Packed with valuable tips, the book helps new teachers with everything from becoming effective team players and connecting with students to handling behavior problems and working within diverse classrooms.The new edition is fully revised and updated to cover changes in the K-12 classroom over the past five years. Updates to the second edition include: - New ways teachers can meet the professional development requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act - Entirely new section on helping struggling readers, to address the declining literacy rate among today's students - Expanded coverage of helpful technology solutions for the classroom - Expanded information on teaching English Language Learners - Greater coverage of the issues/challenges facing elementary teachers - More emphasis on how to reach and teach students of poverty - Updated study techniques that have proven successful with at-risk students - Tips on working effectively within a non-traditional school year schedule - The latest strategies for using graphic organizers - More emphasis on setting goals to help students to succeed - More information on intervening with students who are capable but choose not to work - Updated information on teachers' rights and responsibilities regarding discipline issues - Fully revised Resources appendix including the latest educational Web sites and software

    It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts, because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life." - Parker J. Palmer [from the Introduction] Teachers choose their vocation for reasons of the heart, because they care deeply about their students and about their subject. But the demands of teaching cause too many educators to lose heart. Is it possible to take heart in teaching once more so that we can continue to do what good teachers always do -- give heart to our students?In The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer takes teachers on an inner journey toward reconnecting with their vocation and their students -- and recovering their passion for one of the most difficult and important of human endeavors.

    Rather than using novels simply to teach basic literacy skills and comprehension strategies, "Whole Novels" approaches literature as art. The book is fully aligned with the Common Core ELA Standards and offers tips for implementing whole novels in various contexts, including suggestions for teachers interested in trying out small steps in their classrooms first.Includes a powerful method for teaching literature, writing, and critical thinking to middle school studentsShows how to use the Whole Novels approach in conjunction with other programs Includes video clips of the author using the techniques in her own classroomThis resource will help teachers work with students of varying abilities in reading whole novels.

    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.

    Based on the author's disastrous first year of teaching, which began with no classroom management skills, this work offers advice based on what he learned on the way to becoming Teacher of the Year four years later.

    They describe classroom environments that support all students and touch upon comprehension strategies and how to help children integrate them.This book is essential reading for all who work with struggling readers in any context and contains a wealth of resources, including a thorough explanation of all the sources of information readers use to solve words, examples and scenarios of teacher/student interactions, prompts to use with struggling readers, lessons on modeling, and assessment guidelines.

    Drawing on groundbreaking research in neuroscience, economics, and psychology, Tough shows that the qualities that matter most have less to do with IQ and more to do with character: skills like grit, curiosity, conscientiousness, and optimism."How Children Succeed" introduces us to a new generation of scientists and educators who are radically changing our understanding of how children develop character, how they learn to think, and how they overcome adversity. It tells the personal stories of young people struggling to stay on the right side of the line between success and failure. And it argues for a new way of thinking about how best to steer an individual child – or a whole generation of children – toward a successful future.This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers; it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

    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.

    Now in paperback, Kathleen Cushman's groundbreaking book offers original insights into teaching teenagers in today's hard-pressed urban high schools from the point of view of the students themselves. It speaks to both new and established teachers, giving them firsthand information about who their students are and what they need to succeed.Students from across the country contributed perceptive and pragmatic answers to questions of how teachers can transcend the barriers of adolescent identity and culture to reach the diverse student body in today's urban schools. With the fresh and often surprising perspectives of youth, they tackle tough issues such as increasing engagement and motivation, teaching difficult academic material, reaching English-language learners, and creating a classroom culture where respect and success go hand in hand.

    

    This anniversary paperback edition features a new introduction by Delpit as well as new framing essays by Herbert Kohl and Charles Payne.In a radical analysis of contemporary classrooms, MacArthur Award–winning author Lisa Delpit develops ideas about ways teachers can be better “cultural transmitters” in the classroom, where prejudice, stereotypes, and cultural assumptions breed ineffective education. Delpit suggests that many academic problems attributed to children of color are actually the result of miscommunication, as primarily white teachers and “other people’s children” struggle with the imbalance of power and the dynamics plaguing our system.A new classic among educators, Other People’s Children is a must-read for teachers, administrators, and parents striving to improve the quality of America’s education system.

