Search results for ""Association for Supervision Curriculum Development""

Even young students can develop vital critical thinking skills when they have access to rich content, meaningful opportunities to practice, and guided instruction.Critical thinking—evaluating and analyzing data to make informed judgments—is essential in both the classroom and everyday life. Teaching critical thinking skills in the elementary grades is often an afterthought—if it's a thought at all.Veteran primary teacher and instructional leader Erin Shadowens proposes that students of all ages benefit when teachers expand the definition of what is possible by engaging young learners with real challenges and supportive, accessible learning environments.In Critical Thinking in the Elementary Classroom, Shadowens Explores the concept of critical thinking, clarifies misunderstandings, and delves into relevant research. Introduces the Critical Thinking Framework to help nurture deep thinking in the context of content-focused lessons. Presents case studies of the framework in action. Shows how to apply the framework at the unit and lesson levels, addressing common instructional pitfalls along the way. Describes how a "virtuous cycle" of assessment and feedback promotes academic achievement and critical thinking. Illustrates how to foster an intellectual community with young learners.Ultimately, this book guides elementary teachers in supporting students to think deeply about rich content, make insightful connections, and address issues in broader, more meaningful ways, both in and outside of school.

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This thoughtful guide offers a framework for creating and sustaining learning organizations where both students and educators can truly thrive.For years, schools have worked to ensure that students develop their social-emotional learning skills, which research shows can benefit not only students' well-being, but also their academic achievement. Until now, however, developing these skills in adults has not received the same emphasis in schools, despite evidence that they are just as helpful for advancing professional practice. With Still Learning: Strengthening Professional and Organizational Capacity, educator and author Allison Rodman, founder of the Learning Loop, seeks to correct this oversight so that teachers, administrators, and other school leaders can thrive both individually and collectively.Rodman offers a comprehensive "Framework for Educator Capacity Building" that sequences, defines, and outlines key concepts and strategies in five disciplines: attunement, alignment, perspective, collective efficacy, and organizational learning. In this essential resource, you'll findProtocols, checklists, reflection exercises, and myriad other practical tools for supporting educators' social-emotional development and strengthening professional and organizational capacity.Data and examples from decades of research into the benefits of and best practices related to capacity building.Lessons and insights from real-life educators.Recommended resources for further exploration.You'll also be able to access editable PDF versions of many of the tools and resources within the book to support and enhance your reflection, learning, and action planning.The evidence is clear: Social-emotional development is a must not just for students, but for educators, organizations, and systems as well. Still Learning has everything you need to ensure that the adults in your school or district implement and sustain healthy practices to benefit themselves, their colleagues, and their students.

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Meaningful improvement in schools and districts is just small shifts away. How can administrators and teachers work together in ways that lead to significant—and sustained—improvement over time? How can schools accomplish this goal without adding to the work of overstretched educators? This practical guide answers these questions with recommendations for small, practical, powerful shifts that educators can make to their daily practice.In Small Shifts, Meaningful Improvement, P. Ann Byrd, Alesha Daughtrey, Jonathan Eckert, and Lori Nazareno define collective leadership, a set of practices through which teachers and administrators work together to improve teaching, learning, and innovation. They explore the seven conditions of collective leadership and their corresponding shifts that, when effectively implemented, make a difference: Adapting, not adopting, a shared vision and strategy Building co-ownership, not buy-in, through supportive administration, Mindfully aligning resources and capacity, Developing supportive social norms and working relationships to build culture and continuity, Growing shared influence authentically and organically, Creating an orientation toward improvement, and Structuring an intentional work design to support sustainability.The authors share stories of real schools and districts that have implemented the shifts and provide useful tools that educators can use as they begin their own efforts. Both informative and inspiring, Small Shifts, Meaningful Improvement supports leadership work that will advance how administrators and teachers collaborate, learn together, generate solutions to longstanding challenges, and make those solutions stick over time.

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If we want to really understand our students so that we can optimize instruction for them, we must think of each individual student as distinctive and irreplaceable. From this core principle springs the radically humane framework for meaningful teaching that is the subject of this book: Powerful Student Care (PSC). Authors Grant A. Chandler and Kathleen M. Budge developed this one-of-a-kind system for catering to the unique life circumstances of every child to help all teachers grow in their practice—and all students to flourish.Based on voluminous research as well as the authors' own experience as seasoned educators, PSC offers teachers a foolproof way to ensure that, regardless of label or socioeconomic profile, each one of their students receives the support they need. Constructed as an allegorical learning voyage for readers, this comprehensive guide detailsThe foundational five tenets of community that enable students to succeed academically, develop self-efficacy, and experience the joy of learning."Navigational instruments," such as processes, instructional methods, and power-sharing relationships, for creating community.The bodies of knowledge that directly influence teacher and student success, including those related to empowerment, cultural humility, antiracist and antibias learning, and more.The Contemplative Practice, an inquiry-based, research-informed scaffold for teacher planning and reflection.Brimming with colorful, in-depth case studies of Powerful Student Care in action and including downloadable forms and templates to help you move forward with implementation, this book is an essential addition to the library of any K–12 educator with a passion for knowing and supporting the young human beings in their charge.

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A practical and systematic approach to deepening student engagement, promoting a growth mindset, and building a classroom culture that truly supports thinking and learning.Every student deserves access to deep and rigorous learning. Still, some persistent myths about rigor can get in the way—such as the belief that it means more or harder work for everyone, rather than challenging and advancing students' thinking. So how can teachers get more clarity on rigor and foster more meaningful learning in their classrooms.In Rigor by Design, Not Chance, veteran educator Karin Hess offers not only a clear vision of what makes learning deep and rigorous but also a systematic and equitable approach for engaging students of all ages in rich learning tasks. To that end, she outlines five essential teacher moves that foster thinking and learning:1. Ask a series of probing questions of increasing complexity.2. Build schemas in each content area.3. Consider ways to strategically scaffold learning.4. Design complex tasks that emphasize transfer and evidence-based solutions.5. Engage students in metacognition and reflection throughout the learning process.From there, Hess details how to create an "actionable" assessment cycle that will drive learning forward in any classroom.This book offers a treasure trove of strategies, student "look-for" behaviors, and templates to guide teachers in their work as well as an array of rich performance-based assessments to engage and challenge students. School leaders and instructional coaches can also benefit from the variety of teacher-friendly supports to foster rigorous learning in their schools. Ultimately, Rigor by Design, Not Chance helps educators empower students to take greater ownership of their own learning.

