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

What does research tell us about the effects of school leadership on student achievement? What specific leadership practices make a real difference in school effectiveness? How should school leaders use these practices in their day-to-day management of schools and during the stressful times that accompany major change initiatives? Robert J. Marzano, Timothy Waters, and Brian A. McNulty provide answers to these and other questions in School Leadership That Works.Based on their analysis of 69 studies conducted since 1970 that met their selection criteria and a recent survey of more than 650 building principals, the authors have developed a list of 21 leadership responsibilities that have a significant effect on student achievement. Readers will learn: The specific behaviors associated with the 21 leadership responsibilities. The difference between first-order change and second-order change and the leadership responsibilities that are most important for each. How to work smart by choosing the right work to focus on to improve student achievement. The advantages and disadvantages of comprehensive school reform models for improving student achievement. How to develop a site-specific approach to improving student achievement, using a framework of 11 factors and 39 action steps. A five-step plan for effective school leadership. Combining rigorous research with practical advice, School Leadership That Works gives school administrators the guidance they need to provide strong leadership for better schools.

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What makes mathematics so confusing to students? To succeed in the study of arithmetic, geometry, or algebra, students must learn what is effectively a second language of mathematical terms and symbols. In Literacy Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction, Joan M. Kenney and her coauthors describe common ways in which students misinterpret the language of mathematics, and show teachers what they can do to ensure that their students become fluent in that language.The authors synthesize the research on what it takes to decode mathematical text, explain how teachers can use guided discourse and graphic representations to help students develop mathematical literacy skills, offer guidance on using action research to enhance mathematics instruction, and discuss the importance of student-centered learning and concept-building skills in the classroom. Real-life vignettes of student struggles illuminate the profound effect of literacy problems on student achievement in mathematics.This book will help teachers better understand their students' difficulties with mathematics and take the steps necessary to alleviate them. Abundantly researched and filled with helpful strategies and resources, it is an invaluable resource for mathematics teachers at all levels.

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How does classroom management affect student achievement? What techniques do teachers find most effective? How important are schoolwide policies and practices in setting the tone for individual classroom management?In this follow-up to What Works in Schools, Robert J. Marzano analyzes research from more than 100 studies on classroom management to discover the answers to these questions and more. He then applies these findings to a series of ""Action Steps""—specific strategies that educators can use to: Get the classroom management effort off to a good start. Establish effective rules and procedures. Implement appropriate disciplinary interventions. Foster productive student-teacher relationships. Develop a positive ""mental set"". Help students contribute to a positive learning environment. Activate schoolwide measures for effective classroom management. Marzano and his coauthors Jana S. Marzano and Debra Pickering provide real stories of teachers and students in classroom situations to help illustrate how the action steps can be used successfully in different situations. In each chapter, they also review the strengths and weaknesses of programs with proven track records.With student behavior and effective discipline a growing concern in schools, this comprehensive analysis is a timely guide to the critical role of classroom management in student learning and achievement.

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A game-changing resource for educators looking to elevate their unit and lesson plans, increase student engagement, and improve home-school communication.With so many standards to address and templates to fill out, curriculum design and lesson planning can be cumbersome and overwhelming. And every teacher knows the struggle of trying to cover all the required content, which may or may not resonate with their students.In Streamlining the Curriculum, experts Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Allison Zmuda take a hard look at our overburdened, dated curricular practices and offer a better way—one built on the power of narrative. Their storyboard approach casts students as the heroes of the learning journey. Instead of passive recipients, they become protagonists, activity engaged in exploring new ideas, solving problems, finding connections, enlisting allies, and acquiring new skills and understandings to apply to both present and future challenges.This innovative book teaches you how toDecide what to cut out, cut back, consolidate, and create in your lessons and units.Find the throughlines in your required content and approach lesson design and teaching as storytelling, no matter what subject area or grade level you teach.Apply genre lenses to make courses, units, and lessons more compelling.Communicate clear learning targets to your students and their families.Create space for exploring essential questions, investigating intriguing ideas, and conducting projects that feel relevant and important.Determine purposeful and authentic evidence of learning.Filled with examples and insights, this book shows educators how to break free from the tyranny of templates and start streamlining curriculum, assessment, and planning to make learning experiences more immersive, interesting, and emotionally resonant.

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If a fundamental goal of schooling is to prepare young people for the unknowable future, why do we assign students so many clearly defined tasks with predetermined solutions?According to educator and creativity expert Ronald A. Beghetto, the best way to unleash students' problem solving and creativity—and thus prepare them to face real-world problems—is to incorporate complex challenges that teach students to respond productively to uncertainty. In this thought-provoking book, Beghetto explains: How to foster ""possibility thinking"" to help students open up their thinking in creative, sometimes counterintuitive ways. The process of lesson unplanning, a way of transforming existing lessons, activities, and assignments into more complex classroom challenges. Four basic action principles that teachers and students can use to design and solve complex challenges both inside and outside the classroom. The steps for creating legacy challenges, which require students to identify a problem, develop a solution, and ensure that their work makes a lasting contribution. With planning forms and detailed sample activities, this practical guide will enable teachers at every grade level to design a full range of challenges in any subject area. Invite uncertainty into your classroom—and discover what your students are capable of.

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Mastery learning is an instructional approach that empowers every student to progress with confidence.Using flexible pacing and targeted supports, teachers guide students through a cyclic process of preparation, demonstration, and formative feedback until there is a mutual agreement between teacher and student that the student is ready to advance.In this book, educator Jonathan Bergmann, a pioneer of the flipped classroom movement, walks you step by step through the mastery learning cycle, explaining what it entails and providing the templates, models, and rubrics you need to start using it in your own classroom. You'll learn how toSet meaningful, measurable, and transferable learning objectives that target essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions.Develop a mastery rubric to check for student levels of proficiency.Create an assessment plan that ensures positive learning experiences for all.Plan and deliver units that incorporate both time-shifted direct instruction and collaborative application activities within the classroom space.Provide timely differentiated support, based on students' individual learning needs.Informed by trial and error in his own classroom and by discussions with other expert practitioners, Bergmann shares commonsense solutions to the major challenges of mastery learning implementation: everything from how to manage pacing to how to create multiple versions of tests, determine grades, and get stakeholder buy-in.The Mastery Learning Handbook is both an introduction to this exciting instructional approach and a practical resource that K–12 teachers can turn to again and again. See for yourself just how effective, enjoyable, and transformative mastery learning can be.

