"A thought-provoking and practical new vision for inclusion built on five disruptions to the status quo necessary to move inclusive schooling practices to the next level and realize the promise of meaningful educational experience for all students, including students with disabilities"--

    Just as we celebrate diversity in nature and cultures, so too do we need to honor the diversity of brains among our students who learn, think, and behave differently. In Neurodiversity in the Classroom, best-selling author Thomas Armstrong argues that we should embrace the strengths of such neurodiverse students to help them and their neurotypical peers thrive in school and beyond.This innovative book focuses on five categories of special needs: learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, intellectual disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders. For each category, Armstrong provides an in-depth discussion of * The positive attributes associated with that category, * Acclaimed neurodiverse adults who have excelled in their chosen fields, * Computer programs and applications that allow students with special needs to overcome obstacles and achieve success, * Rich networks of human resources both inside and outside of school that educators can draw upon to support the social and emotional lives of neurodiverse students, * Innovative learning strategies that are tailored to each student's unique strengths, * Future career paths for which a student's particular gifts might be a good fit, * Modifications in the school environment that allow for seamless inclusion of neurodiverse students in the regular classroom, and * Timely information about how to integrate the strategies and assessments for each category with the Common Core State Standards.It's time that we focused on celebrating rather than pathologizing our students with special needs so that they can fully realize their potential in school and life. This practical and thought-provoking book will inspire teachers and administrators everywhere to make sure that all students with special needs get the support and strength-based instruction they deserve.

    He explores what parents, teachers, and employers must do to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators. In profiling compelling young American innovators such as Kirk Phelps, product manager for Apple’s first iPhone, and Jodie Wu, who founded a company that builds bicycle-powered maize shellers in Tanzania, Wagner reveals how the adults in their lives nurtured their creativity and sparked their imaginations, while teaching them to learn from failures and persevere. Wagner identifies a pattern—a childhood of creative play leads to deep-seated interests, which in adolescence and adulthood blossom into a deeper purpose for career and life goals. Play, passion, and purpose: These are the forces that drive young innovators. Wagner shows how we can apply this knowledge as educators and what parents can do to compensate for poor schooling. He takes readers into the most forward-thinking schools, colleges, and workplaces in the country, where teachers and employers are developing cultures of innovation based on collaboration, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and intrinsic motivation. The result is a timely, provocative, and inspiring manifesto that will change how we look at our schools and workplaces, and provide us with a road map for creating the change makers of tomorrow. Creating Innovators will feature its own innovative elements: more than sixty original videos that expand on key ideas in the book through interviews with young innovators, teachers, writers, CEOs, and entrepreneurs, including Thomas Friedman, Dean Kamen, and Annmarie Neal. Produced by filmmaker Robert A. Compton, the videos are embedded into the ebook edition in video-enabled eReaders and accessible in this print edition via QR codes placed throughout the chapters or via www.creatinginnovators.com.

    Without artful instruction, many students will never acquire the literacy skills they need not only to meet Common Core Standards but also to meet the challenges this brave new world is sure to deal them." -Carol JagoAgain and again the Common Core Standards state that students must read "proficiently and independently" but how do we achieve this when students are groaning about having to read demanding literature and looking for ways to pass the class without turning pages? Carol Jago shows middle and high school teachers how to create English classrooms where students care about living literate lives and develop into proficient independent readers. With 50% new material, With Rigor for All, Second Edition features: integration of the Common Core State Standards as teaching touchstones YA lit pairings with classic texts to aid comprehension for middle and high school students tips to motivate reluctant readers with immersion, encouragement, and small steps a study guide and guidelines for curriculum development. Students need books that mirror their own experiences and if you teach literature that you love, your students will be more likely to love it too. Let Carol show you how to create an individually designed curriculum in which students read literary works of comparable quality, complexity, and range and enjoy doing it!

    From one of America s most celebrated educators, an inspiring guide to transforming every child s education In a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by guns, gangs, and drugs, there is an exceptional classroom known as Room 56. The fifth graders inside are first-generation immigrants who live in poverty and speak English as a second language. They also play Vivaldi, perform Shakespeare, score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests, and go on to attend Ivy League universities. Rafe Esquith is the teacher responsible for these accomplishments. From the man whom The New York Times calls a genius and a saint comes a revelatory program for educating today s youth. In Teach Like Your Hair s on Fire!, Rafe Esquith reveals the techniques that have made him one of the most acclaimed educators of our time. The two mottoes in Esquith s classroom are Be Nice, Work Hard, and There Are No Shortcuts. His students voluntarily come to school at 6:30 in the morning and work until 5:00 in the afternoon. They learn to handle money responsibly, tackle algebra, and travel the country to study history. They pair Hamlet with rock and roll, and read the American classics. Teach Like Your Hair s on Fire! is a brilliant and inspiring road map for parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about the future success of our nation s children. "

    Through their adventures, Ripley discovers startling truths about how attitudes, parenting, and rigorous teaching have revolutionized these countries’ education results.In The Smartest Kids in the World, Ripley’s astonishing new insights reveal that top-performing countries have achieved greatness only in the past several decades; that the kids who live there are learning to think for themselves, partly through failing early and often; and that persistence, hard work, and resilience matter more to our children’s life chances than self-esteem or sports.Ripley’s investigative work seamlessly weaves narrative and research, providing in-depth analysis and gripping details that will keep you turning the pages. Written in a clear and engaging style, The Smartest Kids in the World will enliven public as well as dinner table debates over what makes for brighter and better students.