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Building a better data culture can be the path to better results and greater equity in schools. But what do we mean by data?Your students are not just statistics. They aren't simply a set of numbers or faceless dots on a proficiency scale. They are vibrant collections of experiences, thoughts, perspectives, emotions, wants, and dreams. And taken collectively, all of that information is data—and should be valued as such.Equity in Data not only unpacks the problematic nature of current approaches to data but also helps educators demystify and democratize data. It shows how we can bake equity into our data work and illuminate the disparities, stories, and truths that make our schools safer and stronger—and that help our students grow and thrive.To this end, the authors introduce a four-part framework for how to create an equitable data culture (along with a complementary set of data principles). They demonstrate how we can rethink our approach to data in the interest of equity by making five shifts:Expand our understanding of data.Strengthen our knowledge of data principles.Break through our fear of data.Decolonize our data gathering processes.Turn data into meaningful, equitable action.We have an opportunity to realign school data with what students want out of their educational experiences. When we put equity first, we put students first.

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Explore the web of factors that influence your power as a teacher—and how you can better use that power to foster student agency and empowerment.What kind of power do teachers have? What influences their instructional decision making—and how does that affect students, particularly Black students and other students of color? How can educators move away from practices that oppress and devalue students to practices that support and empower them?These are just a few of the questions that author Tanji Reed Marshall answers in Understanding Your Instructional Power. Countering the notion that teachers are powerless in the classroom, she introduces the Power Principle to help teachers unpack how they understand and use the power associated with their authority and responsibility as an educator. Drawing from her own experience as a classroom teacher and coach, Reed Marshall explains how the Power Principle reveals itself through various elements, including language use (by both students and teachers), "hidden curriculum," and classroom culture. She identifies four levels of curricular autonomy that teachers have (Unfettered, Calibrated, Restricted, and Minimal) and four dimensions of instructional power that characterize their classroom environment (Empowering, Agentive, Protective, and Disenfranchising).Reflection exercises throughout the book guide readers through a deep analysis of their personal and professional histories and ideologies, including how these influence students' learning experiences. Reed Marshall shares her own journey of setbacks and progress as she offers support and encouragement to K–12 teachers seeking to use their power in productive ways so that all students can bring their full selves to class and receive the education they deserve.

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When used effectively, quality questions and student dialogue result in self-regulated learners and formative feedback that reveals progress toward learning goals.Learning knows no boundaries. The potential for learning exists whenever and wherever we interact with our environment. So how can we infuse school learning with the authenticity and excitement associated with real-life experiences?In Questioning for Formative Feedback, Jackie Acree Walsh explores the relationship between questioning and feedback in K–12 classrooms and how dialogue serves as the bridge connecting the two.Quality questioning, productive dialogue, and authentic use of feedback are a powerful trifecta for addressing the needs of a new generation of learners. In fact, the skillful use of these three processes can fuel and accelerate the academic, social, and emotional learning of all students.In this book, Walsh provides a manual of practice for educators who want to engage students as partners in these processes. To that end, she offers the following features to help create a classroom in which everyone learns through intentional practice:Blueprints for coherent models of key processes and products.Tools and strategies to help you achieve identified outcomes.Protocols with step-by-step directions to complete an activity.Classroom artifacts of authentic classroom use, including links to 21 original videos produced exclusively for this book!Working together, questioning, dialogue, and feedback can transform learning for all. This book supports you in embracing and bringing that vision to fruition.

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What if you had a collaborative process of looking at student data that could pinpoint student gaps in learning and suggest effective strategies to close those gaps? What if you knew not only what you should start doing to enhance student learning, but also what you should stop doing because it hasn't given you the hoped-for results?Enter Achievement Teams. This is not another program that's here today and gone tomorrow; it's a timeless approach that any school or district can replicate that focuses on the most significant variable in student achievement: teaching. In Achievement Teams, Steve Ventura and Michelle Ventura offer a framework based on John Hattie's Visible Learning research that makes teacher collaboration more efficient, rigorous, satisfying, and effective. Think of it as a systematic treasure hunt for best practices using real data on your students.The authors walk you through the Achievement Teams four-step meeting protocol:In Step 1, teams focus on the evidence from a pre-assessment to provide specific feedback to students and teachers about concepts and skills that students did and did not learn.In Step 2, teams use that evidence to establish SMART goals for both teachers and students.In Step 3, teams summarize the collected data and make inferences around students' mastery levels.In Step 4, teachers select high-impact strategies directly targeted to student needs. A post-assessment reveals what did and didn't work.The authors provide a plethora of resources along the way, including reflection activities to extend your thinking and a variety of helpful downloadable templates designed to facilitate the work. If you're a teacher or leader who is interested in maximizing student achievement, this book is for you.

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It's time to make your mental bandwidth work for you. Being an educator is more stressful than ever, and teachers and administrators must constantly shift gears to stay on top of the newest initiatives and students' ever-changing needs. Educator Bandwidth: How to Reclaim Your Energy, Passion, and Time provides the tools and strategies to reduce stress, avoid burnout, and regain the time that gets lost to interruptions, temptations, competing demands, and task-switching.The first step is to understand how much stress is weighing on your own mental bandwidth. Professional development experts Jane A. G. Kise and Ann Holm have developed the Brain Energy and Bandwidth Survey to help you self-assess the six key factors that contribute to bandwidth:Balance between prioritiesFiltering through possibilitiesMental habits that improve focusPhysical habits that fuel the brainConnection with othersWorkload and time managementKise and Holm combine the latest neuroscience research with their own extensive experience working with educators to bring the most effective strategies and habits that help you manage your mental bandwidth and prioritize drains on mental energy. When you can establish good habits, focus on what's possible within your locus of control, and balance priorities, you can improve your educator bandwidth and feel more engaged, centered, and effective in your work.

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Fifty concrete strategies to help school leaders create a learning environment that better serves and supports students living with trauma.Many educators have heard about the need to implement "trauma-sensitive" practices in order to help students heal and succeed. But what does this look like on a day-to-day basis? What does it require of teachers and of those who lead them?In Trauma-Sensitive School Leadership, Bill Ziegler, Dave Ramage, Andrea Parson, and Justin Foster provide a framework to guide administrators and their teams through the process. With reference to research and their own experience as teachers, counselors, and school leaders, the authors explain how toDevelop empathetic and supportive relationships among students and staff.Identify biases and barriers that hinder educators' ability to support learners affected by trauma.Design all-school events and daily lesson plans to minimize the likelihood of retraumatizing vulnerable students.Retool discipline practices and physical spaces to foster a more trauma-sensitive culture and climate.Establish supports to help teachers and other staff deal with secondary trauma.Accepting students for who they are and responding compassionately to their needs leads to greater success in academics and life. With 50 recommended strategies and real-life examples of trauma-informed healing practices, Trauma-Sensitive School Leadership can help you transform your school to better serve your students.