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What is most remarkable about the assortment of discipline programs on the market today is the number of fundamental assumptions they seem to share. Some may advocate the use of carrots rather than sticks; some may refer to punishments as "logical consequences". But virtually all take for granted that the teacher must be in control of the classroom, and that what we need are strategies to get students to comply with the adult's expectations.Alfie Kohn challenged these widely accepted premises, and with them the very idea of classroom "management", when the original edition of Beyond Discipline was published in 1996. Since then, his path-breaking book has invited hundreds of thousands of educators to question the assumption that problems in the classroom are always the fault of students who don't do what they're told; instead, it may be necessary to reconsider what it is that they've been told to do - or to learn. Kohn shows how a fundamentally cynical view of children underlies the belief that we must tell them exactly how we expect them to behave and then offer "positive reinforcement" when they obey.Just as memorizing someone else's right answers fails to promote students' intellectual development, so does complying with someone else's expectations for how to act fail to help students develop socially or morally. Kohn contrasts the idea of discipline, in which things are done to students to control their behaviour, with an approach in which we work with students to create caring communities where decisions are made together.Beyond Discipline has earned the status of an education classic, a vital alternative to all the traditional manuals that consist of techniques for imposing control. For this 10th anniversary edition, Kohn adds a new afterword that expands on the book's central themes and responds to questions from readers. Packed with stories from real classrooms around the country, seasoned with humor and grounded in a vision as practical as it is optimistic, Beyond Discipline shows how students are most likely to flourish in schools that have moved toward collaborative problem solving - and beyond discipline.

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The EQ Way is a reflection tool for leaders navigating difficult times—and difficult emotions—in their schools.In education, challenges surround you every day, but they don't have to define you. When the negative, frightful, or unknown happens—when you're confused because you aren't sure where things are headed—that's when you want to focus on EQ, or emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.Educational psychologist and school leader Ignacio Lopez explores how you can lead from a place of calm clarity and strength. Lopez relies on his own experience to guide you through enacting EQ strategies in your school or district, no matter what kinds of challenges you face. You can learn to control your reactions and keep emotional intelligence central to your work by* Recognizing and improving your own emotional intelligence.* Continually assessing the clarity of your vision and communication.* Enforcing accountability across the school community.* Refining, communicating, and monitoring school values.* Deliberately engaging with external stakeholders.* Finding ways to work with and stand up to naysayers and resisters.* Sustaining the emotional intelligence of the school community.The key to successfully navigating your school through difficult times and managing high-conflict situations is being an emotionally intelligent leader.The EQ Way helps you be that leader.

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Baruti K. Kafele, a champion for assistant principals, offers stories from his own leadership practice and thought-provoking advice for being effective in the role. The job of a school leader is more challenging—and important—than ever. To be effective, administrators need to support their students and staff, but they also need to take care of themselves. Bestselling author Baruti K. Kafele brings this motivational message to the pivotal members of the leadership team who are too often overlooked: assistant principals.Kafele explains that even as assistant principals gain knowledge and build their leadership identity, their leadership values and skills can be compromised or lost without intentional care. Along with stories from his own years as a transformational school leader, Kafele offers assistant principals 35 thought-provoking questions for reflection and conversation centered on the idea of protection, from How am I protecting my leadership purpose? to How am I protecting my leadership optimism? and How am I protecting my leadership integrity?Whether you are a new or experienced assistant principal, this insightful book will help you hold a mirror up to your own practice and more effectively navigate your powerful role in improving outcomes for students and schools.

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Learn how to cultivate student voices and facilitate equitable participation so that young people are prepared to speak up and lead when the moment calls for it.In a world where public speaking often determines whose needs are addressed and whose values prevail, how can we create brave classroom spaces where young people can effectively express their thoughts and advocate for themselves and others?In Amplify Student Voices, AnnMarie Baines, Diana Medina, and Caitlin Healy introduce Expression-Driven Teaching to show how centering youth voices and expression in the classroom meets both academic and social and emotional learning goals. The authors promote instruction in various forms of public speaking—storytelling, debate, poetry, presentation, and self-advocacy—as a way to pursue equity in education and counter the oppression that has long silenced the voices of marginalized groups.This engaging book features extensive first-person accounts from young people who describe their journey toward effective public speaking and how it has helped them affirm their identity, confront life's many challenges, and pursue opportunities with increased confidence. Their insights also inform and supplement the authors' practical recommendations and how-tos for incorporating the various public speaking formats into everyday instruction at all grade levels and across subject areas.Both informative and inspiring, Amplify Student Voices challenges traditional notions of "good" public speaking, broadens its definition, and demonstrates how to engage learners to create a world that is more inclusive and just.

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This timely guide will help leaders of color succeed within white spaces while working to dismantle those spaces for a new system where they—and students—thrive.As a leader of color, what do you need to succeed in the systems that often have marginalized the populations you represent? What skills and support will help you to replace these existing systems with new ones that will better serve today's students?In Leading Within Systems of Inequity in Education, Mary Rice-Boothe addresses these questions with specific recommendations, outlining the "whys" and "hows" of 10 individual, interpersonal, and institutional competencies for leaders:1. Demonstrate self-awareness.2. Operate outside your comfort zone.3. Practice love and rage.4. Practice self-care.5. Engage in authentic dialogue.6. Attend to relationships.7. Create a coalition.8. Be patient but persistent.9. Take a stand in pursuit of a liberatory education system even if it's unpopular.10. Act to change systemic racism every day in policies, procedures, and systems.You will learn from the experiences and insights of equity officers and principals in districts of all sizes and explore key takeaways, reflection questions, and additional resources. Both inspiring and practical, Leading Within Systems of Inequity in Education is an indispensable liberation guide for overcoming obstacles and creating the path to genuine equity in schools.

