Teaching Reading in Small Groups: Differentiated Instruction for Building Strategic, Independent Readers


Jennifer Serravallo - 2010
    It will help you know that you can hold tight to your deepest beliefs about children and literature, classrooms communities, and good teaching. Lucy Calkins Author of Units of Study for Teaching ReadingIn Teaching Reading in Small Groups, Jennifer Serravallo extends the powerful teaching that made Conferring with Readers a hit and helps you meet instructional challenges effectively and efficiently.Jen shows how small groups help you uncover hidden time in your teaching for meeting individual students' needs. You'll work more closely with more children each day with her how-tos on:using formative assessment to create groups of readers with common needs differentiating for individuals, even when they're in a group enhancing your Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction. You'll see how Jen captures the strength of individual conference while working with multiple students-even if they aren't reading the same book. For comprehension, fluency, engagement, print work strategies, and comprehension, she shares ideas for assessment and flexible grouping structures as well as her own teaching language. You'll help readers:get into texts and get more out of them learn vital strategies that help them read more challenging texts talk about books with rigor and vigor. When we supplement individual conferences with small-group conferences, writes Jennifer Serravallo, we work more efficiently and can deal well with higher benchmarks, larger class sizes, and the increasing demands placed on readers and teachers. Trust a master teacher and read Teaching Reading in Small Groups to find out how small groups can make a big difference in your classroom.

I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High


Tony Danza - 2012
    Danza’s” showbiz credentials, and they immediately put him on the hot seat.   Featuring indelible portraits of students and teachers alike, I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had reveals just how hard it is to keep today’s technologically savvy – and often alienated -- students engaged, how impressively committed most teachers are, and the outsized role counseling plays in a teacher’s day, given the psychological burdens many students carry.  The book also makes vivid how a modern high school works, showing Tony in a myriad of roles – from lecturing on To Kill a Mockingbird to “coaching” the football team to organizing a talent show to leading far-flung field trips to hosting teacher gripe sessions.  A surprisingly poignant account, I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny but is mostly filled with hard-won wisdom and feel-good tears.

Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy


Irene C. Fountas - 2000
    Now, with Guiding Readers and Writers (Grades 3-6), Fountas and Pinnell support teachers on the next leg of the literacy journey, addressing the unique challenges of teaching upper elementary students. The product of many years of work with classroom teachers, Guiding Readers and Writers (Grades 3-6) is one of the most comprehensive, authoritative guides available today. It explores all the essential components of a quality literacy program in six separate sections:Breakthrough to Literacy: Fountas and Pinnell present the basic structure of the language/literacy program within a breakthrough framework that encompasses the building of community through language, word study, reading, writing, and the visual arts. The framework plays out as three blocks, which can be interpreted as conceptual units as well as segments of time within the school day. Specific information on how to structure a reading and writing workshop is provided. A practical chapter on organizing and managing the classroom will help you implement the principles in your own classroom.Independent Reading: It is essential for students to develop interests and tastes as readers, selecting books for themselves every day. Fountas and Pinnell devote four chapters to independent reading, exploring how to structure teaching, minilessons, conferences, groupshare, and ways to use response journals as part of a reading workshop.Guided Reading: The chapters in this section provide detailed information on planning for guided reading, dynamic grouping for effective teaching, and selecting, introducing, and using leveled texts. Fountas and Pinnell describe characteristics of texts related to difficulty and ways to organize texts in your classroom and school.Literature Study: This section of the book discusses how to make students experiences with literature as rich as possible. The authors offer specific suggestions for forming groups, guiding student choices, and establishing and teaching routines for literature discussion. A full chapter explores reader response and ways to help readers dig deep to uncover the meaning of texts.Teaching for Comprehension and Word Analysis: This detailed look at the reading process explores both oral and silent reading, processes and behaviors related to comprehension, and ways to help students construct meaning. Included are twelve systems for sustaining the reading process and expanding meaning, plus discussions of the important areas of phonics, spelling, and vocabulary.The Reading and Writing Connection: These chapters showcase the instructional contextspoetry, writers notebooks, writers talks, genre, content literacy, and student researchthat support students in connected reading and writing. An informative overview of the characteristics of fiction and nonfiction will help you teach students to read and write a variety of genre. Whats more, the authors suggest ways to help students learn the genre of testing and perform the kinds of reading and writing tasks that tests require. They also detail the continuous thoughtful assessment that guides all aspects of effective teaching.A special feature appears at the end of each section, in which Fountas and Pinnell provide indispensable suggestions for working with struggling readers and writers.