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Literacy is the foundation for all learning and must be accessible to all students. This fundamental truth is where Kimberly Parker begins to explore how culturally relevant teaching can help students work toward justice. Her goal is to make the literacy classroom a place where students can safely talk about key issues, move to dismantle inequities, and collaborate with one another. Introducing diverse texts is an essential part of the journey, but teachers must also be equipped with culturally relevant pedagogy to improve literacy instruction for all.In Literacy Is Liberation, Parker gives teachers the tools to build culturally relevant intentional literacy communities (CRILCs) with students. Through CRILCs, teachers can better shape their literacy instruction byReflecting on the connections between behaviors, beliefs, and racial identity.Identifying the characteristics of culturally relevant literacy instruction and grounding their practice within a strengths-based framework.Curating a culturally inclusive library of core texts, choice reading, and personal reading, and teaching inclusive texts with confidence.Developing strategies to respond to roadblocks for students, administrators, and teachers.Building curriculum that can foster critical conversations between students about difficult subjects—including race.In a culturally relevant classroom, it is important for students and teachers to get to know one another, be vulnerable, heal, and do the hard work to help everyone become a literacy high achiever. Through the practices in this book, teachers can create the more inclusive, representative, and equitable classroom environment that all students deserve.

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In this book, Gretchen Oltman and Vicki Bautista walk you through the eight steps necessary to craft a personal leadership philosophy: a reflective explanation of the leadership style, core values, mindset, and real-life experiences that make you the leader you are today.When you can authentically tell your story, your school community will know you, what you value, and why you make decisions the way you do. You will rediscover a sense of purpose, renewal, and inspiration that may have slipped away amid the chaos of life—and you can build a stronger connection with those you lead and work beside.Leading in a school setting does not mean you need to lose your individual identity. You became a school leader by following your own unique path. You possess talents that set you apart from others. By working purposefully to share your personal leadership philosophy, you can create a new expectation of what school leaders should be and counter the unrealistic assumptions that others may hold. You can be more than your title.What's your leadership story?

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An accessible, practical guide to incorporating the 10 essential EdTech skills and strategies in every learning setting.In a world awash in technology, what EdTech skills and strategies should educators focus on to ensure they are making the best use of online spaces for classroom learning? How can they navigate through the overwhelming number of options in digital tools and spaces? How can they guide students in learning best practices?EdTech consultant Monica Burns answers these and other questions in this powerful and reader-friendly guide to incorporating EdTech across all grade levels and subject areas, and in both distance-learning and face-to-face environments. Readers will gain practical advice on Navigating online spaces, Curating resources, Introducing opportunities for exploring the world, Developing collaboration structures, Providing time and space to create learning products, Assessing students, Creating opportunities for sharing, Connecting student work to relevant audiences, Developing transferable skills, and Planning for tech-rich learning experiences. Each chapter explains why the skill or strategy is essential, including supporting research, classroom examples, guiding questions for planning and reflection, and suggested websites and digital tools for classroom use. The book also includes access to downloadable forms to help you set goals, assess your progress, and build your EdTech tool belt.Timely, accessible, and informed by the author's experience and expertise, EdTech Essentials is a must-read for educators who want proven ways to prepare their students to be productive, responsible users of technology both within and outside the classroom.

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"Learner-centered classrooms rely on teachers who are willing to change and grow, and on school leaders who are willing to intelligently support them. Change is never easy, but teaching has never been easy, either. Its goal is too grand for ease."Carol Ann Tomlinson's role in defining and popularizing differentiated instruction has made her one of the most influential voices in modern education. In So Each May Soar, she illuminates the next step forward: creating learner-centered classrooms to help all students gain a deeper understanding of themselves, others, and the world.Join Tomlinson as she explores principles and practices of learner-centered classrooms, including* What it means for teachers to honor themselves, each learner, and the content they teach. * How to assemble a curriculum that ignites students' imaginations and drives discovery. * How to guide classroom experiences that develop the mind of each learner in accordance with that learner's marvelous individuality. * How to shape curriculum, assessment, and instruction to support both equity and excellence.Use this book's curated collection of strategies to reconnect with professional and personal aspirations, build an energized and mutually respectful classroom community, and deliver instruction that feels alive to you and your students. Examples from all kinds of learner-centered classrooms clarify what this approach looks like across grade levels and subject areas and confirm its viability in schools with budgets both big and small.A must-have touchstone for veterans, a beacon for middle-career educators, and a mission statement for those just beginning their careers, So Each May Soar celebrates the commitment of teachers and the opportunity they have to help each young person in their care build a better future and lead a wonderful life.

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How do you ensure that no student is invisible in your classroom? How do you make the distinction between equity as the vehicle versus equity as the goal for each of your students? What measures do you take to ensure that you are growing as a culturally relevant practitioner? Can your students, particularly your Black students, articulate, beyond emotional reactions, the injustices that surround them?The foregoing are not trick questions. Rather, they are those that best-selling author Baruti K. Kafele poses and on which he suggests you deeply reflect as a teacher of Black students. The Equity & Social Justice Education 50 will help you understand the importance of having an equity mindset when teaching students generally and when teaching Black students in particular. It defines social justice education and sheds light on the issues and challenges that Black people face, as well as the successes they've achieved, providing you with a pathway to infusing social justice education into your lesson plans. And along the way, Kafele reveals personal experiences from his distant and recent pasts to highlight how important it is that your Black students see themselves in all aspects of education every day.You, the teacher, play a critical role in your students' success. The questions that Kafele asks in this book will help enhance your own understanding of race, systemic racism, and racial justice and guide you in developing strategies and lessons that speak to Black students in ways that truly support their achievement.

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Tamera Musiowsky-Borneman and C. Y. Arnold have developed a way to bring a minimalist mindset to the classroom and shed the burden of too many initiatives, strategies, and "things" in general. Their Triple P process helps teachers declutter in three steps: identify something's purpose, prioritize what is important, and pare down to essentials.Because the Triple P process emphasizes structured and candid self-reflection to determine what is essential, meaningful, and useful—and then discard what is extraneous—The Minimalist Teacher can be adapted to the physical classroom environment, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and more. Each chapter provides sample reflection questions and brainstorming activities to help teachers* Reduce mental and physical waste.* Manage burnout and stress.* Advocate for minimalism in the school.* Prioritize resources that best support student learning.Teachers face countless decisions every day, few of which are easy, but they don't have to be overwhelming. No matter the classroom, you can take control of your daily decisions in a way that reduces educator stress and builds a better learning environment for students.