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In this provocative and timely book, Luis Eladio Torres challenges a common assumption: that education is the "first priority" for families, including those who are raising their children in low-income, high-need communities. Instead, he argues that these families must confront daunting challenges in five other areas—food, shelter, safety, health, and access to technology—before they can focus on their children's education.To make his case, Torres draws on his experience as the award-winning principal of an elementary school in the Bronx and as a leader in New York City's community schools network. A community school focuses on educating the whole child, supporting families, and extending its reach into the larger community—both by tapping into resources the community can offer and by providing a range of social and health services to that community.The Six Priorities: How to Find the Resources Your School Community Needs demonstrates how leaders in challenging education environments can improve their schools through a "community-matching process" that consists of four steps:1. Identifying the gaps between what is available and what is necessary for a school and its community to function well2. Specifying needs, including prioritizing and distinguishing needs from wants.3. Telling your story, as a way to gain support for the effort to close the gap and address the needs. 4. Establishing strategic partnerships with individuals, organizations, and agencies that can provide resources and expertise.To help you implement the process in your own school, this insightful guide includes a downloadable community-matching worksheet. The goals of this process are clear: to reduce the shocking inequities between impoverished communities and their wealthier counterparts; to help disadvantaged students succeed; and, ultimately, to steer them toward productive lives beyond the classroom. The need has never been greater.

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Build learning environments that support Black girls' excellence and academic achievement.In this thought-provoking and illuminating book, former educator and social justice advocate Monique W. Morris addresses the harmful policies, practices, conditions, and assumptions that too often criminalize Black girls' behavior and steer them down "school-to-confinement pathways" in disproportionate numbers. The key to disrupting such punitive pushout is for educators to develop meaningful relationships with Black girls—connections that are grounded in cultural understanding and focused on helping Black girls develop their identities as valued individuals and contributors to the larger community. Such relationships, Morris argues, can shift Black girls' schooling from a punishment-oriented experience to one that is joyful, healing, and transformative.Along with her own research and experience, Morris explores the topic through in-depth conversations with three distinguished educators and clinical practitioners: Venus Evans-Winters, Janice Johnson Dias, and Kakenya Ntaiya, who provide insights about the challenges of educating Black girls and uplifting accounts of success in promoting their excellence and achievement.These conversations and takeaways for practice are essential guideposts for any teacher, school leader, and policymaker committed to creating learning environments that dispel damaging attitudes and practices and allow Black girls to flourish.

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How do you take the passion and chatter that K–5 students bring to the classroom and turn it into conversation skills that make them better learners? Academic conversation can help hone speaking and listening, critical thinking, and social-emotional skills, as well as deepen content knowledge. But despite its effectiveness, this kind of purposeful, student-led discussion is rarely taught or used at the elementary level. The mystery for teachers is how to support students at various stages of development and build an environment of trust that lets them cultivate these skills.In Demystifying Discussion, veteran teacher Jennifer Orr gives elementary school teachers a primer on teaching students to engage in student-led academic conversation. The strategies, sample assessments, and example conversations in this book show you how to help young learners get better at sharing, exploring, and synthesizing their individual and collective thinking. You'll also learn how to manage different perspectives and disagreements among students.This is a book to use all year long to improve classroom discussion, hone students' skills (and your own), and enhance students' overall learning throughout their time in school and beyond.

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The secret to every positive learning environment? Belonging. When students feel that they belong in their school and classroom, commitment to learning goes up and behavioral disruptions subside. And when teachers embrace an SEL-infused approach to classroom management that helps every student feel valued, safe, and competent, belonging soars.We Belong offers 50 targeted strategies to increase students' sense of belonging and reinforce the habits that support classroom harmony and learning success. Authors and award-winning educators Laurie Barron and Patti Kinney explore the dynamic partnership of belonging and classroom management and share specific ways to* Build authentic, positive relationships with students and among students* Create spaces that feel physically and emotionally safe for all* Teach and foster social-emotional competence* Increase student engagement and motivation* Foster a sustaining sense of communityCovering a range of key topics—from behavioral expectations to conflict resolution to more effective collaboration—this practical guide for elementary and secondary teachers includes downloadable forms and templates to support strategy implementation. Use it to revisit your priorities and reshape your practices so that all students in your classroom can say of themselves and their peers, "We belong.

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When we embark on a journey, every action revolves around the destination. Of course, not all trips are smooth sailing. We inevitably hit distractions, obstacles, and detours. These challenges threaten to blow us off course, but when we stay focused on the destination rather than the barriers, we can move forward. The same is true in education. Barriers to effective teaching are neither permanent states nor character traits. Rather, they are temporary challenges successful coaches help teachers overcome by connecting them with the right methods and keeping them focused on the destination.In Compassionate Coaching, Kathy Perret and Kenny McKee identify the six most vexing challenges teachers face—lack of confidence, failure, overload, disruption, isolation, and school culture challenges—and the six corresponding ways that coaches can help teachers surmount them, dubbed the compassionate coaching focus areas.Coaching with compassion is a process focused on partnership, empowerment, prioritization, routine, connection, and openness. Done well, it can result in transformational improvements to student achievement and teacher work satisfaction. In some cases, it can even shift the trajectory of whole schools.Roadblocks and detours can get in our way when we are coaching just as they can during any journey. Instead of grumbling about the setbacks, we can open our eyes to the possibilities of a new and better route. That's what compassionate coaching offers. Let's go!

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"Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text." Your students may recognize the words determine, explain, and summarize in this standard, but would they understand and be able to apply these concepts?Students encounter these and other academic vocabulary words throughout their school years, but too often, they don't have a firm grasp of these words' meanings or what skills they require.Enter vocabulary expert Marilee Sprenger, who has curated a list of 25 essential high-frequency words that students must know to be academically successful, especially on standardized tests, and be ready for college and career. In this indispensable guide for all educators, she provides* Pre- and post-assessments to help you evaluate your students' understanding of the essential 25. * A detailed entry for each word, including activities and strategies that will help students internalize the word's meaning and application. * Retrieval games to help students practice the words in fun, engaging ways and reinforce the networks for those words in their brains. * Downloadable blank templates for many of the strategies used throughout the book.Every student needs to know and understand these words to perform at their best. If educators get behind this effort and make the essential 25 part of the fabric of their schools, students will be equipped to thrive in school and beyond.

