According to veteran classroom teacher and educational consultant Suzy Pepper Rollins, the true answer to supporting struggling students lies in acceleration. In Learning in the Fast Lane, she lays out a plan of action that teachers can use to immediately move underperforming students in the right direction and differentiate instruction for all learners--even those who excel academically. This essential guide identifies eight high-impact, research-based instructional approaches that will help you* Make standards and learning goals explicit to students.* Increase students' vocabulary--a key to their academic success.* Build students' motivation and self-efficacy so that they become active, optimistic participants in class.* Provide rich, timely feedback that enables students to improve when it counts.* Address skill and knowledge gaps within the context of new learning.Students deserve no less than the most effective strategies available. These hands-on, ready-to-implement practices will enable you to provide all students with compelling, rigorous, and engaging learning experiences.

    Kids take a vacation from books and those with limited access to books lose ground to their peers. You may have thought there's nothing you can do about it, but there is. No More Summer-Reading Loss shows how to ensure that readers continue to grow year round.School-based practitioners Carrie Cahill and Kathy Horvath join with renowned researchers Anne McGill-Franzen and Dick Allington to help you make summer readers out of every student. You'll stop summer-reading loss as they help you:identify practices that inadvertently contribute to it understand the research on its implications and its prevention take research-based action with 8 instructional strategies. Building independence. Keeping kids on grade-level. Closing the achievement gap. These are just a few of the valuable outcomes that No More Summer-Reading Loss can support. Most importantly, it will help you pass on a love of reading that knows no season and gives readers confidence when they return in the fall. About the Not This, But That Series No More Summer-Reading Loss is part of the Not This, But That series, edited by Nell K. Duke and Ellin Oliver Keene. It helps teachers examine common, ineffective classroom practices and replace them with practices supported by research and professional wisdom. In each book a practicing educator and an education researcher identify an ineffective practice; summarize what the research suggests about why; and detail research-based, proven practices to replace it and improve student learning. Read a sample chapter from No More Summer-Reading Loss.

    Like his best-selling book Designing Web-Based Training, this book is a comprehensive resource that provides practical guidance for making the thousand and one decisions needed to design effective e-learning. e-Learning by Design includes a systematic, flexible, and rapid design process covering every phase of designing e-learning. Free of academic jargon and confusing theory, this down-to-earth, hands-on book is filled with hundreds of real-world examples and case studies from dozens of fields."Like the book's predecessor (Designing Web-based Training), it deserves four stars and is a must read for anyone not selling an expensive solution. -- From Training Media Review, by Jon Aleckson, www.tmreview.com, 2007

    Georgia HeardHumanity and warmth are the cornerstones of quality nonfiction writing. But how can students create them in genres that at first seem more informational than intimate? In Finding the Heart of Nonfiction, Georgia Heard shows how mentor texts can help students read for seven essential craft tools and then use them to create inviting nonfiction that keeps readers' interest.Lyrical and practical, Finding the Heart of Nonfiction describes how to choose mentor texts, use them, and mine them for exemplary instruction. Between these suggestions and the instructional ideas, Georgia shows how students can write nonfiction that informs and inspires. You'll find thoughtful, immediately useful support as you:introduce nonfiction with her handpicked, reproducible mentor texts get students writing with the instructional ideas in Georgia's Try This sections familiarize writers with nonfiction craft and text features connect nonfiction work to the Common Core State Standards collect mentor texts tailored to your students. My hope, writes Georgia, is that you and your students will be inspired by the mentor texts I've chosen-but also inspired to seek out your own mentor texts and continue to explore the world through nonfiction. Trust Finding the Heart of Nonfiction and help your students write with purpose, voice, and passion.Preview the book. Download and read a sample chapter.

    It uses case studies, practice features, basic developmental issues tables, trends tables and observation guidelines tables.

    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.

    The journey to becoming a values-based leader starts with self-reflection. He asks, "If you are not self-reflective, how can you know yourself? If you do not know yourself, how can you lead yourself? If you cannot lead yourself, how can you lead others?" Kraemer identifies self-reflection as the first of four principles that guide leaders to make choices that honor their values and candidly recounts how these principles helped him navigate some of the toughest challenges he faced in his career.Offers a framework for adopting the principles of values-based leadership--self-reflection, balance, true self-confidence, and genuine humility--to lead organizations effectively Based on Kraemer's popular Kellogg MBA course on values-based leadership A recognized expert in values-based leadership, Kraemer is a sought after speaker on the subjectLively and engaging, Kraemer's book comes at a critical time when true leadership in every facet of society is desperately needed.