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"Good lesson plans have an almost mysterious power; they declare that all information can be interesting, that every skill acquired broadens our potentials to make a better world, and that all impassioned activity leads to learning. Our best teachers have shown us over and over that life is not a struggle against boredom and compliance; it is a wonder to be apprehended. Every bit of SEL you can integrate into your planning will not only begin to heal the wounds of passivity, racism, and inequity, but also give students an experience today, in your classroom, of that better world."Jeffrey Benson draws from his 40-plus years of experience as a teacher and an administrator to provide explicit, step-by-step guidance on how to incorporate social and emotional learning (SEL) into K–12 lesson planning–without imposing a separate SEL curriculum.The book identifies SEL skills in three broad categories: skills for self, interpersonal skills, and skills as a community member. It offers research-based strategies for seamlessly integrating these skills into every section of lesson plans, from introducing a topic in a way that sparks students' interest, to accessing prior knowledge, providing direct instruction, allowing time for experimentation and discovery, using formative assessment, and closing a lesson in a purposeful rather than haphazard manner.In addition to practical advice on lesson planning that can lead to improved student motivation and achievement, Benson offers inspiration, urging both new and veteran teachers to seize every opportunity to develop caring, joyful communities of learners whose experiences and skills can contribute to a better, more equitable world both inside and outside the classroom.

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In schools, every day is ""game day."" Every day, teachers need the best resources and forms of support because students deserve the best we as educators can offer. An instructional playbook aims to serve as that kind of support: a tool that coaches can use to help teachers match specific learning goals with the right research-based instructional strategies.Coaches have enormous potential to help teachers learn and implement new teaching practices, but coaches will be effective only if they deeply understand the strategies they describe and their explanations are clear. The Instructional Playbook: The Missing Link for Translating Research into Practice addresses both issues head on and offers a simple and clear explanation of how to create a playbook uniquely designed to meet teachers' instructional needs.The idea of an instructional playbook has caught fire since Jim Knight described it in The Impact Cycle (2017). This book helps instructional coaches create playbooks that produce a common language about high-impact teaching strategies, deepen everyone's understanding of what instructional coaches do, and, most important, support teachers and students in classrooms.

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This timely and essential book provides a comprehensive guide for school leaders who desire to engage their school communities in transformative systemic change. Sharon I. Radd, Gretchen Givens Generett, Mark Anthony Gooden, and George Theoharis offer five practices to increase educational equity and eliminate marginalization based on race, disability, socioeconomics, language, gender and sexual identity, and religion. For each dimension of diversity, the authors provide background information for understanding the current realities in schools and beyond, and they suggest "disruptive practices" to replace the status quo in order to achieve full inclusion and educational excellence for every child.Assuming that leadership to create equity is a unique practice, the book offers* Clear explanations of foundational terms and concepts, such as equity, systemic inequity, paradigms and cognitive dissonance, and privilege;* Specific recommendations for how to build support and sustainability by engaging colleagues and other stakeholders in constructive dialogues with multiple perspectives;* Detailed descriptions of routines and roles for building effective equity-leadership teams;* Guidelines and tools for performing an equity audit, including environmental scans;* A change framework to skillfully transform your system; and* Reflection activities for self-discovery, understanding, and personal and professional growth.A call to action that is both passionate and practical, Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership is an indispensable roadmap for educators undertaking the journey toward an education system that acknowledges and advances the worth and potential of all students.

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Are you picking up all your students' work is trying to tell you? In this book, assessment expert Susan M. Brookhart and instructional coach Alice Oakley walk teachers through a better and more illuminating way to approach student work across grade levels and content areas. You'll learn to view students' assignments not as a verdict on right or wrong but as a window into what students "got" and how they are thinking about it. The insight you'll gain will help you* Infer what students are thinking,* Provide effective feedback,* Decide on next instructional moves, and* Grow as a professional.Brookhart and Oakley then guide teachers through the next steps: clarify learning goals, increase the quality of classroom assessments, deepen your content and pedagogical knowledge, study student work with colleagues, and involve students in the formative learning cycle. The book's many authentic examples of student work and teacher insights, coaching tips, and reflection questions will help readers move from looking at student work for correctness to looking at student work as evidence of student thinking.

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Today's teachers face a daunting challenge: how to ensure a positive school experience for their students, many of whom carry the burden of adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, poverty, divorce, abandonment, and numerous other serious social issues. Spurred by her personal experience and extensive exploration of brain-based learning, author Marilee Sprenger explains how brain science-what we know about how the brain works-can be applied to social-emotional learning. Specifically, she addresses how to: Build strong, caring relationships with students to give them a sense of belonging. Teach and model empathy, so students feel understood and can better understand others. Awaken students' self-awareness, including the ability to name their own emotions, have accurate self-perceptions, and display self-confidence and self-efficacy. Help students manage their behavior through impulse control, stress management, and other positive skills. Improve students' social awareness and interaction with others. Teach students how to handle relationships, including with people whose backgrounds differ from their own. Guide students in making responsible decisions. Offering clear, easy-to-understand explanations of brain activity and dozens of specific strategies for all grade levels, Social-Emotional Learning and the Brain is an essential guide to creating supportive classroom environments and improving outcomes for all our students.nd dozens of specific strategies for all grade levels, Social-Emotional Learning and the Brain is an essential guide to creating supportive classroom environments and improving outcomes for all our students.

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In this second edition of Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time, Jane E. Pollock and Laura J. Tolone combine updated research and real-world stories to demonstrate how it takes only one teacher to make a difference in student performance. Their approach expands the classic three-part curriculum-instruction-assessment framework by adding one key ingredient: feedback. This ""Big Four"" approach offers an easy-to-follow process that helps teachers build better curriculum documents with: Curriculum standards that are clear and well-paced, and describe what students will learn. Instruction based in research, from daily lessons to whole units of study. Assessment that maximizes feedback and requires critical and creative thinking. Feedback that tracks and reports individual student progress by standards. Pollock and Tolone demonstrate how consistent, timely feedback from multiple sources can help students monitor their own understanding and help teachers align assignments, quizzes, and tests more explicitly to the standards. The Big Four shifts the focus away from the basics of what makes a good teacher toward what makes good learning happen for every student every day.