Educating for Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility


Thomas Lickona - 1991
    Calls for renewed moral education in America's schools, offering dozens of programs schools can adopt to teach students respect, responsibility, hard work, and other values that should not be left to parents to teach.

The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life


Parker J. Palmer - 1997
    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.

The 21-Day Immunity Plan


Aseem Malhotra - 2020
    

Grading Smarter, Not Harder: Assessment Strategies That Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn


Myron Dueck - 2014
    In sharing lessons, anecdotes, and cautionary tales from his own experiences revamping assessment procedures in the classroom, Dueck offers a variety of practical strategies for ensuring that grades measure what students know without punishing them for factors outside their control; critically examining the fairness and effectiveness of grading homework assignments; designing and distributing unit plans that make assessment criteria crystal-clear to students; creating a flexible and modular retesting system so that students can improve their scores on individual sections of important tests.Grading Smarter, Not Harder is brimming with reproducible forms, templates, and real-life examples of grading solutions developed to allow students every opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Written with abundant humor and heart, this book is a must-read for all teachers who want their grades to contribute to, rather than hinder, their students' success.

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56


Rafe Esquith - 2007
    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. "

Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers


Jessamyn Neuhaus - 2019
    It is the first college teaching guide that encourages faculty to embrace their inner nerd, inviting readers to view themselves and their teaching work in light of contemporary discourse that celebrates increasingly diverse geek culture and explores stereotypes about super-smart introverts.Geeky Pedagogy avoids the excessive jargon, humorlessness, and endless proscriptions that plague much published advice about teaching. Neuhaus is aware of how embodied identity and employment status shape one’s teaching context, and she eschews formulaic depictions of idealized exemplar teaching, instead inviting readers to join her in an engaging, critically reflective conversation about the vicissitudes of teaching and learning in higher education as a geek, introvert, or nerd. Written for the wonks and eggheads who want to translate their vast scholarly expertise into authentic student learning, Geeky Pedagogy is packed with practical advice and encouragement for increasing readers’ pedagogical knowledge.

50 Ways to Get a Job: An Unconventional Guide to Finding Work on Your Terms


Dev Aujla - 2018
    50 Ways to Get a Job aims to fix that. Job search expert Dev Aujla created 50WaysToGetAJob.com as a way to offer practical, tangible steps to finding (and getting) the right job for you. Within only a few months, over 400,000 people used the site, and Aujla was able to gather data from thousands of individual job searches. In this cleverly constructed guide, Aujla presents the tried-and-tested steps to not only getting hired, but also the secrets to staying motivated and energized throughout the job hunting process.Filled with practical quick-step exercises, this book is designed so you can pick your path through the process, starting where it feels the most natural:- Feeling stuck? Start by sending a "looking for a job" email to five close friends.- Not sure what sort of job you want? Write some creative nonfiction about yourself.- Feeling overwhelmed? Learn the benefits of forty-five minutes of unplugged bliss.- Going on an interview? Practice with a conversation guide.Whether you've just decided to start the hunt or you're gearing up for a big interview, 50 Ways to Get a Job will keep you poised, on-track, and motivated right up to landing your dream career.

Organized Teacher, Happy Classroom


Melanie S. Unger - 2011
    Keeping themorganized can be a challenge, but an organized classroom is essential and allows students and the teacher to fully focus on learning by eliminating distractions. Organized Teacher, Happy Classroom provides practical, proven methods for maintaining an organized classroom throughout the entire school year.Inside you’ll find:• Strategies for managing students’ papers, curriculum material, and essential paperwork• Time management tips to maximize your instruction time and lesson planning• Organizing systems you can teach your students to improve self reliance andaccountability• Checklists for starting and ending the year well organized• Helpful forms and templates you can use in your classroom• Plans for arranging a classroom that promotes positive student participation• Support to simplify your classroom• Efficient storage solutions for all teacher and student materialsWhether you teach primary, intermediate, middle school or high school, this bookwill help you organize your time, paperwork, and classroom spaces.