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In this timely and thoughtful call to action, author and educator Starr Sackstein examines the critical intersection between assessment and social and emotional learning (SEL), particularly as it affects students of color and other marginalized groups. The book addresses the five SEL competencies identified by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making—and explains how teaching students to develop their abilities in these areas can help them improve their learning and assessment experiences.Sackstein also raises important considerations for educators, urging them to * Examine their implicit biases to improve their relationships with students.* Deepen their understanding of the impact of grades and assessments on students' self-image and their ability to reach their full potential as learners.* Develop personalized assessment systems that ensure an accurate, fair, and equitable portrayal of what students know and can do.In addition to presenting the relevant research, Sackstein draws from personal experience and the reflections of students, teachers, and administrators to present a compelling case for approaching assessment through the SEL lens. Educators at all levels who have witnessed the devasting effects that testing can have on students' beliefs in themselves as learners will find Assessing with Respect to be an invaluable guide to ensuring better outcomes—and better emotional health—for all students.

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One of the best ways to learn how to be a better teacher is by watching, listening to, and experimenting with the practices of great teachers, including those in your own school.The PD Curator is about how professional learning experiences can become more inclusive, participatory, cohesive, and effective—and about the role teachers and leaders can play in creating those experiences. That role isn't so much administrative as it is curatorial. Just as art curators can legitimize artists by including their work in a gallery or exhibit, PD curators have the power to legitimize the work of an array of teachers. They help create immersive intellectual, emotional, and social experiences—all while caring for the professionals and the profession.In this book, Lauren Porosoff explains how PD curators* Structure teachers' schedules to make time for in-house professional learning.* Select content and create a process for how people interact with it.* Fit the often disparate pieces together into a meaningful whole.* Discover whether the event has been successful.The practical tools and protocols in each chapter will help you plan professional learning that taps into the expertise and interests of a diverse staff. Canned sessions that don't connect with teachers' actual needs will be a thing of the past. Instead, you'll discover ways to support teachers in sharing ideas and trying out new practices that advance student learning. In doing so, you'll empower teachers and students alike.

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What does it take to be a good school principal? No two principals work exactly the same way, but research shows that effective principals focus on a core set of factors critical to fostering success among all students.In this second edition of Qualities of Effective Principals, James H. Stronge and Xianxuan Xu delineate these factors and show principals how to successfully balance the needs and priorities of their schools while continuously developing and refining their leadership skills. Throughout the book, the authors provide practical tools and extensive research that will help principals* Assess, exhibit, and harness instructional leadership to meet a school's goals.* Foster and sustain an effective school climate for learning.* Select, support, and retain high-quality teachers and staff.* Manage school resources effectively and efficiently.* Create, maintain, and strengthen internal and external community relationships.* Define their role in student achievement.This book also includes practical skills checklists, along with quality indicators and red flags for effective leadership. Qualities of Effective Principals, 2nd Edition, is an excellent resource for both experienced and new principals committed to developing and leading strong schools that help all students succeed.

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You're an Assistant Principal. Whatever your status—the sole AP in your school, one of two or more APs in your school, a career AP, an AP aspiring to the principalship—yours is one of the most misunderstood and underutilized positions in education. Positioned between teachers and the principal, you are an instructional leader. However, you are not the leader of the school. Therefore, you must carefully navigate your way to ensure that you thrive in your role without ""stepping on the toes"" of your principal.In The Assistant Principal 50, award-winning, four-time principal Baruti Kafele presents reflective questions that encompass the breadth and depth of the assistant principalship—from finding your leadership ""lane"" to thriving and being an asset to your principal. Kafele infuses the book (which also includes guidance and insights for principals and aspiring assistant principals) from beginning to end with personal anecdotes and accounts of both failures and successes from his years as an assistant principal. He arms you with tools and insights that will drive you to view the assistant principalship as critical to the climate and culture of your school as well as to student achievement.You, assistant principal, play a critical role in your school's success. The questions that Kafele asks you to consider will aid you as you hone your leadership skills toward becoming an effective leader in your school.

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"We can't do that in our school district.""I don't have time to add that to my curriculum.""We're fighting against impossible odds with these students."Sound familiar? School improvement can often feel like a losing battle, but it doesn't have to be. In this fully revised and updated second edition of The Learning Leader, Douglas B. Reeves helps leadership teams go beyond excuses to capitalize on their strengths, reduce their weaknesses, and reset their mindset and priorities to achieve unprecedented success. A critical key is recognizing student achievement as more than just a set of test scores. Reeves asserts that when leaders focus exclusively on results, they fail to measure and understand the importance of their own actions. He offers an alternative—the Leadership for Learning Framework, which helps leaders identify and distinguish among four different types of educators and provide more effective, tailored support to: "Lucky" educators, who achieve high results but don't understand how their actions influence achievement. "Losing" educators, who achieve low results yet keep doing the same thing, expecting different outcomes. "Learning" educators, who have not yet achieved the desired results but are working their way toward excellence. "Leading" educators, who achieve high results and understand how their actions influence their success. Reeves stresses that effective leadership is neither a unitary skill nor a solitary activity. The Learning Leader helps leaders reconceptualize their roles in the school improvement process and motivate themselves and their colleagues to keep working to better serve their students.