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Human beings have tremendous potential to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, and improve their brains throughout life. By explicitly teaching learners about brain plasticity and malleable intelligence (the idea that they can become functionally smarter through effort) and by modeling and teaching specific learning strategies, teachers can help students experience higher levels of success as they develop a growth mindset.Discovering that learning changes their brains helps students develop this growth mindset-the belief that they can improve their knowledge and skills through the use of learning strategies and with guidance and support from teachers, coaches, and mentors.Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers share strategies and techniques for developing growth mindsets based on their BrainSMART® program for bridging the science of learning to the practice of teaching and elaborate on their seven principles for developing and sustaining growth mindsets: Understand the mindsets. Keep plasticity front of mind. Learn with practical optimism. Set growth goals. Get the feedback needed. Improve methods. Focus on progress, not perfection. By maintaining a growth mindset about your students' learning potential and applying learning strategies and techniques like those shared in this book, you can guide your students to continually develop a growth mindset-and experience a positive, upward learning spiral of success!

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Design thinking is a person-centered, problem-solving process that's a go-to for innovative businesses and gaining traction with school leaders interested in positive change. But understanding design thinking is one thing; actually putting it in play is something else.Authors Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson offer educators a practical guide for navigating design thinking's invigorating challenges and reaping its considerable rewards. They dig deep into the five-stage design thinking process, highlighting risk factors and recommending specific steps to keep you moving forward. The 25 downloadable and reproducible tools provide prompts and supports that will help you and your team: Identify change opportunities. Dig deeper into complex problems. Analyze topics to isolate specific challenges. Connect with and solve for user needs. Apply what you've learned about users to design challenges. Maximize brainstorming power. Create and employ solution prototypes. Pitch solutions and secure buy-in from stakeholders. Organize and analyze user feedback. Map out a solution's specific actions and resource requirements. Design Thinking in Play is a must-have for education leaders who are tired of waiting for someone else to solve their problems and ready to take action, have fun, and leverage collective insight to figure out what will really work for their school, their colleagues, and their students.

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Far too often, our students attain only a superficial level of knowledge that fails to prepare them for deeper challenges in school and beyond. In Teaching for Deeper Learning, renowned educators and best-selling authors Jay McTighe and Harvey F. Silver propose a solution: teaching students to make meaning for themselves. Contending that the ability to ""earn"" understanding will equip students to thrive in school, at work, and in life, the authors highlight seven higher-order thinking skills that facilitate students' acquisition of information for greater retention, retrieval, and transfer. These skills, which cut across content areas and grade levels and are deeply embedded in current academic standards, separate high achievers from their low-performing peers. Drawing on their deep well of research and experience, the authors: Explore what kind of content is worth having students make meaning about. Provide practical tools and strategies to help teachers target each of the seven thinking skills in the classroom. Explain how teachers can incorporate the thinking skills and tools into lesson and unit design. Show how teachers can build students' capacity to use the strategies independently. If our goal is to prepare students to meet the rigorous demands of school, college, and career, then we must foster their ability to respond to such challenges. This comprehensive, practical guide will enable teachers to engage students in the kind of learning that yields enduring understanding and valuable skills that they can use throughout their lives.

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Thanks to unprecedented advances in brain science, we know more about the brain today than ever before. But what does that science tell us about how we learn? How can we capture the power of neuroscience research so that it benefits our students?Judy Willis and Malana Willis answer these questions with clarity and insight, translating recent research on the brain and learning into understandable concepts and practical strategies to use across the curriculum, spanning all grade levels from preK through postsecondary.In this revised and expanded edition of the bestselling Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning, readers will learn how to: Arouse students' curiosity and interest in pursuing wide-ranging topics, including those they might typically find boring. Counteract the negative effects of stress, boredom, and frustration on memory. Defuse undesirable behaviors that are the result of the brain's natural ""fight/flight/freeze"" response. Incorporate the motivating characteristics of video gaming—including clear goals, achievable challenges, predictions, and continual feedback—into classroom learning. Break through stereotypes that deter students from reaching their full potential. Use the power of neuroscience research to develop students' executive function skills, such as focus, prioritization, organization, collaboration, critical analysis, and innovation. Willis and Willis describe how the brain converts a vast amount of sensory input into long-term memory and durable understanding, and how educators can use this knowledge to guide students to more successful experiences in school and beyond.

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Grading is one of the most hotly debated topics in education, and grading practices themselves are largely based on tradition, instinct, or personal history or philosophy. But to be effective, grading policies and practices must be based on trustworthy research evidence.Enter this book: a review of 100-plus years of grading research that presents the broadest and most comprehensive summary of research on grading and reporting available to date, with clear takeaways for learning and teaching. Edited by Thomas R. Guskey and Susan M. Brookhart, this indispensable guide features thoughtful, thorough dives into the research from a distinguished team of scholars, geared to a broad range of stakeholders, including teachers, school leaders, policymakers, and researchers. Each chapter addresses a different area of grading research and describes how the major findings in that area might be leveraged to improve grading policy and practice. Ultimately, Guskey and Brookhart identify four themes emerging from the research that can guide these efforts: Start with clear learning goals. Focus on the feedback function of grades. Limit the number of grade categories. Provide multiple grades that reflect product, process, and progress criteria. By distilling the vast body of research evidence into meaningful, actionable findings and strategies, this book is the jump-start all stakeholders need to build a better understanding of what works—and where to go from here.

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So, you want to be a principal? Are you a new principal who could benefit from the wisdom of a successful four-time principal? Could you use help preparing for a school administrator job interview? Then this is the book for you.In The Aspiring Principal 50, school leadership expert Baruti Kafele presents reflective questions aimed at assisting both new and aspiring school leaders as they work to become effective school leaders and consider making a leap to a leadership position, respectively. This book will help aspiring principals determine whether ""The Principal"" is truly who they want to be and help new principals grow and thrive in the principalship. Additionally, the book contains an entire chapter devoted to preparing for the school administrator job interview.Kafele infuses the book from beginning to end with succinct advice on everything from remaining focused on the principal's number one priority—student achievement—to addressing maintenance concerns, managing budget allocations, and ensuring that the school's website puts the school in the best possible light. With The Aspiring Principal 50, you can increase the likelihood that your tenure as principal will be a successful, beneficial, and healthful one.

