The Elephant and the Twig: The Art of Positive Thinking - 14 Golden Rules to Success and Happiness


Geoff Thompson - 2000
    It aims to help you to take the plunge to realize your potential, so that you do not have to remain stuck in a social and lifestyle rut as if there is no alternative.

10 Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success


John Hattie - 2017
    In Ten Mindframes for Visible Learning, John Hattie and Klaus Zierer define the ten behaviors or mindframes that teachers need to adopt in order to maximize student success. These include:thinking of and evaluating your impact on students' learning;the importance of assessment and feedback for teachers;working collaboratively and the sense of community;the notion that learning needs to be challenging;engaging in dialogue and the correct balance between talking and listening;conveying the success criteria to learners;building positive relationships.These powerful mindframes, which should underpin every action in schools, are founded on the principle that teachers are evaluators, change agents, learning experts, and seekers of feedback who are constantly engaged with dialogue and challenge.This practical guide, which includes questionnaires, scenarios, checklists, and exercises, will show any school exactly how to implement Hattie's mindframes to maximize success.

Basic Montessori: Learning Activities For Under-Fives


David Gettman - 1987
    David Gettman has devised a clear and modern explanation of Montessori's revolutionary ideas about early intellectual development, and provides a step-by-step guide to the Montessori learning activities most commonly used with under-fives. These include activities for introducing reading and writing, counting and decimal concepts, science, and geography, as well as activities that help develop the child's practical and sensorial skills.

Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes


Lev S. Vygotsky - 1978
    S. Vygotsky has long been recognized as a pioneer in developmental psychology. But somewhat ironically, his theory of development has never been well understood in the West. Mind in Society should correct much of this misunderstanding. Carefully edited by a group of outstanding Vygotsky scholars, the book presents a unique selection of Vygotsky's important essays, most of which have previously been unavailable in English. The Vygotsky who emerges from these pages can no longer be glibly included among the neobehaviorists. In these essays he outlines a dialectical-materialist theory of cognitive development that anticipates much recent work in American social science. The mind, Vygotsky argues, cannot be understood in isolation from the surrounding society. Man is the only animal who uses tools to alter his own inner world as well as the world around him. From the handkerchief knotted as a simple mnemonic device to the complexities of symbolic language, society provides the individual with technology that can be used to shape the private processes of mind. In Mind in Society Vygotsky applies this theoretical framework to the development of perception, attention, memory, language, and play, and he examines its implications for education. The result is a remarkably interesting book that is bound to renew Vygotsky's relevance to modem psychological thought.

The Learning Rainforest: Great Teaching In Real Classroom


Tom Sherrington - 2017
    Aimed at teachers of all kinds, busy people working in complex environments with little time to spare, it is a celebration of great teaching - the joy of it and the intellectual and personal rewards that teaching brings.The core of the book is a guide to making teaching both effective and manageable; it provides an accessible summary of key contemporary evidence-based ideas about teaching and learning and the debates that all teachers should be engaging in. It's a book packed with strategies for making great teaching attainable in the context of real schools.The Learning Rainforest metaphor is an attempt to capture various different elements of our understanding and experience of teaching. Tom's ideas about what constitutes great teaching are drawn from his experiences as a teacher and a school leader over the last 30 years, alongside everything he has read and all the debates he's engaged with during that time.An underlying theme of this book is that a career in teaching is a process of continual personal development and professional learning as is engaging in fundamental debates rage on about the kind of education we value. As you meet each new class and move from school to school, your perspectives shift; your sense of what seems to work adjusts to each new context.In writing this book, Tom is trying to capture some of the journey he's been on. He has learned that it is ok to change your mind. More than that - sometimes it is simply necessary to get your head out of the sand, to change direction; to admit your mistakes.

Free Schools


David Gillespie - 2014
    When it came time to select high schools, he thought it worth doing some investigation to assess the level of advantage his kids would enjoy if he spent the required $1.3 million to send them all to private schools.Shockingly, the answer was: none whatsoever.Intrigued, David continued his research, only to discover he was wrong on most counts - as are most parents - when it comes to working out what factors deliver a great education. He discovered that class size doesn't matter, your kids aren't any better off in co-ed than single-sex schools (and vice versa), composite classes are fine, fancy buildings are a waste of money, the old-tie network won't cut it in the new industries and NAPLAN is misread by everyone so is largely meaningless as a measure of quality.Taking on an ingrained and historical system of vested interests - the unions, the government, our own sense of worth, privilege and entitlement - this book is controversial and absolutely necessary. It is well researched, authoritative and accessible. It is a must-read for parents, as well as teachers and policy-makers.

Learning Revolution


Gordon Dryden - 1994
    That makes it by far the world's biggest selling books, outside the Bible, for 1999! This new edition, now available in America, is completely revised and tells the story of the learning revolution that is need to match the revolution in communications and technology. It presents the world's best research on how every one of us, at any age, can make that revolution happen now. And it tells it in a language that is as easy to read as The Reader's Digest. Among the topics covered: * How to learn anything much faster, better and more easily. * How to read four books a day and remember what you read. * How to learn the basics of a new language in 8 weeks. * How to bridge a 5 year reading gap in 10 weeks. * How to read and write before starting school. * How to make the most of your amazing brain. * How to Mind Map your way to better grades. * How to create successful, profitable ideas. * How to use the world's best learning technology.

