor. It reads like a story - one that readers will be pleased to learn has no end. As Atwell muses, "I know my students and I will continue to learn and be changed. I am resigned - happily - to be always beginning for the rest of my life as a teacher."

Smarter Charts, K-2: Optimizing an Instructional Staple to Create Independent Readers and Writers


Marjorie Martinelli - 2012
    You don't even have to be able to draw. Just put the child before the chart.Marjorie Martinelli and Kristine Mraz Listen to an interview with Marjorie and Kristi, the Chartchums, on Education Talk Radio.Commercially available charts leave you hanging? Want the secret to jump-off-the-wall charts that stick with kids? Trust Smarter Charts.Did you ever want to know:What do great charts look like? How many is too many? Where are the best places for them in my classroom? How long do I keep them? How do I know if they are working? Then you'll want to meet Marjorie Martinelli and Kristine Mraz, the Chartchums. They struggled with the same questions, and Smarter Charts shares not only the answers, but the best practices they've discovered as well. Amp up the power of your charts with tips on design and language, instructional use, and self-assessment. Even better, discover surprising strategies that deepen engagement, strengthen retention, and heighten independence-all by involving students in chart making.Packed with full-color sample charts from real classrooms, Smarter Charts shares simple, brain-based strategies proven to make your classroom an even more active, effective space for literacy instruction and classroom management.

Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond


Jeff Anderson - 2014
    In  Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond,  authors Jeff Anderson and Deborah Dean create a book to help teachers simplify the revision process and start building students' writing and reading skills.In this book, Anderson and Dean use mentor texts to show the myriad possibilities that exist for revision. You will also find:How students find the "why" by talking through revisions during group and classroom discussions Easy-to-follow lessons and exercises to lead student discourse during rewrites and make challenging writing processes accessibleTeacher Tips to help apply new knowledge and develop both the writer and the writingReading and writing practices that keep the goals of Common Core and other standards in mindThe noted language arts teacher James Britton once said that good writing “floats on a sea of talk.” Revision Decisions supports those genuine conversations we naturally have as readers and writers, leading the way to the essential goal of making meaning.

Cultures Built to Last: Systemic PLCs at Work


Richard DuFour - 2013
    You'll move beyond isolated pockets of excellence while allowing every person in your school system-from teachers and administrators to students-the opportunity to be an instrument of lasting cultural change.

What Great Principals Do Differently: Eighteen Things That Matter Most


Todd Whitaker - 2015
    With heartfelt advice, practical wisdom, and examples from the field, Todd Whitaker explains the qualities and practices that distinguish great principals. New features include:Developing an accurate sense of self Understanding the dynamics of change Dealing with negative or ineffective staff membersOne of the nation's leading experts on staff motivation, teacher leadership, and principal effectiveness, Todd Whitaker has written over 20 powerful books for educators of every level. Discover what you can do differently.

The Literacy Teacher's Playbook, Grades 3-6: Four Steps for Turning Assessment Data Into Goal-Directed Instruction


Jennifer Serravallo - 2013
    Jennifer SerravalloThe aim of The Literacy Teacher's Playbook, writes Jennifer Serravallo, is to help you collect data that is helpful, analyze the data correctly, and make plans based on that data.National and state standards set learning goals, and it's up to you to help each student find his or her path to meeting them. That's why Jen opens up her thinking on assessment in this workshop-in-a-book. Her four-step protocol leads you toward goal-directed instruction:collect the data that will be the most useful to you analyze the data to understand deeply what kids know and can do synthesize data from multiple assessments to create learning goals develop instructional plans and follow-ups to monitor progress. What you can pull out of a student's messy desk is actually data, Jen writes. So she provides downloadable assessment packets from real students representing two puzzling types of learners. Spread Joana's packet out and let Jen model her protocol. Next try a guided practice with Alex's work. Then you'll be ready to try it with your own students.Trust The Literacy Teacher's Playbook to discover that assessment isn't about numbers and letters. It's about relying on an assessment procedure that helps you know each and every one of your students, so you can teach with confidence and make a difference. Read a sample chapter from The Literacy Teacher's Playbook.NEW Printable Materialsword pdf Blank Reading Log Levels D-Iword pdf Blank Reading Log Levels J-Mword pdf Blank Reading Log Levels L+word pdf Blank Re-reading Log Levels D-Iword pdf Blank Reading Interest Survey K-2word pdf Blank Reading Interest Survey 3-6word pdf Blank High-Frequency Word Listword pdf Blank Engagement Inventory

Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms


Paul D. Eggen - 1992
    Long recognized as very applied and practical, Eggen and Kauchak's Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms, seventh edition is now even more applied and concise, giving students exactly what they need to know in the course. The author's hallmark cases remain, in both written and videotape format, to introduce real-world applications in a way that no other text can. Along with expanded applications to diversity (urban, suburban, and rural areas), technology, and a new pedagogical system that completely restructures how information is delivered in the book and will help students really understand what they should be getting out of every single chapter. The text now comes with two new DVDs of video material and an access code for the new Teacher Prep Website that will be automatically shrinkwrapped with all new copies of the text. Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms once again truly fulfills the promise of its title, giving students a window on the classrooms in which they will someday teach.