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In the first years of life, as children observe, imitate, and interact with people and their environment, the brain is structuring a foundation for vocabulary, values, cognitive processes, and social skills. Educators, you can help influence that development by teaching the skills and dispositions of intelligent, creative, effective decision makers and problem solvers.Within these pages, Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick share the authentic stories and experiences of teachers who have taught these Habits of Mind (HOM) to young children: Persisting. Managing impulsivity Listening with understanding and empathy. Thinking flexibly. Thinking about thinking. Striving for accuracy. Questioning and posing problem. Applying past knowledge to new situations. Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision. Gathering data through all senses. Creating, imagining, and innovating. Responding with wonderment and awe. Taking responsible risks. Finding humor. Thinking interdependently. Remaining open to continuous learning. The practical examples in this book show how anybody who works with young children can introduce the Habits of Mind in entertaining and concrete ways that are developmentally appropriate. By designing learning experiences that reflect the situations and challenges children face in their lives, educators can help our youngest citizens begin to develop the habits of mind that feed a lifetime of learning.

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An ASCD Bestseller!In this stirring follow-up to the award-winning Fostering Resilient Learners, Kristin Van Marter Souers and Pete Hall take you to the next level of trauma-invested practice. To get there, they explain, educators need to build a ""nest""—a positive learning environment shaped by three new Rs of education: relationship, responsibility, and regulation.Drawing from their extensive experience working with schools, students, and families throughout the country, the authors: Explain how to create a culture of safety in which everyone feels valued, important, and capable of learning. Describe the four areas of need—emotional, relational, physical, and control—that drive student behaviors and show how to meet these needs with interventions framed around the new three Rs. Illustrate trauma-invested practices in action through real scenarios that identify students' unmet needs, examine the situation from five stakeholder perspectives, and suggest interventions to support students and their families. Offer opportunities to challenge your beliefs and develop deeper and different ways of thinking about your role in your students' lives. Educators have a unique opportunity to influence students' learning, attitudes, and futures. This book will invigorate your practice and equip you to empower those you serve—whatever their personal histories.

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For students to be successful in school, they first have to be in school.""With that simple statement, Jessica Sprick and Randy Sprick launch a compelling case for prioritizing student attendance. This comprehensive guide provides school and district-level administrators and teams with the background information, strategies, and tools needed to implement a multitiered approach to improving attendance and preventing chronic absence. The authors use the results of their work in schools throughout the United States to dispel the myth that educators have little control over student attendance and provide success stories from elementary and secondary schools that have reversed longstanding patterns of absenteeism.Citing extensive research, Sprick and Sprick share details about the shocking prevalence of chronic absence in U.S. schools and its effects on students, teachers, families, and the school community. They explain how to replace punitive approaches to absenteeism with effective methods that begin with universal supports and continue through Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions for students with more persistent problems. Specifically, they explain how to: Build an effective school team to address absenteeism. Create systems to collect accurate data and set priorities. Develop an attendance initiative that generates student enthusiasm as well as staff, parent, and community support. Design and implement strategies that are tailored to specific schoolwide concerns and demographics that reach all students. Equipped with the information and tools presented in this book, educators can ensure wise use of staff and other resources—and create a culture of attendance that is the foundation of successful schools.This book is a copublication of ASCD and Ancora Publishing.

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Teacher leadership holds great promise for improving the quality of teaching and ensuring student success. But for co-performance of leadership among teacher leaders and principals to be effective, they must learn to lead in sync.Leading In Sync: Teacher Leaders and Principals Working Together for Student Learning provides principals, assistant principals, coaches, department leaders, grade-level and content team leaders, mentors, professional development leaders, and in fact all teachers with the strategies and tools needed to: Examine their own thinking about what constitutes high-quality teaching so they can work toward a shared vision. Identify teachers' many strengths as potential assets for achieving the shared vision. Recognize ways in which most teachers are already leading. Support leadership collaboration through efficient, effective communication. Develop trust required to learn to lead together. Jill Harrison Berg offers thought-provoking context and reflection questions that enable educators to examine their unique settings; real-world examples of teachers and principals co-performing leadership to improve student success; and dozens of strategies, tools, and templates to facilitate leading in sync.This book includes a link to free downloadable tools.

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Why aren't more schools seeing significant improvement in students' reading ability when they implement Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multitiered Systems of Support (MTSS) in their literacy programs? These frameworks serve as a way for educators to identify struggling readers and provide the small-group instruction they need to improve their skills. But the success stories are too few in number, and most schools have too little to show for their efforts. What accounts for the difference? What are successful schools doing that sets them apart?Author and education consultant Susan Hall provides answers in the form of 10 success factors for implementing MTSS. Based on her experience in schools across the United States, she explains the ""whys"" and ""hows"" of: Grouping by skill deficit and using diagnostic assessments to get helpful data for grouping and regrouping. Implementing an instructional delivery model, including the ""walk-to-intervention"" model. Using intervention time wisely and being aware of what makes intervention effective. Providing teachers with the materials they need for effective lessons and delivering differentiated professional development for administrators, reading coaches, teachers, and instructional assistants. Monitoring progress regularly and conducting nonevaluative observations of intervention instruction. Practical, comprehensive, and evidence-based, 10 Success Factors for Literacy Intervention provides the guidance educators need to move from disappointing results to solid gains in students' literacy achievement.

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In this revised and updated 4th edition, Discipline with Dignity provides in-depth guidance for implementing a proven approach to classroom management that can help students make better choices and teachers be more effective. Emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and self-control, the authors offer specific strategies and techniques for building strong relationships with disruptive students and countering the toxic social circumstances that affect many of them, including dysfunctional families, gangs, and poverty. Educators at all levels can learn: The difference between formal and informal discipline systems and when to use each. The role of values, rules, and consequences. How to address the underlying causes of discipline problems that occur both in and out of school. What teachers can do to defuse or prevent classroom disruptions and disrespectful behavior without removing students from the classroom. Why traditional approaches such as threats, punishments, and rewards are ineffective—and what to do instead. How to use relevance, teacher enthusiasm, choice, and other elements of curriculum and instruction to motivate students. How to reduce both teacher and student stress that can trigger power struggles. With dozens of specific examples of student-teacher interactions, Discipline with Dignity illustrates what you can do—and not do—to make the classroom a place where students learn and teachers maintain control in a nonconfrontational way. The goal is success for all, in schools that thrive.

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Memory is inextricable from learning; there's little sense in teaching students something new if they can't recall it later. Ensuring that the knowledge teachers impart is appropriately stored in the brain and easily retrieved when necessary is a vital component of instruction. In How to Teach So Students Remember, author Marilee Sprenger provides you with a proven, research-based, easy-to-follow framework for doing just that.This second edition of Sprenger's celebrated book, updated to include recent research and developments in the fields of memory and teaching, offers seven concrete, actionable steps to help students use what they've learned when they need it. Step by step, you will discover how to: Actively engage your students with new learning. Teach students to reflect on new knowledge in a meaningful way. Train students to recode new concepts in their own words to clarify understanding. Use feedback to ensure that relevant information is binding to necessary neural pathways. Incorporate multiple rehearsal strategies to secure new knowledge in both working and long-term memory. Design lesson reviews that help students retain information beyond the test. Align instruction, review, and assessment to help students more easily retrieve information. The practical strategies and suggestions in this book, carefully followed and appropriately differentiated, will revolutionize the way you teach and immeasurably improve student achievement. Remember: By consciously crafting lessons for maximum ""stickiness,"" we can equip all students to remember what's important when it matters.