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Challenging behavior is one of the most significant issues educators face. Though it may seem radical to use words like love, compassion, and heart when we talk about behavior and discipline, the compassionate and heartfelt words, actions, and strategies teachers employ in the classroom directly shape who students are—and who they will become. But how can teaching from the heart translate into effective supports and practices for students who exhibit challenging behavior?In From Behaving to Belonging, Julie Causton and Kate MacLeod detail how teachers can shift from a ""behavior management"" mindset (that punishes students for ""bad"" behavior or rewards students for ""good"" or ""compliant"" behavior) to an approach that supports all students—even the most challenging ones—with kindness, creativity, acceptance, and love.Causton and MacLeod's approach: Focuses on students' strengths, gifts, and talents. Ignites students' creativity and sense of self-worth. Ensures that students' social, emotional, and academic needs are met. Prompts teachers to rethink challenging behavior and how they support their students. Helps teachers identify barriers to student success in the cultural, social, and environmental landscape. Inspires teachers to reconnect with their core values and beliefs about students and teaching. We need to transform our classrooms into places of love. To that end, this book represents a paradigm shift from a punitive mindset to a strengths-based, loving approach and encourages the radical act of creating more inclusive and caring schools.

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In this revised edition, Carl Glickman and coauthor Rebecca West Burns synthesize their decades of experience in teacher education and supervision into a comprehensive guide to supporting teacher growth and student learning. Embedded in every page are the essential knowledge, skills, approaches, and methods that leaders need to drive instructional improvement.Official school leaders and classroom teachers striving to be the best will learn how to put the school's goals and priorities into practice by: Selecting the right structure for differentiating teacher professional learning to improve outcomes for students. Implementing the technical and procedural skills needed to support teacher learning while observing, assessing, and evaluating instruction. Identifying appropriate relational skills for communicating and working with teachers. Applying the best interpersonal approach to stretch each teacher based on their own developmental level. Making the most of teachable moments with immediate response skills. Understanding how to support teachers' social-emotional wellness as an essential component of improving practice. In addition, each chapter provides detailed scenarios and case studies that illustrate exceptional leadership, and the Appendixes offer connections to dozens of promising practices.We are in a new era of teaching and learning, and a new kind of leader is needed to guide successful and extraordinary schools. Leadership for Learning: How to Bring Out the Best in Every Teacher gives preK–12 leaders the powerful tools they need to ensure that competent, caring, qualified professionals who want to improve teaching and learning are in every classroom.

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Co-teaching has been increasingly adopted to support students in the general education classroom. After 20 years of field testing, we know what works—and what doesn't. In this practical guide, co-teaching and inclusion experts Toby J. Karten and Wendy W. Murawski detail the best practices for successful co-teaching and ways to troubleshoot common pitfalls. This book addresses the do's, don'ts, and do betters of: The co-teaching relationship and collaborative roles. Co-planning instruction and assessment. Co-teaching in action. Academic and behavioral supports and interventions. Collaborative reflections, improvements, and celebrations. Readers will gain valuable insights on what to start doing, what to stop doing, and how to improve their co-teaching practices to better reach all students.

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More students on the autism spectrum are taught in general education settings today than ever before, bringing an array of notable strengths and skills that add intriguing new dimensions to educational programs. But these students also present challenges that are broader, deeper, and more intractable than those of their typically developing peers. Because reaching and teaching students on the autism spectrum in an inclusive environment complicates the work of teachers, school and district administrators must be prepared to provide knowledgeable, mindful leadership.With warmth and wisdom informed by her experience as a school administrator, autism educator, clinician, and parent of a son on the spectrum, Barbara Boroson provides a holistic look at the challenges students on the spectrum face in the areas of anxiety, executive function, sensation, communication, socialization, engagement, and cognitive acquisition. You'll learn to decode the functional and behavioral manifestations of these challenges, and you'll gain practical and research-based preemptive, supportive, and responsive strategies. You will also find: Insight into the perspectives of parents and guardians, along with guidance on partnering with them in ways that acknowledge both their expertise and yours. Tips for modeling transparency and creative differentiation in order to set an inclusive tone throughout your school or district. Supplemental materials to help you engage and educate families and the entire school community about autism, inclusion, and best-practice policies. Decoding Autism and Leading the Way to Successful Inclusion empowers school and district leaders to ensure that students on the spectrum are welcome, supported, understood, and set up for success. It's an essential resource for any education leader committed to achieving a differentiated, equitable, and inclusive learning environment for all students in their care.

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Schools across the United States and Canada are disrupting the adverse effects of poverty and supporting students in ways that enable them to succeed in school and in life.In this second edition, Parrett and Budge show you how your school can achieve similar results. Expanding on their original framework's still-critical concepts of actions and school culture, they incorporate new insights for addressing equity, trauma, and social-emotional learning. These fresh perspectives combine with lessons learned from 12 additional high-poverty, high-performing schools to form the updated and enhanced Framework for Collective Action.Emphasizing students' social, emotional, and academic learning as the hub for all action in high-performing, high-poverty schools, the authors describe how educators can work within the expanded Framework to address the needs of all students, but particularly those who live in poverty.Equipped with the Framework and a plethora of tools to build collective efficacy (self-assessments, high-leverage questions, action advice, and more), school and district leaders—as well as teachers, teacher leaders, instructional coaches, and other staff—can close persistent opportunity gaps and reverse longstanding patterns of low achievement.

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In today's schools, students and teachers feel unprecedented—even alarming—levels of stress. How can we create calmer classrooms in which students concentrate better and feel more positive about themselves and others? Author Thomas Armstrong offers a compelling answer in the form of mindfulness, a secular practice he defines as the intentional focus of one's attention on the present moment in a nonjudgmental way.In Mindfulness in the Classroom, Armstrong: Explains how mindfulness affects the structure and function of the brain. Provides an overview of mindfulness as both a personal practice and a classroom methodology that aligns with such educational models as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Shares and explains the extensive research that shows the positive effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom. Describes how to adapt mindfulness for different grade levels, integrate it into regular school subjects, and implement it schoolwide. Offers guidelines for teaching mindfulness responsibly, without religious overtones. Dozens of observations from teachers, students, researchers, and practitioners provide striking evidence of the power of mindfulness and offer hope to anyone who wants to make classrooms more productive places of learning.