The Bridge to Brilliance: How One Principal in a Tough Community Is Inspiring the World


Nadia Lopez - 2016
    Everything was an uphill battle--to get the school approved, to recruit faculty and students, to solve a million new problems every day, from violent crime to vanishing supplies--but Lopez was determined to break the downward spiral that had trapped too many inner-city children. The lessons came fast: unengaged teachers, wayward students, and the educational system itself, rarely in tune with the already disadvantaged and underprepared.Things were at a low ebb for everyone when one of her students told a photographer that his principal, "Ms. Lopez," was the person who most influenced his life. The posting on Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York site was the pebble that started a lucky landslide for Lopez and her team. Lopez found herself in the national spotlight and headed for a meeting with President Obama, as well as the beneficiary of a million-dollar campaign for the school, to fund her next dream: a field trip for her students to visit another school--Harvard.The Bridge to Brilliance is a book filled with common sense and caring that will carry her message to communities and classrooms far from Brooklyn. As she says, modestly, "There are hundreds of Ms. Lopezes around this country doing good work for kids. This honors all of them."

Mind Games: Emotionally Manipulative Tactics Partners Use to Control Relationships and Force the Upper Hand


Pamela Kole - 2015
     Mind Games uncovers a host of underhanded, sneaky, and malicious emotional manipulation tactics that manipulators and abusers use to beat you down and control you. We might all be able to recognize blatant abuse, but when we’re emotionally invested, it’s tough to see the little signs that are in front of our faces sometimes. They’ll lead to you feeling worthless and vulnerable, making it almost impossible to truly leave your situation. In this book, I identify many common tactics that you may be intimately and sadly familiar with, complete with real life examples for each to help you identify them in your daily life. What emotionally manipulative tactics will you learn to identify and stop? * Gaslighting and telling you that your concern is an overreaction, or quite simply wrong. * How the silent treatment is used as punishment and forces compliance. * Playing the victim and how it transforms your issues into guilt and pity. * Your abuser's time machine and how they use it to their advantage. More importantly: * An analysis of the psychology behind why your partner acts they way they do... and why you stay. * Guidelines for how to deal with a partner that is your manipulator and abuser. * Why your abuser loves controlling you, not necessarily you. Emotional manipulation tactics are still abuse, even if there are no physical signs. Gain the knowledge and subsequent courage you need to leave your situation and find true happiness, not someone else's definition of it. Learn to detect when your abuser is not acting in your best interest, and exactly how they make you believe that they are. Start re-writing the rules to your abuser's mind games.

Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools Through Student-Engaged Assessment


Ron Berger - 2013
    Student-Engaged Assessment is not a single practice but an approach to teaching and learning that equips and compels students to understand goals for their learning and growth, track their progress toward those goals, and take responsibility for reaching them. This requires a set of interrelated strategies and structures and a whole-school culture in which students are given the respect and responsibility to be meaningfully engaged in their own learning.Includes everything teachers and school leaders need to implement a successful Student-Engaged Assessment system in their schools Outlines the practices that will engage students in making academic progress, improve achievement, and involve families and communities in the life of the school Describes each of the book's eight key practices, gives advice on how to begin, and explains what teachers and school leaders need to put into practice in their own classrooms Ron Berger is Chief Program Officer for EL Education and a former public school teacher Leaders of Their Own Learning shows educators how to ignite the capacity of students to take responsibility for their own learning, meet Common Core and state standards, and reach higher levels of achievement.DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download after purchase.

Full Voice: The Art and Practice of Vocal Presence


Barbara McAfee - 2011
    Noted speaker, musician, and coach Barbara McAfee shows how to become a more effective communicator by mastering the full range of your voice and learning to match tone to content.