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In The Coach Approach to School Leadership, Jessica Johnson, Shira Leibowitz, and Kathy Perret address a dilemma faced by many principals: how to function as learning leaders while fulfilling their evaluative and management duties. The answer? Incorporating instructional coaching techniques as an integral part of serious school improvement.The authors explain how principals can: Master the skill of "switching hats" between the nonjudgmental coach role and the evaluative supervisor role. Expand their classroom visits and combine coaching with evaluation requirements. Nurture relationships with teachers and build a positive school culture. Provide high-quality feedback to support the development of both teachers and students. Empower teachers to lead their own professional learning and work together as a team. Drawing from the authors' work with schools as well as their conversations with educators across the globe, this thought-provoking book speaks to the unique needs of principals as instructional leaders, providing solutions to challenges in every aspect of this complex endeavor.The role of the principal is changing at a rapid pace. Let this resource guide you in improving your own practice while helping teachers master the high-quality instruction that leads to student success.

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What is a true learning organization, and how can your school become one?To excel, schools must embrace continuous school improvement and evaluation, as well as systems thinking. In Measuring What We Do in Schools, author Victoria L. Bernhardt details the critical role program evaluation serves in school success and how to implement meaningful evaluations that make a difference. She provides a roadmap of how to conduct comprehensive, systemwide evaluations of programs and processes; the tools needed to obtain usable, pertinent information; and how to use these data to expand teachers’ and administrators’ data-informed decision-making focus.Educators will learn how to Assess what is working and not working for students. Determine which processes need to change. Use data to improve practices on an ongoing basis. Although challenging for many schools, program evaluation and data analysis can begin with a single program or process, over time building on the expanded knowledge of the school’s processes and the results they produce. An effective tool—The Program Evaluation Tool—enables schools to easily identify the purpose and intended outcomes of any school program, along with whom it serves, and how it should be implemented, monitored, and evaluated. These data can then be used to improve every aspect of a school’s programs and processes and the outcomes achieved.Filled with practical strategies and featuring an in-depth case study, this book is designed to help educators see that evaluation work is logical and easy to do. They’ll gain the confidence to do this work on a regular basis—working together to become a true learning organization.

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With all that we know about how students learn, the nature of the world they will face after graduation, and the educational inequities that have existed for centuries, maintaining a traditional, one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning is tantamount to instructional malpractice.International security, the success of global economies, and sustainability as a global society all depend on the success of our education system in the years to come. It’s our obligation to prepare our students for their future—not our past.Authors Eric C. Sheninger and Thomas C. Murray outline eight keys—each a piece of a puzzle for transforming the K-12 education system of teaching and learning—to intentionally design tomorrow’s schools so today’s learners are prepared for success . . . and stand ready to create new industries, find new cures, and solve world problems.The traditional model of schooling ultimately prepares students for the industrial model of the past. If we want our students to become successful citizens in a global society, we must dramatically shift to a more personal approach. Failure is not an option. We can no longer wait. Let Learning Transformed show you how you can be a part of the solution.The authors encourage you to use the hashtag #LT8Keys to continue the discussion online.

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Why do some schools succeed while others struggle? Why do policies and programs often fail to deliver what they promise? In this follow-up to their insightful School Culture Rewired: How to Define, Assess, and Transform It, authors Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker offer practical advice and strategies that help you build positive energy to reinvigorate your school's culture and staff.Written as a standalone guide, School Culture Recharged clarifies the difference between culture and climate and zeroes in on key school improvement efforts, including: Moving from the culture you have to the culture you want. Using the school's culture to improve teaching, job satisfaction, and morale. Maximizing the intentions of professional learning communities. Developing organizational habits—rules and rituals—that can contribute to positive change. For education leaders at all levels, this book delivers a compelling message: Understanding and harnessing the transformative power of school culture can propel your school into the kind of place where teachers want to work, administrators can focus on what matters most, and students can thrive.

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We differentiate instruction to honor the reality of the students we teach. They are energetic and outgoing. They are quiet and curious. They are confident and self-doubting. They are interested in a thousand things and deeply immersed in a particular topic. They are academically advanced and ""kids in the middle"" and struggling due to cognitive, emotional, economic, or sociological challenges. More of them than ever speak a different language at home. They learn at different rates and in different ways. And they all come together in our academically diverse classrooms.Written as a practical guide for teachers, this expanded third edition of Carol Ann Tomlinson's groundbreaking work covers the fundamentals of differentiation and provides additional guidelines and new strategies for how to go about it. You'll learn: What differentiation is and why it's essential. How to set up the flexible and supportive learning environment that promotes success. How to manage a differentiated classroom. How to plan lessons differentiated by readiness, interest, and learning profile. How to differentiate content, process, and products. How to prepare students, parents, and yourself for the challenge of differentiation. First published in 1995 as How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, this new edition reflects evolving best practices in education, the experiences of practitioners throughout the United States and around the world, and Tomlinson's continuing thinking about how to help each and every student access challenging, high-quality curriculum; engage in meaning-rich learning experiences; and feel at home in a school environment that ""fits.

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Properly crafted and individually tailored feedback on student work boosts student achievement across subjects and grades. In this updated and expanded second edition of her best-selling book, Susan M. Brookhart offers enhanced guidance and three lenses for considering the effectiveness of feedback: (1) does it conform to the research, (2) does it offer an episode of learning for the student and teacher, and (3) does the student use the feedback to extend learning? In this comprehensive guide for teachers at all levels, you will find information on every aspect of feedback, including: Strategies to uplift and encourage students to persevere in their work. How to formulate and deliver feedback that both assesses learning and extends instruction. When and how to use oral, written, and visual as well as individual, group, or whole-class feedback. A concise and updated overview of the research findings on feedback and how they apply to today's classrooms. In addition, the book is replete with examples of good and bad feedback as well as rubrics that you can use to construct feedback tailored to different learners, including successful students, struggling students, and English language learners.The vast majority of students will respond positively to feedback that shows you care about them and their learning. Whether you teach young students or teens, this book is an invaluable resource for guaranteeing that the feedback you give students is engaging, informative, and, above all, effective.