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While leaders may desire or have been told that they must put certain structures into place in order to enhance their leadership capabilities, they may not know exactly what structures are needed, or the skills that are required for implementation. Authors Michael Fullan and Lyle Kirtman go beyond simply telling you what you need to put in place to enhance leadership—they detail the route to successful leadership. Coherent School Leadership will show you how to combine the components of Fullan's Coherence Framework (the Framework) with Kirtman's 7 Competencies for Highly Effective Leaders (the Competencies) to drive coherence—the shared depth of understanding about the nature of the work and how it impacts the results desired for student achievement—to change the culture in schools from reactive to proactive. Fullan and Kirtman, whose work is based in practice, will: Show you how to use specific competencies to drive coherence. Provide examples that show how other leaders have successfully created coherence. Guide you through the day-to-day distractions/stresses so that you can stay on course. Show you how to use the Competencies in relation to the Framework. Taking a world view of the forces that could destabilize education and the work of coherence, Coherent School Leadership will show how proven frameworks such as the Framework and the Competencies can help you cope with even the most complex scenarios.

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Students can succeed in school—but they must be in school to do so.Addressing absenteeism is as important as addressing problematic behavior and academic difficulties in the classroom. To address the pervasive issue of chronic absenteeism—that is, missing 10 percent of school days for any reason—educators must begin to move away from a model of reliance on reactive and punitive approaches and toward one that is preventive and positive, and that uses proven principles of behavioral change.Teacher's Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges, by nationally known educators Jessica Sprick and Tricia Berg, provides teachers with the information and resources they need to build a strong classroom-based initiative to improve the attendance of all students, creating a classroom culture of attendance with easy-to-implement strategies.Sprick and Berg provide concrete and practical strategies for teachers to implement in their own classrooms to address chronic absence and improve the attendance of all students, including: A framework for implementation. Sample lesson plans. Examples and reproducibles for reinforcement systems. Talking points for use with students and families. Real-world examples of successful classroom-based approaches. Handouts for parents on establishing routines, dealing with technology and more. When teachers apply the easy-to-implement and minimally invasive presented, they will see significant improvements in student attendance.This book is a copublication of ASCD and Ancora Publishing.

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Mastering the basic facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is an essential goal for all students. Most educators also agree that success at higher levels of math hinges on this fundamental skill. But what's the best way to get there? Are flash cards, drills, and timed tests the answer? If so, then why do students go into the upper elementary grades (and beyond) still counting on their fingers or experiencing math anxiety? What does research say about teaching basic math facts so they will stick?In Math Fact Fluency, experts Jennifer Bay-Williams and Gina Kling provide the answers to these questions—and so much more. This book offers everything a teacher needs to teach, assess, and communicate with parents about basic math fact instruction, including: The five fundamentals of fact fluency, which provide a research-based framework for effective instruction in the basic facts. Strategies students can use to find facts that are not yet committed to memory. More than 40 easy-to-make, easy-to-use games that provide engaging fact practice. More than 20 assessment tools that provide useful data on fact fluency and mastery. Suggestions and strategies for collaborating with families to help their children master the basic math facts. Math Fact Fluency is an indispensable guide for any educator who needs to teach basic facts. This approach to facts instruction, grounded in years of research, will transform students' learning of basic facts and help them become more confident, adept, and successful at math.

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We all want our students to feel safe, collaborate well with others, feel ownership for their learning, and be joyfully engaged in their work. Nevertheless, many teachers end up using language patterns that undermine these goals. Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? We want students to take responsibility for their learning, yet we use language that implies teacher ownership. We want to build positive relationships with students, yet we use sarcasm when we get frustrated. We want students to think learning is fun, yet we sometimes make comments that suggest the opposite. We want students to exhibit good behavior because it's the right thing to do, yet we rely on threats and bribes, which implies students don't naturally want to be good. What teachers say to students—when they praise or discipline, give directions or ask questions, and introduce concepts or share stories—affects student learning and behavior. A slight change in intonation can also dramatically change how language feels for students. In What We Say and How We Say It Matter, Mike Anderson digs into the nuances of language in the classroom. This book's many examples will help teachers examine their language habits and intentionally improve their classroom practice so their language matches and supports their goals.

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What if teachers could dramatically reduce the amount of time they spend reviewing and correcting student work and actually see better results in terms of student learning? That's the goal of Glen Pearsall, who shares dozens of classroom-tested strategies that lessen teachers' workload while increasing students' class participation and improving their understanding.Readers will learn how to: Refine their classroom questioning techniques to continually check students' progress and provide instant feedback. Encourage students to internalize learning goals so they better understand what is expected of them. Use fast, formative assessment strategies to check and correct during class time. Modify traditional summative-testing strategies to monitor student progress in a formative way. Speed up the correction process via student self-proofing, representative sampling, and helpful technology tools. Engage students in becoming actively involved in assessing their own work. Drawing from his own experience as a teacher and coach, Pearsall offers practical, real-world advice in the form of techniques that are both effective and sustainable in the everyday classroom. The result is smarter assessment—for both teachers and students.

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How can we ensure that all students, regardless of cultural background or socioeconomic status, are granted equitable opportunities to succeed in the classroom and beyond? In Keeping It Real and Relevant: Building Authentic Relationships in Your Diverse Classroom, author and veteran educator Ignacio Lopez offers hard-won lessons that educators at all levels can apply to teaching, assessing, counseling, and designing interventions for learners from all walks of life. These insights are all rooted in the same core principle: building deep and meaningful relationships with students is the key driver of their success.In addition to examining the pivotal role of relationship-building among teachers and students in preparing the latter to perform at the highest level, this book offers: Real-life examples of challenging classroom situations, each with a detailed breakdown of how they were peacefully and non-punitively resolved. Strategies for designing learning environments suited to the individual needs of students and reflective of their cultural backgrounds. Ideas for scaffolding students as they experience and internalize epiphanies about what works and what doesn't, both academically and behaviorally. Activities and reflection questions for use in professional development. Many teachers find balancing the needs of increasingly diverse classrooms made up of learners from increasingly diverse backgrounds to be a difficult and often thankless task—and one that takes precious time away from instructional planning. Here, Lopez outlines simple but ingenious steps for addressing these needs holistically, in a way that takes no extra time yet amply enhances the learning experience for students. Clear, practical, and much-needed, Keeping It Real and Relevant is the ultimate blueprint for creating a harmonious and successful classroom for kids of all colors, creeds, and cultures.

