Hailed for its practical, systematic approach, the book showed hundreds of thousands of teachers how to address the needs of the whole classroom as well as individual readers. Now, with the publication of Word Matters, Pinnell and Fountas offer K-3 teachers the same unparalleled support, this time focusing on phonics and spelling instruction.Word Matters presents essential information on designing and implementing a high-quality, systematic literacy program to help children learn about letters, sounds, and words. The central goal is to teach children to become "word solvers": readers who can take words apart while reading for meaning, and writers who can construct words while writing to communicate. Where similar books are narrow in focus, Word Matters presents the theoretical underpinnings and practical wherewithal of word study in three contexts:word study that includes systematically planned and applied experiences focusing on the elements of letters and wordswriting, including how children use phoneme-grapheme relationships, word patterns, and principles to develop spelling abilityreading, including teaching children how to solve words with the use of phonics and visual-analysis skills as they read for meaning.Each topic is supported with a variety of practical tools: reproducible sheets for a word study system and for writing workshop; lists of spelling minilessons; and extensive word lists, including frequently used words, antonyms, synonyms, and more. Armed with these tools-and the tried-and-true wisdom of Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas-teachers can help students develop not just the "essential skills," but also a joyful appreciation of their own literacy.

    All children deserve classrooms that are calm, safe spaces where everyone is treated with dignity.Creating that space is one of the most important things a teacher needs to be able to do. But all too often teachers begin their careers with the bare minimum of training - or worse, none.How students behave, socially and academically, dictates whether or not they will succeed or struggle in school. Every child comes to the classroom with different skills, habits, values and expectations of what to do. There's no point just telling a child to behave; behaviour must be taught.Behaviour is a curriculum. This simple truth is the beginning of creating a classroom culture where everyone flourishes: pupils and staff.Running the Room is the teacher's guide to behaviour. Practical, evidence-informed, and based on the expertise of great teachers from around the world, it addresses the things teachers really need to know to build the classrooms children need.Bursting with strategies, tips and solid advice, it brings together the best of what we know and saves teachers, new or old, from reinventing the wheels of the classroom. It's the book teachers have been waiting for.

    This title shows you how to get up and running fast with complete coverage of this useful scripting tool. The author covers ActionScript from a designer's viewpoint, showing you how to make the most of it without having to be a programmer.

    Ken O'Connor updates eight guidelines for good grading, provides practical applications, and examines a number of additional grading issues, including grade point average calculation and computer grading programs. Thoroughly revised, this edition includes:A greater emphasis on standards-based grading practices Updated research and additional information on feedback and homework New sections on academic dishonesty, extra credit, and bonus points Additional information on utilizing level scores Reflective exercises

    Moss and Susan M. Brookhart contend that improving student learning and achievement happens in the immediacy of an individual lesson--what they call today's lesson--or it doesn't happen at all.The key to making today's lesson meaningful? Learning targets. Written from students' point of view, a learning target describes a lesson-sized chunk of information and skills that students will come to know deeply. Each lesson's learning target connects to the next lesson's target, enabling students to master a coherent series of challenges that ultimately lead to important curricular standards.Drawing from the authors' extensive research and professional learning partnerships with classrooms, schools, and school districts, this practical book- Situates learning targets in a theory of action that students, teachers, principals, and central-office administrators can use to unify their efforts to raise student achievement and create a culture of evidence-based, results-oriented practice. - Provides strategies for designing learning targets that promote higher-order thinking and foster student goal setting, self-assessment, and self-regulation. - Explains how to design a strong performance of understanding, an activity that produces evidence of students' progress toward the learning target. - Shows how to use learning targets to guide summative assessment and grading. Learning Targets also includes reproducible planning forms, a classroom walk-through guide, a lesson-planning process guide, and guides to teacher and student self-assessment.What students are actually doing during today's lesson is both the source of and the yardstick for school improvement efforts. By applying the insights in this book to your own work, you can improve your teaching expertise and dramatically empower all students as stakeholders in their own learning.