    You're tired of philosophy, research and piles of data. You want practical solutions that you can implement immediately. You don't need a committee or another meeting. You need Hackers-experienced educators who understand your school's problems and see quick fixes that may be so simple that they've been overlooked. Hacking Education is the book that every teacher, principal, parent, and education stakeholder has been waiting for--the one that actually solves problems.Read it today-fix it tomorrow!In Hacking Education, Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez employ decades of teaching experience and hundreds of discussions with education thought leaders, to show you how to find and hone the quick fixes that every school and classroom need. Using a Hacker's mentality, they provide one Aha moment after another with 10 Quick Fixes for Every School--solutions to everyday problems that any teacher or administrator can implement immediately.Imagine being able to walk into school tomorrow and eliminate: Hours of wasted meeting time Classroom management issues Interruptions in planning time The need for more books Negative attitudes Technology issuesIf you want to improve teaching and learning at your school now, learn how to develop a Hacker's mentality.Discover How to Solve Problems with Pineapple Charts The 360 Spreadsheet Glass Classrooms Track Records Marigold Committees The TQZ More Impactful HacksNot Your Average Education BookHacking Education won't weigh you down with outdated research or complicated strategies. Barnes and Gonzalez provide brilliant ideas woven into a user-friendly success guide that you'll want to keep nearby throughout the school year. Each chapter is neatly wrapped in this simple formula: The Problem The Hack (a ridiculously easy solution that you've likely never considered) What You Can Do Tomorrow (no waiting necessary) Blueprint for Full Implementation (a step-by-step action plan for capacity building) The Hack in Action (yes, someone has actually done this)Are you ready to fix your school and your classroom?Get Hacking Education now, and solve your biggest problems tomorrow.

    Students can tell when we’re just going through the motions. But how can you summon the energy to teach with passion when there are so many distractions from what really matters? And if you barely have time for taking care of yourself, how can you have anything left to give your students? Don’t wait for teaching to become fun again: plan for it! Your enthusiasm will become unshakeable as you learn how to: Create curriculum “bright spots” that you can’t wait to teach Gain energy from kids instead of letting them drain you Uncover meaning and purpose for every single lesson Incorporate playfulness and make real connections with kids Stop letting test scores and evaluations define your success Construct a self-running classroom that frees you to teach Establish healthy, balanced habits for bringing work home Say “no” without guilt and make your “yes” really count Determine what matters most and let go of the rest Innovate and adapt to make teaching an adventure Unshakeable is more than a collection of inspiring mindset shifts and practical, teacher-tested ideas for getting more satisfaction from your job. It’s a set of practices to help you find your inner drive and an intrinsic motivation that no one can take away. It’s an approach that helps you incorporate a love of life into your teaching, and a love of teaching into your life. Learn how to tap into what makes teaching inherently rewarding and enjoy your work every day … no matter what.

    Essential reading for those preparing ALL students to think critically, write well, and succeed academically in both high school and college. Jim Burke, Author of The English Teacher's Companion and What's the Big Idea?Argument writing can be difficult to teach, but it may be the most important set of skills we teach in English. According to the National Common Core Standards, by the end of high school, students should be able to write arguments to support claims with clear reason and relevant evidence-and they should be able to do so well.Designed for middle and high school students, the activities in this book will enable students to write strong arguments and evaluate the arguments of others. When they are through, students will be able, as the Common Core Standards ask, to Delineate and evaluate [an] argument and specific claims...including the validity of the reasoning [and] the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. Developed by George Hillocks, Jr. and others in diverse inner city classrooms in Chicago, students are easily engaged in the lively problem-solving approach detailed in this book.Teaching Argument Writing begins with how to teach simple arguments and moves onto those that are more complex, showing step-by-step how to teach students to write and evaluate:arguments of fact arguments of judgment arguments of policy Student handouts, activities, and models of classroom discussions are provided to help you bring these methods to your classroom. Among other things, Hillocks guides you through teaching your students:how judgments are made in the real world how to make literary judgments based on criteria how to develop and support criteria for arguments.

    This breakthrough book demonstrates how parents and teachers can join forces to inspire kids to be self-directed, self-disciplined, and responsive to the wonders of learning.