    Enrollments are on the rise, and their resources are often the envy of every other university department. Law professors are among the highest paid and play key roles as public intellectuals, advisers, and government officials. Yet behind the flourishing facade, law schools are failing abjectly. Recent front-page stories have detailed widespread dubious practices, including false reporting of LSAT and GPA scores, misleading placement reports, and the fundamental failure to prepare graduates to enter the profession.Addressing all these problems and more in a ringing critique is renowned legal scholar Brian Z. Tamanaha. Piece by piece, Tamanaha lays out the how and why of the crisis and the likely consequences if the current trend continues. The out-of-pocket cost of obtaining a law degree at many schools now approaches $200,000. The average law school graduate’s debt is around $100,000—the highest it has ever been—while the legal job market is the worst in decades, with the scarce jobs offering starting salaries well below what is needed to handle such a debt load. At the heart of the problem, Tamanaha argues, are the economic demands and competitive pressures on law schools—driven by competition over U.S. News and World Report ranking. When paired with a lack of regulatory oversight, the work environment of professors, the limited information available to prospective students, and loan-based tuition financing, the result is a system that is fundamentally unsustainable.Growing concern with the crisis in legal education has led to high-profile coverage in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and many observers expect it soon will be the focus of congressional scrutiny. Bringing to the table his years of experience from within the legal academy, Tamanaha has provided the perfect resource for assessing what’s wrong with law schools and figuring out how to fix them.

    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.

    This text includes provocative essays written by scholars to refresh both teacher and student, successful and understandable techniques for teaching through performance, and teaching methods that engage students at all levels.

    As a result, many people are left with an incomplete understanding of this transformative new technology and its massive implications for the future. The goal of this book is not to plumb the depths of the mathematical wizardry used to code blockchain-based applications, but rather to serve as an introduction to the broader architecture and conceptual background behind blockchain technology. We will take a practical approach, examining how Blockchains are used in the real world. In this short, concise guide you will learn: A Brief History of Blockchain Technology Blockchain Basics: Managing Digital Transactions What is a Distributed Ledger? Blockchain Beyond Bitcoin Implications Of Blockchain: Big Data, Privacy & Personal Data Profiting from Blockchain Technologies Limitations & Challenges of Blockchain The Future of Blockchain For Centuries, people have relied on corrupt Centralized Institutions like banks and Governments to serve as intermediaries when it comes to storing and transacting financial assets. This is ALL About To Change... Make sure you take action and join the Financial Revolution by reading this book!

    Reckless. Impractical. Insecure. Distracted. These are all words commonly used to describe adolescents. But what if we recast these traits in a positive light? Teens possess insight, passion, idealism, sensitivity, and creativity in abundance--all qualities that can make a significant positive contribution to society.In this thought-provoking book, Thomas Armstrong looks at the power and promise of the teenage brain from an empathetic, strength-based perspective--and describes what middle and high school educators can do to make the most of their students' potential.Thoroughly grounded in current neuroscience research, the book explains what we know about how the adolescent brain works and proposes eight essential instructional elements that will help students develop the ability to think, make healthy choices, regulate their emotions, handle social conflict, consolidate their identities, and learn enough about the world to move into adulthood with dignity and grace.Armstrong provides practical strategies and real-life examples from schools that illustrate these eight key practices in action. In addition, you'll find a glossary of brain terms, a selection of brain-friendly lesson plans across the content areas, and a list of resources to support and extend the book's ideas and practices.There is a colossal mismatch between how the adolescent brain has evolved over the millennia and the passive, rote learning experiences that are all too common in today's test-obsessed educational climate. See the amazing difference--in school and beyond--when you use the insights from this book to help students tap into the power of their changing brains.

    Guadalupe Vald�s examines what appears to be a lack of interest in education by Mexican parents and shows, through extensive quotations and numerous anecdotes, that these families are both rich and strong in family values, and that they bring with them clear views of what constitutes success and failure. The book's conclusion questions the merit of typical family intervention programs designed to promote school success and suggests that these interventions--because they do not genuinely respect the values of diverse families--may have long-term negative consequences for children.Con Respeto will be a valuable resource in graduate courses in foundations, ethnographic research, sociology and anthropology of education, multicultural education, and child development; and will be of particular interest to professors and researchers of multicultural education, bilingual education, ethnographic research methods, and sociology and anthropology of education.

    Pose the same question to students and many will use words like "boring", "useless", and even "humiliating". In  Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had , author Tracy Zager helps teachers close this gap by making math class more like mathematics. Tracy has spent years working with highly skilled math teachers in a diverse range of settings and grades. You'll find this book jam-packed with new ideas from these vibrant classrooms.  How to Teach Student-Centered Mathematics: Zager outlines a problem-solving approach to mathematics for elementary and middle school educators looking for new ways to inspire student learningBig Ideas, Practical Application: This math book contains dozens of practical and accessible teaching techniques that focus on fundamental math concepts, including strategies that simulate connection of big ideas; rich tasks that encourage students to wonder, generalize, hypothesize, and persevere; and routines to teach students how to collaborateKey Topics for Elementary and Middle School Teachers:  Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had  offers fresh perspectives on common challenges, from formative assessment to classroom management for elementary and middle school teachersAll teachers can move towards increasingly authentic and delightful mathematics teaching and learning. This important book helps develop instructional techniques that will make the math classes we teach so much better than the math classes we took.