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It's time to move our assessment practices from the 1950s to the century we're living in. It's time to invest in our teachers and local school leaders instead of in more tests. It's time to help all students understand how to unleash their strengths and gain a sense of themselves as learners capable of choosing their own paths to success. In The Perfect Assessment System, Rick Stiggins calls for the ground-up redevelopment of assessment in U.S. education. Speaking from more than 40 years of experience in the field—and speaking for all learners who hope to succeed, the teachers who want them to succeed, and the local school leaders whose aspirations for success have been thwarted by assessment traditions—Stiggins maps out the adjustments in practice and culture necessary to generate both accurate accountability data and the specific evidence of individual mastery that will support sound instructional decision making and better learning in the classroom. He addresses: Assessment purpose—how (and why) to clarify the reason for every assessment and the users it will serve. Learning targets to be assessed—how to make sure we focus on the right competencies and set consistent definitions of success. Assessment quality—how to ensure every assessment, at every level, is an excellent one. Communication of assessment results—how to share information in ways that best support diverse purposes. Assessment impact—how to link assessment to truly productive, universal student motivation. We have not yet begun to explore assessment's true potential to enhance both school quality and student well-being. Stiggins kicks off this critical conversation and charts a course for a new system that promises much higher levels of student success at a fraction of our current testing costs. The door is open for assessment reform; here is a bold plan for getting it right.

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What will it take to create truly contemporary learning environments that meet the demands of 21st-century society, engage learners, and produce graduates who are prepared to succeed in the world? What skills and capacities do teachers and leaders need to create and sustain such schools? What actions are necessary?Bold Moves for Schools offers a compelling vision that answers these questions—and action steps to make the vision a reality. Looking through the lenses of three pedagogies—antiquated, classical, and contemporary—authors Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Marie Hubley Alcock examine every aspect of K-12 education, including curriculum, instruction, assessment, and the program structures of space (both physical and virtual), time, and grouping of learners and professionals. In a new job description for teachers, Jacobs and Alcock highlight and expound on the following roles: Self-navigating professional learner. Social contractor. Media critic and media maker. Innovative designer. Globally connected citizen. Advocate for learners and learning. With thought-provoking proposals and practical strategies for change, Bold Moves for Schools sets educators on the path to redefining their profession and creating exciting new learning environments. The challenge is unprecedented. The possibilities are unlimited.

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Richard A. Villa and Jacqueline S. Thousand provide an in-depth, research-based guide for ensuring that your school provides the federally guaranteed ""least restrictive environment"" for students no matter the severity of the challenges they face.Leading an Inclusive School: Access and Success for ALL Students offers administrators, teachers, and other educators working to promote inclusion a wealth of information about: The history and research base of inclusive education in the United States, including pivotal amendments to and reauthorizations of the EHCA, landmark court cases, and the philosophical underpinnings of the movement. Essential curricular and instructional practices for inclusive schools, such as heterogeneous grouping, creative problem solving, and co-teaching. Powerful organizational structures such as Multitiered System of Support and Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports to help optimize the benefits of differentiation for all students. A conceptual framework for coordinating educational initiatives and best practices for educating all students in general education. Also included are vivid personal stories of students with disabilities that illustrate how these students flourish when they learn alongside their general education peers.Educators who are serious about committing to the success of learners at all levels of perceived physical, intellectual, communication, and social/emotional ability will find the examples, advice, and tools in this book indispensable for planning, implementing, and promoting inclusion in their schools.

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In this lively and practical book, seasoned educator Jonathan Cassie shines a spotlight on gamification, an instructional approach that's revolutionizing K-12 education. Games are well known for their ability to inspire persistence. The best ones feature meaningful choices that have lasting consequences, reward experimentation, provide a like-minded community of players, and gently punish failure and encourage risk-taking behavior. Players feel challenged, but not overwhelmed. A gamified lesson bears these same hallmarks. It is explicitly gamelike in its design and fosters perseverance, creativity, and resilience. Students build knowledge through experimentation and then apply what they've learned to fuel further exploration at higher levels of understanding. In this book, Cassie covers: What happens to student learning when it is gamified. Why you might want to gamify instruction for your students. The process for gamifying both your classroom and your lessons. If you want to see your students engaged, motivated, and excited about learning, join Jonathan Cassie on a journey that will add a powerful new set of ideas and practices to your teaching toolkit. The gamified classroom—an exciting new frontier of 21st century learning—awaits you and your students. Will you answer the call?

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For success in school and life, students need more than proficiency in academic subjects and good scores on tests; those goals should form the floor, not the ceiling, of their education. To truly thrive, students need to develop attributes that aren’t typically measured on standardized tests. In this lively, engaging book by veteran school leader Thomas R. Hoerr, educators will learn how to foster the “Formative Five” success skills that today’s students need, including: Empathy: learning to see the world through others’ perspectives. Self-control: cultivating the abilities to focus and delay self-gratification. Integrity: recognizing right from wrong and practicing ethical behavior. Embracing diversity: recognizing and appreciating human differences. Grit: persevering in the face of challenge. When educators engage students in understanding and developing these five skills, they change mindsets and raise expectations for student learning. As an added benefit, they see significant improvements in school and classroom culture. With specific suggestions and strategies, The Formative Five will help teachers, principals, and anyone else who has a stake in education prepare their students—and themselves—for a future in which the only constant will be change.