Memorable Teaching: Leveraging Memory to Build Deep and Durable Learning in the Classroom


Peps Mccrea - 2017
    I doubt you'll find an education book with more useful insights per minute of reading time." - Dylan Wiliam - Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, UCLThis book is for any educator who's interested in understanding how learning works, and how to optimise their teaching to make it happen.From the author of Lean Lesson Planning, this latest instalment in the High Impact Teaching series pulls together the best available evidence from cognitive science and educational research, and stitches them together into a concise and coherent set of actionable principles to improve your impact in the classroom.POWER UP YOUR TEACHINGIt's an evidence-informed teacher's guide to building enduring understanding, and sits alongside books such as Make It Stick, Why Don't Students Like School?, and What Every Teacher Needs To Know About Psychology.---CONTENTSAct I PreliminariesWhy memory?Memory architectureThe 9 principlesAct II Principles1: Manage information2: Orient attention3: Streamline communication4: Regulate load5: Expedite elaboration6: Refine structures7: Stabilise changes8: Align pedagogies9: Embed metacognitionPRAISE FOR MEMORABLE TEACHING"I can't remember when I have ever read a book that takes such complex ideas and communicates them with sophistication and simplicity." - Oliver Caviglioli, Founder and author of HOW2s"The book packs an awful lot of useful material into a short, easy to read format and as such is something that all teachers should add to their collections." - Josh Goodrich, Head of CPD at Oasis Southbank"A truly excellent book which sets out the science behind learning with remarkable clarity." - Mark Enser, Head of Geography at Heathfield Community College

The Way They Learn


Cynthia Ulrich Tobias - 1994
    Once these approaches are understood, parents and teachers can become far more effective in helping children grasp confusing concepts, stay interested in lessons, and utilize their strengths. By recognizing children's learning preferences, you can reach them more efficiently and effectively! These concepts are powerful tools for drawing out the best in a child. Give your youngster the best chance for success by coming to understand The Way They Learn.

The Having of Wonderful Ideas and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning


Eleanor Duckworth - 1987
    While touching on many subjects--from science, math, and poetry to learning, teaching, thinking, evaluation, and teacher education--each of these essays supports the author's deeply felt belief that "the having of wonderful ideas is the essence of intellectual development." The revised Third Edition of this indispensable classic on Piaget and teaching features a new introduction, a new chapter on critical exploration in the classroom, and a renewed belief in the need to educate children about peace and social justice.Praise for Previous Editions!"A classic-to-be."--Instructor"A striking example of how Piaget's work could well be applied to education--to advantage and with delight."--School Psychology International"...as she explains in her inspiring account of the exhilarating process of teaching and learning, now we all have the opportunity to create wonderful ideas."--Educational Leadership"...admirably confirms Eleanor Duckworth's ability to express complex ideas and profound insights with clarity, good sense, and relevance for classroom practice."--The Journal of Educational Thought

In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization


Deborah Meier - 2002
    Increasingly, we turn to standardized tests and standardized curricula-now adopted by all fifty states-as our national surrogates for trust.Legendary school founder and reformer Deborah Meier believes fiercely that schools have to win our faith by showing they can do their job. But she argues just as fiercely that standardized testing is precisely the wrong way to that end. The tests themselves, she argues, cannot give the results they claim. And in the meantime, they undermine the kind of education we actually want.In this multilayered exploration of trust and schools, Meier critiques the ideology of testing and puts forward a different vision, forged in the success stories of small public schools she and her colleagues have created in Boston and New York. These nationally acclaimed schools are built, famously, around trusting teachers-and students and parents-to use their own judgment.Meier traces the enormous educational value of trust; the crucial and complicated trust between parents and teachers; how teachers need to become better judges of each others' work; how race and class complicate trust at all levels; and how we can begin to 'scale up' from the kinds of successes she has created.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy


James Paul Gee - 2003
    James Paul Gee begins his new book with 'I want to talk about vide games- yes, even violent video games - and say some positive things about them'. With this simple but explosive beginning, one of America's most well-respected professors of education looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. Gee is interested in the cognitive development that can occur when someone is trying to escape a maze, find a hidden treasure and, even, blasting away an enemy with a high-powered rifle. Talking about his own video-gaming experience learning and using games as diverse as Lara Croft and Arcanum, Gee looks at major specific cognitive activities: How individuals develop a sense of identity; How one grasps meaning; How one evaluates and follows a command; How one picks a role model; How one perceives the world.

Moral Principles in Education


John Dewey - 1909
    Chapters Include, Though Are Not Limited To: The Moral Purpose Of The School - The Moral Training Given By The School Community - The Moral Training From Methods Of Instruction - The Social Nature Of Course Study - The Psychological Aspect Of Moral Education

A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey


Jeff Sandefer - 2012
    Perhaps you’re afraid that if you try, you’ll fail. The startling truth is this: Just about anyone can do great things, can live a life that’s remarkable, purposeful, excellent, and yes, even heroic. If you want to be a hero, you can be. How? That’s what this book is all about. Will you choose to do it? Will you decide to journey heroically, instead of spending your life merely marking time? If so, this is the book for you. Welcome to your heroic journey.

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.