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What are the secrets to unlocking student success? And what can teachers do to get better at helping students develop deep understanding of content, attain higher-order thinking skills, and become secure, confident, and capable learners?In this book, teacher and professor Jeff Marshall showcases how teaching with intentionality answers these questions. Specifically, he introduces the Teacher Intentionality Practice Scale (TIPS), a framework for both supporting and measuring effective teaching. Taken together, the framework's seven TIPs provide a research-based, classroom-tested guide to help teachers: Create coherent, connected lessons. Use strategies and resources, including technology, that truly enhance learning. Organize a safe, respectful learning environment. Develop challenging and rigorous learning experiences. Promote interactive, thoughtful learning. Nurture a creative, problem-solving classroom culture. Deliver feedback and formative assessment that inform teaching and learning. Marshall's needs-assessment instrument can help teachers, working independently or in a cohort, determine the best starting point for improving their practice. Practical, straightforward rubrics for each TIP describe the various levels of teacher proficiency. Based on his own teaching experience and observations in hundreds of classrooms, Marshall also offers action tips for each framework component and a list of resources for further study. Written for teachers and leaders at all levels and in all content areas, The Highly Effective Teacher is a guidebook for thoughtful, intentional teaching with one goal: success for all students, in every classroom.

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This book is a road map for teachers and school leaders who need to meet the needs of increasing numbers of Newcomers and other English Learners (ELs). The authors draw from years of experience in working with, listening to, and coaching administrators, teachers, and coaches nationwide to help you develop and implement an effective plan for your school.Beginning with the core belief that ""getting to know the student is pivotal,"" the authors show how to address both the academic and the social needs of Newcomers to help them integrate and excel—from their first day of school. The main components of the plan are the following: Identifying your students and assessing educational and socioemotional needs. Identifying qualified teachers and staff. Developing highly effective programs for Newcomers and other ELs. Accelerating English learners' acquisition of language, literacy, and knowledge through proven classroom teaching techniques. Supporting Newcomers' socioemotional well-being through classroom and administrative structures. Designing, implementing, and sustaining professional development for all staff. If you already have a plan for integrating Newcomers and ELs, you can use the information in this book to assess and strengthen it and to learn more about resources for continued coaching and growth. Whether your school has a formal plan or not, the information in this practical guide can help your staff better collaborate to attend to the needs and build on the strengths of Newcomers and ELs in your school.

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Are we missing the opportunity to reach struggling learners from the very beginning? Are we hastily—and unnecessarily— referring students to intervention programs that substitute for high-quality core instruction? What if we could eliminate the need for intervention programs in the first place?Response to Intervention (RTI) programs are only as powerful and effective as the core instruction on which they're built. High-quality instruction, then, is the key ingredient that helps all students excel, and it's at the heart of Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey's unique approach to the RTI model — Response to Instruction and Intervention, or RTI2.In Enhancing RTI, the authors argue that students learn best when classroom instruction and supplemental intervention mirror each other in both content and purpose. This book provides K-12 teachers with the knowledge and tools they need to implement a cohesive RTI2 system that helps all children learn by proactively addressing their needs. To this end, you will learn how to: Integrate and align core instruction and supplemental intervention. Assess your own classroom instruction, in addition to your students' responses to it. Strengthen existing school improvement efforts within an RTI2 framework. Utilize systematic feedback to raise student achievement. Fisher and Frey maintain that the RTI2 model not only promotes active student learning, but it also, when done right, promotes a culture of hardwired excellence at all levels of instruction.

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What year are you preparing your students for? 1973? 1995? Can you honestly say that your school's curriculum and the program you use are preparing your students for 2015 or 2020? Are you even preparing them for today?""With those provocative questions, author and educator Heidi Hayes Jacobs launches a powerful case for overhauling, updating, and injecting life into the K-12 curriculum. 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.

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In Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind, noted educators Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick present a comprehensive guide to shaping schools around Habits of Mind. The habits are a repertoire of behaviors that help both students and teachers successfully navigate the various challenges and problems they encounter in the classroom and in everyday life. The Habits of Mind include: Persisting. Managing impulsivity. Listening with understanding and empathy. Thinking flexibly. Thinking about thinking (metacognition). Striving for accuracy. Questioning and posing problems. Applying past knowledge to new situations. Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision. Gathering data through all senses. Creating, imagining, innovating. Responding with wonderment and awe. Taking responsible risks. Finding humor. Thinking interdependently. Remaining open to continuous learning. This volume brings together—in a revised and expanded format—concepts from the four books in Costa and Kallick's earlier work Habits of Mind: A Developmental Series. Along with other highly respected scholars and practitioners, the authors explain how the 16 Habits of Mind dovetail with up-to-date concepts of what constitutes intelligence; present instructional strategies for activating the habits and creating a ""thought-full"" classroom environment; offer assessment and reporting strategies that incorporate the habits; and provide real-life examples of how communities, school districts, building administrators, and teachers can integrate the habits into their school culture. Drawing upon their research and work over many years, in many countries, Costa and Kallick present a compelling rationale for using the Habits of Mind as a foundation for leading, teaching, learning, and living well in a complex world.

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Are you looking for high-impact, research-based strategies to transform your students into high-achieving and inspired learners? In The Strategic Teacher, you'll find a repertoire of strategies designed and proven to meet today's high standards and reach diverse learners. Twenty reliable, flexible strategies (along with dozens of variations) are organized into these groups of instruction: Mastery style to emphasize the development of student memory. Understanding style to expand students' capacities to reason and explain. Self-expressive style to stimulate and nourish students' imaginations and creativity. Interpersonal style to help students find meaning in the relationships they forge as partners and team members, united in the act of learning. Four-style strategies that integrate all four styles. To guide teachers in delivering content to students, the authors started with the best research-based teaching and learning strategies and created a tool called the Strategic Dashboard. The dashboard provides information about each teaching strategy in a concise, visual profile; it is also designed to document how you incorporate current, highly respected research into your instructional plans.For each strategy, you'll find the following information: A brief introduction to the strategy. An example of a teacher using the strategy in the classroom. The research base supporting the strategy and how the strategy benefits students. How to implement the strategy using a list of clear steps. Guidance through the planning process, providing steps, examples, and suggestions for designing superior lessons. Additional tools, strategies, and resources for adapting and expanding the use of each strategy. The authors have combined their years of research and practice to deliver reliable, high-impact, flexible teaching and learning strategies grounded in current, highly regarded research to teachers at all levels of experience.

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