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.

    Here's the cool thing: poetry can get you there. It is inherently turbo-charged. Poets distill a novel's worth of content and emotion in twenty lines. The literary elements and devices you need to teach are all there, powerful and miniature as a Bonsai tree. Paul B. JaneczkoYou'd like to teach poetry with confidence and passion, but let's face it: poetry can be intimidating to both you and your students. Here is the book that takes the fear factor out of poetry and shows you how to use this powerful genre to spark student engagement and meet language arts requirements. Award-winning poet Paul B. Janeczko is the master for creating anthologies for pre-teen and adolescent readers, and here he's chosen 20 contemporary and classic selections with step-by-step, detailed lessons for investigating each poem from the inside out. Kids learn to become active readers of poetry, using graphic organizer worksheets to help them jump over their fear and dive into personal, smart, analytical responses. There's no better genre than poetry for helping students gain perspective on their own identities and their own worlds, and Paul provides a space on each reproducible poem for private thoughts, questions, feelings, and ideas. Your students will discover what each poem means to them.The 20 poems in this collection were chosen for their thought-provoking topics; compelling real-world themes that lead to conversation and collaboration in middle school classrooms. And by showing you how the poems and activities address the common core standards for English Language Arts (complete with a sample chart linking the poems to the standards), Paul provides a clear understanding of how you can get there using poetry.You can cultivate a passion for poetry in your classroom. Take the journey with Paul B. Janeczko and grow in confidence with your students, meeting some standards along the way.

    It focuses on the specific things that great teachers do ... that others do not. Readers of author Todd Whitaker's best-selling WHAT GREAT PRINCIPALS DO DIFFERENTLY asked him for a companion volume focusing on great teachers and their classrooms. This book is his response to those requests.This book focuses on the specific things that great teachers do ... that others do not. It answers these essential questions: - Is it high expectations for students that matter?- How do great teachers respond when students misbehave?- Do great teachers filter differently than their peers?- How do the best teachers approach standardized testing? - How can your teachers gain the same advantages?

    Best-selling author Mike Schmoker boils down solutions for improved schools to the most powerful, simple actions and structures that ensure you prepare all students for college, careers, and citizenship.

    With passion and humor, acclaimed author and internationally respected literacy expert Mem Fox tells readers how she herself became aware of the astonishing effects that reading aloud and bonding through books have on very young children.She speaks of when, where, and why to read aloud and demonstrates how to read aloud to best effect and how to get the most out of a read-aloud session. She walks readers through the three secrets of reading which together make reading possible. She gives guidance on defining, choosing, and finding good books and closes with tips on dealing effectively with the challenges that sometimes arise when children are learning to read.Filled with practical advice, activities, and inspiring true read-aloud miracles, this book is a must for every parent-and for anyone interested in how children learn to read.

    Her students learn to make connections between their lives, the books they read, the community leaders they meet, and the larger world. Black Ants and Buddhists  offers no easy answers, but it does include starting points for conversations about diversity and controversy in your classroom, as well as in the larger community. Students and teachers investigate problems and issues together, in a multicultural, antiracist classroom.

    Rick Wormeli offers the latest research and common sense thinking that teachers and administrators seek when it comes to assessment and grading in differentiated classes. Filled with real examples and “gray” areas that middle and high school educators will easily recognize, Rick tackles important and sometimes controversial assessment and grading issues constructively. The book covers high-level concepts, ranging from “rationale for differentiating assessment and grading” to “understanding mastery” as well as the nitty-gritty details of grading and assessment, such as:whether to incorporate effort, attendance, and behavior into academic grades;whether to grade homework;setting up grade books and report cards to reflect differentiated practices;principles of successful assessment;how to create useful and fair test questions, including how to grade such prompts efficiently;whether to allow students to re-do assessments for full credit.This thorough and practical guide also includes a special section for teacher leaders that explores ways to support colleagues as they move toward successful assessment and grading practices for differentiated classrooms.

    "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"--

    Beyond the Bake Sale shows how to form these essential partnerships and how to make them work.Packed with tips from principals and teachers, checklists, and an invaluable resource section, Beyond the Bake Sale reveals how to build strong collaborative relationships and offers practical advice for improving interactions between parents and teachers, from insuring that PTA groups are constructive and inclusive to navigating the complex issues surrounding diversity in the classroom.Written with candor, clarity, and humor, Beyond the Bake Sale is essential reading for teachers, parents on the front lines in public schools, and administrators and policy makers at all levels.