    Whatever It Takes: How PLCs Respond When Kids Don't Learn examines the question, "What happens when, despite our best efforts in the classroom, a student does not learn?" In traditional schools, the response to this question has been left to the discretion of individual classroom teachers who are free to respond in very different ways. A Professional Learning Community will not leave this critical question to each teacher to resolve. A PLC will, instead, create a school-wide system of interventions that provides all students with additional time and support when they experience difficulty in their learning. The authors describe in detail the systems of intervention, including Adlai E. Stevenson High School's "Pyramid of Interventions," created by four different schools: a high school, a middle school, and two elementary schools. In addition to these systems, the authors discuss the logistical barriers these schools faced and their strategies for overcoming those barriers.Chapter 1 examines the current mandate that all students learn at high levels and places that mandate in a historical context by examining the assumptions that have guided public education. The chapter extends the popular rallying cry that "all children can learn" by re-examining the three critical questions with which all PLCs grapple in order to give that phrase relevance.Chapter 2 describes how schools have traditionally responded when students do not learn and provides a case study to examine that response. The chapter also presents some caveats readers must keep in mind as they consider creating a system of interventions for students in their own schools.Chapter 3 describes in detail the system of interventions created by Adlai Stevenson High School in suburban Chicago, one of three schools in the nation to receive the United States Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Award on four occasions.This system, the Pyramid of Interventions, represents a conscious attempt by the Stevenson staff to give students additional time and support when they experience difficulty in their learning.Chapter 4 discusses some of the logistical barriers Stevenson faced in building the Pyramid and strategies for overcoming those barriers. It acknowledges that other schools in other settings will face their own unique barriers but contends that if staff members clarify their priority and focus on the right questions, they too can overcome the obstacles posed by their local context.Chapter 5 examines the unique aspects of the middle school and explains how one of America's most celebrated middle schools has raised student performance by focusing on student achievement, building a collaborative culture, and creating systems to provide students with additional time and support. Chapters 6 and 7 describe how a system of interventions works for students in two very different elementary schools-one in a rural setting in south-central Virginia and another in an ethnically diverse Title One school in southern California.Chapter 8 identifies the commonalities between the four very different schools explored in the earlier chapters. It discusses how all of the characteristics of a PLC came to thrive in each school and describes some of the common approaches to leadership that characterized the principals of these four schools.Chapter 9 examines some of the philosophical concerns that have been raised regarding the proposal to provide students with additional time and support for learning when students fail to make the effort necessary to be successful. The chapter then attempts to address each of these concerns. Chapter 10 identifies some of the cultural shifts a school must make on the journey to becoming a Professional Learning Community. It contends that a PLC creates a "stretch culture" that leads both students and staff to embrace high expectations and to develop a sense of self-efficacy. It suggests strategies to promote such a culture.The appendix provides artifacts from the four schools described in this book that practitioners may find helpful-mission and vision statements, job descriptions, sample correspondence, program descriptions, and graphics to illustrate intervention plans. The appendix also contains a graphic representation of Adlai Stevenson's Pyramid of Interventions.

    In this groundbreaking book, Berit Gordon offers the complete solution, a blended model that combines the benefits of classic literature with the motivational power of choice reading. With the blended model, teachers lead close examinations of key passages from classic texts, guiding students to an understanding of important reading strategies they can transfer to their choice books. Teachers gain a platform for demonstrating the critical reading skills students so urgently require, and students thrive on reading what they want to read. In this research-backed book, Gordon leads you step by step to classroom success with the blended model, showing:The basics of getting your classroom library up and running How to build a blended curriculum for both fiction and non-fiction units, keeping relevant standards in mind Tips and resources to help with day-to-day planning Ideas for selecting class novel passages that provide essential cultural capital and bolster students' reading skills Strategies for bringing talk into your blended reading classroom How to reach the crucial learning goal of transfer A practical, user-friendly approach for assessing each student's progress No More Fake Reading gives you all the tools you need to put the blended model to work for your students and transform your classroom into a vibrant reading environment. Berit Gordon coaches teachers as they nurture lifelong readers and writers. Her path as an educator began in the classroom in the Dominican Republic before teaching in New York City public schools. She also taught at the Teachers College of Columbia University in English Education. She currently works as a literacy consultant in grades 3-12 and lives in Maplewood, New Jersey with her husband and three children.

