Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom


Patricia A. Jennings - 2015
    This book offers simple, ready-to-use, and evidence-proven mindfulness techniques to help educators manage the stresses of the classroom, cultivate an exceptional learning environment, and revitalize both their teaching and their students’ knowledge acquisition. Drawing on basic and applied research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and education, as well as the author’s extensive experience as a mindfulness practitioner, teacher, and scientist, it includes exercises in mindfulness, emotional awareness, movement, listening, and more, all with real-time classroom applications.

Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning: Learning in the Age of Empowerment


Charles Schwahn - 2010
    

Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School


Carla Shalaby - 2017
    Time and again, we make seemingly endless efforts to moderate, punish, and even medicate our children, when we should instead be concerned with transforming the very nature of our institutions, systems, and structures, large and small. Through delicately crafted portraits of these memorable children—Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus—Troublemakers allows us to see school through the eyes of those who know firsthand what it means to be labeled a problem.From Zora’s proud individuality to Marcus’s open willfulness, from Sean’s struggle with authority to Lucas’s tenacious imagination, comes profound insight—for educators and parents alike—into how schools engender, exclude, and then try to erase trouble, right along with the young people accused of making it. And although the harsh disciplining of adolescent behavior has been called out as part of a school-to-prison pipeline, the children we meet in these pages demonstrate how a child’s path to excessive punishment and exclusion in fact begins at a much younger age.Shalaby’s empathetic, discerning, and elegant prose gives us a deeply textured look at what noncompliance signals about the environments we require students to adapt to in our schools. Both urgent and timely, this paradigm-shifting book challenges our typical expectations for young children and with principled affection reveals how these demands—despite good intentions—work to undermine the pursuit of a free and just society.

Every Child a Super Reader


Pam Allyn - 2016
    When we take children's key strengths and immerse them in an intellectually invigorating, emotionally nurturing, literature-rich community, we grow "super readers"—avid readers who consume texts with passion, understanding, and a critical eye.Organized around the 7 Strengths inherent in super readers (belonging, curiosity, friendship, kindness, confidence, courage, and hope), this powerful resource helps children:• Develop reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills • Learn comprehension strategies• Build a robust vocabulary• Deepen analytical prowess and an ability to talk and write about text• Develop empathy, a strong identity as a reader, and an expanded understanding of the worldFeaturing stirring reading and writing lessons, robust assessment tools, ready-to-share Family Guides, and embedded videos that illuminate the 7 strengths and more, Every Child a Super Reader shows teachers, parents, caregivers, and out-of-school providers why reading is the ultimate super power, opening a world of possible for every student.

Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms


Ruth Schoenbach - 2012
    It is a guided tour, as one examines the tools of expert teachers as they engage students in a journey that is aptly dubbed Reading Apprenticeship?learning how to become a savvy, strategic reader under the tutelage of thoughtful, caring, and demanding teachers.? P. David Pearson, University of California, Berkeley, and founding editor of the Handbook of Reading Research.Reading for Understanding is a monumental achievement. It was a monumental achievement when it came out as a first edition in 1999, bringing years of rigorous reading research together in a framework for teaching that made sense in actual secondary school classrooms. Now, just thirteen years later, Schoenbach and Greenleaf have several randomized clinical trials and multiple on-going studies at their fingertips to demonstrate the effects of this approach for developing the reading and thinking of young people in our nation's middle and high school classrooms, as well as in community college classrooms. Their careful work on developing disciplinary literacy among all students represents a passion for and commitment to supporting students?and their teachers?in reading for understanding, which translates to reading for enjoyment, self-awareness, learning, and for purposeful and informed action in our society. ?Elizabeth Moje, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Dean for Research, School of Education, University of MichiganReading Apprenticeship has proven to be an inspiration to Renton Technical College faculty and students alike. They have learned together to view themselves as readers in transformative ways, as they embrace powerful techniques to increase reading comprehension. The ideas and strategies in Reading for Understanding anchor this new and broad-based energy around reading and an enthusiasm among our faculty to model effective reading strategies for our students. ?Steve Hanson, President, Renton Technical College, Renton, Washington Reading for Understanding has the finest blend I have seen of research, strategies, and classroom vignettes to deepen teacher learning and help them connect the dots between theory and practice. ?Curtis Refior, Content Area Literacy Coach, Fowlerville Community Schools, Fowlerville, Michigan A teacher-tested, research-based resource for dramatically improving reading skillsPublished in partnership with WestEd, this significantly updated second edition of the bestselling book contains strategies for helping students in middle school through community college gain the reading independence to master subject area textbooks and other material.Based on the Reading Apprenticeship program, which three rigorous gold standard research studies have shown to be effective in raising students' reading achievement Presents a clear framework for improving the reading and subject area learning of all students, including English learners, students with special needs, as well as those in honors and AP courses Provides concrete tools for classroom use and examples from a range of classrooms Presents a clear how-to for teachers implementing the subject area literacies of the Common Core Standards Reading for Understanding proves it's never too late for teachers and students to work together to boost literacy, engagement, and achievement.

The Space: A Guide for Educators


Rebecca Louise Hare - 2016
    This book goes well beyond the noise on learning space design that focuses on pretty Pinterest classrooms and moves towards a more sophisticated conversation about how learning spaces support and drive brain-friendly learning. SPACE is a beautifully designed book that respects that reading and learning can happen in a visually appealing way. Hare and Dillon walk educators through a series of questions and ideas on how learning spaces can support collaboration, creation, showcasing learning, and a learner's need for quiet. In addition to nudging thinking forward, SPACE provides practical design tips and uses images and testimonials for hacking learning spaces on a realistic budget. This book is designed to motivate, grow capacity, and energize educators to begin shifting their learning spaces to support modern learning for all students.

Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning


Michael J. Schmoker - 2006
    This gap persists despite the hard, often heroic work done by many teachers and administrators. Schmoker believes that teachers and administrators may know what the best practices are, but they aren't using them or reinforcing them consistently. He asserts that our schools are protected by a buffer--a protective barrier that prevents scrutiny of instruction by outsiders. The buffer exists within the school as well. Teachers often know only what is going on in their classrooms--and they may be completely in the dark about what other teachers in the school are doing. Even principals, says Schmoker, don't have a clear view of the daily practices of teaching and learning in their schools.Schmoker suggests that we need to get beyond this buffer to confront the truth about what is happening in classrooms, and to allow teachers to learn from each other and to be supervised properly. He outlines a plan that focuses on the importance of consistent curriculum, authentic literacy education, and professional learning communities for teachers.What will students get out of this new approach? Learning for life. Schmoker argues passionately that students become learners for life when they have more opportunities to engage in strategic reading, writing with explicit guidance, and argument and discussion.Through strong teamwork, true leadership, and authentic learning, schools and their students can reach new heights. Results Now is a rally cry for educators to focus on what counts. If they do, Schmoker promises, the entire school community can count on unprecedented achievements.

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.

Papers, Papers, Papers: An English Teacher's Survival Guide


Carol Jago - 2005
    Guilt mounts. Students want to know when their papers will come back. Grading begins consuming all your energy, your weekends, your life.Grading papers is a fact of life, especially in English classrooms, and the paper load is a leading cause of teacher burnout. Fortunately, Carl Jago's here to help, and in Papers, Papers, Papers, she offers you advice honed from thirty-one years in the English classroom and forty-five thousand papers worth of grading. You'll not only get through stacks of papers, but you'll do so accurately, completely, and with the time you need to give each and every student in your classes the attention they deserve.Ever practical and always professional, Jago suggests techniques that can be implemented right away to turn your mountain of essays into a foothill. She covers every aspect of attentive grading, including:responding to student drafts commenting rather than correcting using scoring guides and rubrics for common expectations fostering improvement from one paper to the next effective peer- and self-editing suggestions for alternatives to essays. With all this and her Ten Tips for Handling the Paper Load, Carol Jago gives you everything you need to keep on top of student papers.

What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World


Taylor Mali - 2012
    It's a book that will be treasured and shared by every teacher in America—and everyone who's ever loved or learned from one.

Rules in School: Teaching Discipline in the Responsive Classroom


Kathryn Brady - 2003
    With many examples from their own classrooms, three experienced teachers offer practical techniques to help you: * Establish clear expectations for behavior from day one* Teach students how to articulate their learning goals for school* Create classroom rules that connect to students' goals* Use techniques such as interactive modeling to teach positive behavior* Reinforce positive behavior with supportive teacher language* Quickly stop misbehavior* Restore positive behavior so that children retain their dignity and continue learning* Reinforce positive behavior with supportive teacher language

Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers


Louisa Cook Moats - 2000
    Updated meticulously with the very latest research, the new edition of this bestselling text helps elementary educators grasp the structure of written and spoken English, understand how children learn to read, and apply this foundational knowledge as they deliver explicit, high-quality literacy instruction.With extensive updates and enhancements to every chapter, the new edition of Speech to Print fully prepares today's literacy educators to teach students with or without disabilities. Teachers will getin-depth explanation of how the book aligns with the findings of current scientific research on reading, language, and spellingexpanded information on the critical elements of language, including orthography, morphology, phonetics, phonology, semantics, and syntaxnew and improved exercises teachers can use to test and reinforce their own knowledge of language contentteaching activities that help teachers connect what they learn in their coursework with what they'll be doing in the classroomnew chapter objectives that make it easier to plan courses and review key conceptsmore samples of student writing to help teachers correctly interpret children's mistakesexpanded sample lesson plans that incorporate the language concepts in the booka cleaner, easier-to-navigate layoutA core textbook for every preservice course on reading instruction, this accessible text is also perfect for use in inservice professional development sessions. Educators will have the knowledge they need to recognize, understand, and resolve their students' reading and writing challenges—and improve literacy outcomes for their entire class.

What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction


S. Jay Samuels - 2002
    Educators will find information on how to teach students to read based on evidence from a broad base of effective, well-designed research. Topics have been updated and added to better reflect current thinking in the field and address issues that have come to national and international attention for a number of reasons, including the recently released U.S. National Reading Panel report. The editors maintain a balance among theory, research, and effective classroom practice without presenting a formulaic view of good instruction or overly theoretical discussions in which practical applications of research findings are not adequately explored. The 17 chapters focus on research related to early reading instruction, phonemic awareness, comprehension, and many other topics. Each chapter concludes with "Questions for Discussion"; to encourage reflection on the topics discussed. Teacher educators will find this volume to be a valuable tool for preservice teacher preparation as well as graduate level courses. The professional development community, school administrators, and policymakers will also find it to be an indispensable resource as they seek to implement programs consistent with rapidly emerging legislative and policy mandates.

Kids Deserve It! Pushing Boundaries and Challenging Conventional Thinking


Todd Nesloney - 2016
    In Kids Deserve It!, Todd and Adam encourage you to think big and make learning fun and meaningful for students. While you're at it, you just might rediscover why you became an educator in the first place. Learn why you should be calling parents to praise your students (and employees). Discover ways to promote family interaction and improve relationships for kids at school and at home. Be inspired to take risks, shake up the status quo, and be a champion for your students. #KidsDeserveIt

An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement


Marie M. Clay - 1993
    It has introduced thousands of teachers to ways of observing children's progress in the early years of learning about literacy. It has also helped them determine which children need supplementary teaching. Now the revised Second Edition updates this important sourcework with new data, ideas, and implementations from U.S. and U.K. classrooms.