    Jones describes how highly successful teachers produce orderly, productive classrooms without working themselves to death. This program is the whole package - discipline, instruction and motivation - described in the down-to-earth language of "how to" with plenty of examples for guidance. You will learn how to decrease classroom disruptions, backtalk, dawdling and helpless hand raising while increasing responsible behavior, motivation, independent learning and academic achievement.Like previous editions, the 3rd edition of Tools for Teaching: Discipline, Instruction, Motivation describes the specific skills of classroom management that increase learning while reducing teacher stress. Taken together, these skills provide the synergy required for both the primary prevention of discipline problems and a dramatic increase in teaching efficiency and time-on-task.WHAT'S NEW IN THE 3RD EDITION?The 3rd Edition includes the latest research on both successful teaching practices and the neuropsychology of skill building, as well as two completely new chapters.Chapter 8: Say, See, Do Teaching, reviews the ground-breaking work of John Hattie, Ph.D. Dr. Hattie places the extensive outcome research regarding different teaching methodologies onto a common scale so that their effectiveness can be directly compared. Many of the sacred cows of education do not fair so well, whereas variations of Say, See Do Teaching do extremely well.Chapter 20: Teaching Skills Efficiently, reviews the latest finds of neuropsychology concerning the amount of work needed to create mastery. Once again Say, See, Do Teaching leads the way. This new research provides critical information for teachers when making decisions about how to teach a given lesson.

    An easy-to-learn overview of the theorist opens each chapter. The author then distills the theorists’ work to reveal how it relates to child care and children.

    These simple yet dramatically effective ideas and activities have helped thousands with learning difficulties. Includes an easy-to-administer screening checklist for parents and teachers which enables them identify individual learning preferences and determine hemisphere dominance. Learn how to utilize colors, shapes, movement, visualizations, touch and sound to help students of all ages learn to read, tell time, add, subtract, and even spell correctly. Included are engaging instructional activities that draw on the intuitive, nonverbal abilities of the right brain, a list of skills associated with each brain hemisphere, and much more.

    Sharing her expertise as a world-renowned curriculum designer and calling upon the collective wisdom of 10 education thought leaders, Jacobs provides insight and inspiration in the following key areas:* Content and assessment: How to identify what to keep, what to cut, and what to create, and where portfolios and other new kinds of assessment fit into the picture.* Program structures: How to improve our use of time and space and groupings of students and staff.* Technology: How it's transforming teaching, and how to take advantage of students' natural facility with technology.* Media literacy: The essential issues to address, and the best resources for helping students become informed users of multiple forms of media.* Globalization: What steps to take to help students gain a global perspective.* Sustainability: How to instill enduring values and beliefs that will lead to healthier local, national, and global communities.* Habits of mind: The thinking habits that students, teachers, and administrators need to develop and practice to succeed in school, work, and life.The answers to these questions and many more make Curriculum 21 the ideal guide for transforming our schools into what they must become: learning organizations that match the times in which we live.

    In Falling in Love with Close Reading, Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts show us that it can be rigorous, meaningful, and joyous. You'll empower students to not only analyze texts but to admire the craft of a beloved book, study favorite songs and videogames, and challenge peers in evidence-based discussions.Chris and Kate start with a powerful three-step close-reading ritual that students can apply to any text. Then they lay out practical, engaging lessons that not only guide students to independence in reading texts closely but also help them transfer this critical, analytical skill to media and even the lives they lead.Responsive to students' needs and field-tested in classrooms, these lessons include: strategies for close reading narratives, informational texts, and arguments suggestions for differentiation sample charts and student work from real classrooms connections to the Common Core State Standards a focus on viewing media and life in this same careful way."We see the ritual of close reading not just as a method of doing the academic work of looking closely at text-evidence, word choice, and structure," write Chris and Kate, "but as an opportunity to bring those practices together to empower our students to see the subtle messages in texts and in their lives." Read Falling in Love with Close Reading and discover that the benefits and joy of close reading don't have to stop at the edge of the page.

    Through real-life stories of children and their families, this preeminent book provides students with a comprehensive experience in special education. Long noted for its focus on inclusion, families, and partnerships, Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today's Schools, Fifth Edition, presents a realistic look at the workings of special education as future teachers, both general and special education, will need to know. The new fifth edition includes: increased coverage of families and collaboration; a broader range of tips and strategies for teachers and different learning environments; a stronger emphasis on the core standards from the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and PRAXIS; and a brand-new, text-specific DVD of videos highlighting the people in the chapters and adults with disabilities that continues and extends the Turnbull's tradition of learning about special education through the real lives of real people living with disabilities.