    Now Debbie turns her attention to the groups themselves and the teacher's role in small-group instruction. Making the Most of Small Groups grapples with difficult questions regarding small-group instruction in elementary classrooms such as:How do I find the time?How can I be more organized?How do I form groups?How can I differentiate to meet the needs of all of my students?Structured around the five essential reading elements—comprehension, fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary—the book provides practical tips, sample lessons, lesson plans and templates, suggestions for related literacy work stations, and connections to whole-group instruction. In addition to ideas to use immediately in the classroom, Debbie provides an overview of relevant research and reflection questions for professional conversations.

    This new edition gives expanded attention to the important symbolic roles of school leaders, including practical suggestions on how leaders can balance cultural goals and values against accountability demands, and features new and powerful case examples throughout. Most important, the authors show how school leaders can transform negative and toxic cultures so that trust, commitment, and sense of unity can prevail. Praise for Shaping School Culture "For those seeking enduring change that is measured in generations rather than months, and to create a legacy rather than a headline, then Shaping School Culture is your guide." —Dr. Douglas B. Reeves, founder, The Leadership and Learning Center, Englewood, CO "Deal and Peterson combine exquisite language, vibrant stories, and sage advice to support school leaders in embracing the paradoxical nature of their work. A 'must read' for all school leaders." —Pam Robbins, educational consultant and author "Once again, the authors have presented practitioners, researchers, professional developers, school coaches, and others with a tremendous resource for renovating and reinvigorating schools." —Karen M. Dyer, Ed.D., group director, Education and Nonprofit Sector Office, Center for CreativeLeadership, Greensboro, NC

    In keeping with this era of accountability, all discussions and examples of educational practices are grounded in a sound research base." "With hundreds of new references added to the 12th edition, the authors are committed to bringing the most current and credible perspectives to bear on the ever-increasing complexity of educating students with special needs in today's schools. The authors have written a text that reaches the heart as well as the mind, promoting a conviction that professionals working with exceptional learners need to develop not only a solid base of knowledge, but also a healthy attitude toward their work and the people whom they serve, and constantly challenge themselves to acquire a solid understanding of current theory, research, and practice in special education and to develop an ever more sensitive understanding of exceptional learners and their families. Note: This is the standalone book if you want the book with access to MyEducationLab Pegasus order: ISBN 0132659239 / 9780132659239 Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education with MyEducationLab Pegasus Package consists of: 0132598515 / 9780132598514 MyEducationLab Pegasus -- Access Card 0137033702 / 9780137033706 Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education

    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.

    

    KEY TOPIC: Features lesson plans and teaching strategies for the classroom teacher. MARKET: Written for K-12 teachers working with English language learners.

    "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"--

    In The EduProtocol Field Guide, Jon Corippo and Marlena Hebern outline sixteen classroom-tested protocols to break up clichéd lesson plans, build culture, and deliver content to K–12 students in a supportive, creative environment. Start Smart Smart Start activities set your students up for success by teaching them how to learn, using tools like Frayer Models and Venn Diagrams on fun subjects. In addition to preparing your students to learn, Smart Start activities help build a positive culture in your classroom. Finish Strong EduProtocols are customizable, frames that use your content to create lessons to help students master academic content, think critically, and communicate effectively while creating and working collaboratively. EduProtocols can be used with nearly all subjects and grade levels and are UDL (Universal Design for Learning)-friendly to support all learners. Simplify the process of creating engaging and personalized learning opportunities for every student. The EduProtocol Field Guide shows you how.