    It shows you how to deal with the parent who is bossy, volatile, argumentative, aggressive, or maybe the worst - apathetic. It provides specific phrases to use with parents to help you avoid using "trigger" words which unintentionally make matters worse. It will show you how to deliver bad news to good parents, how to build positive credibility to all types of parents, and how to foster the kind of parent involvement which leads to student success.

    Once they are mastered, these skills allow reduced adult supervision.

    A plan for school reform that respects the best traditions of secondary schooling and urges us to do far more in preparing adolescents for the future.

    Kafele begins a powerful examination of what it takes to make a school community achieve the greatest success in the classroom and beyond.In The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence, Kafele, a veteran school administrator, guides motivated school leaders through 50 self-reflection exercises designed to yield a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the work that they do. Along with many other insights, this book shows how best toInspire and motivate students, teachers, and other school staff to approach their work with vigor and purpose;Ensure that all students, regardless of color, creed, or origin, are valued and represented in the school culture;Focus mission and vision statements to address students' most critical needs and integrate shared values and objectives into the fabric of the school; andEngage parents and other community members so that they feel a stake in the school's success.Brimming with passion, written from the heart, and informed by hard-earned experience, this transformative book is essential reading for principals and other building-level administrators determined to reinvigorate their practice, revitalize their staff, and—most importantly—guarantee the strongest outcomes for students.

    While the transition to standards-based practices may be challenging, it is essential for effective instruction and assessment. In this practical guide, the author outlines specific steps your team can take to transform grading and reporting schoolwide. Each chapter includes examples of grading dilemmas, vignettes from teachers and administrators, and ideas for bringing parents on board with change.

    If online learning has not already rocked your local school, then it will soon. Michael Horn and his" Disrupting Class" collaborators made that prediction in 2008 when they calculated that by 2019, 50% of high school courses would be online in some form or fashion. Years later, that prediction continues to appear accurate, if not conservative. People may debate the timing, but the more important question is how to channel the indisputable emergence of online learning across elementary, middle, and high schools into a positive force that makes life better for students and their teachers. How can leaders unlock the benefits of online learning and mitigate the risks? Five years after the first publication of" Disrupting Class," the field is ready for a companion guide that provides the "how to" guidance for which educators are clamoring. "Blended: The Field Guide" "to Disrupting Class" will help leaders, teachers, and other stakeholders interested in a more student-centered system understand how to begin. It provides a step-by-step framework, responsive to the frequently asked questions from education leaders who are trying to implement blended learning. The goal is for every reader to have the necessary expertise to go forth with confidence and build the next generation of K-12 learning environments.

    Why is it that they can remember the smallest details from their favorite television program, yet miss the most obvious questions on their history test?Cognitive scientist Dan Willingham has focused his acclaimed research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning and has a deep understanding of the daily challenges faced by classroom teachers. this book will help teachers improve their practice by explaining how they and their students think and learn—revealing the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences.In this breakthrough book, Willingham has distilled his knowledge of cognitive science into a set of nine principles that are easy to understand and have clear applications for the classroom. Some of examples of his surprising findings are:“Learning styles” don't exist The processes by which different children think and learn are more similar than different.Intelligence is malleable Intelligence contributes to school performance and children do differ, but intelligence can be increased through sustained hard work.You cannot develop “thinking skills” in the absence of facts We encourage students to think critically, not just memorize facts. However thinking skills depend on factual knowledge for their operation.Why Don't Students Like School is a basic primer for every teacher who wants to know how their brains and their students’ brains work and how that knowledge can help them hone their teaching skills.

    This well-written book is grounded in the reality of teaching today to show real-world teachers who want to use assessment in their classroom the latest tools necessary to teach more effectively. The fifth edition of Classroom Assessment addresses the range of assessments that teachers are likely to use in their classrooms. With expanded coverage of problems related to measurement of special education children, a new student website with online activities, and an improved instructor's manual, this book continues to be a cutting-edge and indispensable resource not only for instructors, but also for pre- and in-service teachers. New to This Edition: *Chapter 12 contains new material dealing with formative assessment as well as assessment FOR learning. *The text is committed to fostering readers' realizations regarding the critical link between testing and teaching. Instructional implications are constantly stressed in the text. early childhood assessment throughout the text. *The 5th edition contains a brand-new website providing readers with Extra Electronic Exercises for each chapter, so readers, if they wish, can solidify their understanding of what chapters address (go to www.ablongman.com/popham5e). *A newly revised Instructor's Resource Manual contains Instructor-to-Instructor suggestions as well as a test for each chapter. It also includes a mid-term and final exam and an effective inventory measuring students' confidence in assessment. Here's what your colleagues have to say about this book: Dr. Popham has done a tremendous job in researching and incorporating current trends throughout the entire text! Terry H. Stepka, Arkansas State University Overall, I am extremely satisfied with the text. It is well-written, and I love the author's sense of humor! Terry H. Stepka, Arkansas State University I LOVE the arrangement of the chapters and the high quality of the self-checks and discussion questions that are provided. Karen E. Eifler, University of Portland

    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.