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A principal's job is astonishingly complex, and its competing demands can be overwhelming, especially in the first few years. In this book, Jen Schwanke, a principal herself, provides a mentor's guidance to steer new principals through the period of adjustment and set the foundation for a long and rewarding career. The topics you wish your graduate program had covered are covered here—directly, practically, and without the jargon.Drawing on her own experience, Schwanke provides strategies for tackling the most common yet most daunting challenges of the principalship, including: Establishing productive professional relationships. Building and maintaining a positive school culture. Resolving conflict among staff and parents. Providing effective instructional leadership. Supporting students' social-emotional needs. Conducting staff evaluations and delivering feedback. Keeping up with district, state, and federal mandates. Managing the facility and the budget. Providing focused and effective professional development. Prioritizing responsibilities. Learning from student and schoolwide data. Planning for growth and change. Working through behavior and discipline issues. Hiring high-quality teachers and supporting new ones. Leading effective meetings. Maintaining balance. The standalone chapters provide easy access to the solutions you need for the situations you face. Along with real-life scenarios and critical tips for success, you'll find helpful models of what to do, what to say, and how to say it. This book is a source for ideas any time you encounter a problem and think, "Now what?" It's the beginning of an ongoing conversation about the wonderful and rewarding work of being a principal.

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For years, the teaching and learning of fractions has been associated with rote memorization. But this mechanical approach to instruction-which strips students of an ability to reason or make sense of math-has resulted in a failure of understanding.Author Monica Neagoy, drawing on decades of research studies, evidence from teacher practice, and 25 years of experience working around the world with teachers, students, and parents, addresses seven big ideas in the teaching and learning of fractions in grades 2-6. Each idea is supported by a vignette from a real classroom, common misconceptions, a thorough unpacking of productive mathematical thinking, and several multistep and thought-provoking problems for teachers to explore.She offers three fundamental reasons why it's imperative for us to take a closer look at how we teach fractions: Fractions play a key role in students' feelings about mathematics. Fractions are fundamental to school math and daily life. Fractions are foundational to success in algebra. While a solid grounding in algebra is necessary for a STEM career, the worthy goal of “algebra for all” will not be possible until “fractions for all” is a reality. Unpacking Fractions provides teachers with concrete strategies for achieving that reality-in short, helping all students gain the knowledge they need to feel at ease with fractions.

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In this one-stop resource for middle and high school teachers, Kristina J. Doubet and Jessica A. Hockett explore how to use differentiated instruction to help students be more successful learners — regardless of background, native language, learning style, motivation, or school savvy. They explain how to: Create a healthy classroom community in which students' unique qualities and needs are as important as the ones they have in common. Translate curriculum into manageable and meaningful learning goals that are fit to be differentiated. Use pre-assessment and formative assessment to uncover students' learning needs and tailor tasks accordingly. Present students with avenues to take in, process, and produce knowledge that appeal to their varied interests and learning profiles. Navigate roadblocks to implementing differentiation. Each chapter provides a plethora of practical tools, templates, and strategies for a variety of subject areas developed by and for real teachers. Whether you're new to differentiated instruction or looking to expand your repertoire of DI strategies, Differentiation in Middle and High School will show you classroom-tested ways to better engage students and help them succeed every day.

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Revolutionize the walkthrough to focus on the endgame of teaching: student learning. Authors Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart present the proven practice of formative walkthroughs that ask and answer questions that are specific to what the student is learning and doing.Learn the value of having the observer examine the lesson from the student's point of view and seek evidence of seven key learning components: A worthwhile lesson. A learning target. A performance of understanding. Look-fors, or success criteria. Formative feedback. Student self-assessment. Effective questioning. Drawing upon their research and extensive work with K-12 teachers and administrators, Moss and Brookhart delve into the learning target theory of action that debuted in Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today's Lesson and show you how to develop a schoolwide collaborative culture that enhances the learning of teachers, administrators, coaches, and students. They present detailed examples of how formative walkthroughs work across grade levels and subject areas, and provide useful templates that administrators and coaches can use to get started now.Grounded in the beliefs that schools improve when educators improve and that the best evidence of improvement comes from what we see students doing to learn in every lesson, every day, Formative Classroom Walkthroughs offers a path to improvement that makes sense and makes a difference.

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Most educators are skilled at planning instruction and determining what they will do during the course of a lesson. However, to truly engage students in worthwhile, rigorous cognition, a profound shift is necessary: a shift in emphasis from teaching to learning. Put another way, we know that whoever is doing the work is also doing the learning—and in most classrooms, teachers are working much too hard.Authors John V. Antonetti and James R. Garver are the designers of the Look 2 Learning model of classroom walkthroughs. They've visited more than 17,000 classrooms—examining a variety of teaching and learning conditions, talking to students, examining their work, and determining their levels of thinking and engagement. From this vast set of data, they've drawn salient lessons that provide valuable insight into how to smooth the transition from simply planning instruction to designing high-quality student work.The lessons John and Jim have learned from their 17,000 (and counting) classroom visits can't be wrong. They share those lessons in this book, along with stories of successful practice and practical tools ready for immediate classroom application. The authors also provide opportunities for reflection and closure designed to help you consider (or reconsider) your current beliefs and practices. Throughout, you will hear the voices of John and Jim—and the thousands of students they met—as they provide a map for shifting the classroom dynamic from teaching to learning.

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Literacy is a skill for all time, for all people. It is an integral part of our lives, whether we are students or adult professionals. Giving all educators the breadth of knowledge and practical tools that help students strengthen their literacy skills is the focus of Read, Write, Lead. Drawing on her experience as a mentor teacher, reading specialist, instructional coach, and staff developer, author Regie Routman offers time-tested advice on how to develop a schoolwide learning culture that leads to more effective reading and writing across the curriculum. She explains how every school—including yours—can: Implement instructional practices that lead to better engagement and achievement in reading and writing for all students, from kindergarten through high school, including second-language and struggling learners. Build Professional Literacy Communities of educators working together to create sustainable school change through professional learning based on shared beliefs. Reduce the need for intervention through daily practices that ensure success, even for our most vulnerable learners. Embed the language of productive feedback in responsive instruction, conferences, and observations in order to accelerate learning for students, teachers, and leaders. In their own voices, teachers, principals, literacy specialists, and students offer real-life examples of changes that led to dramatic improvement in literacy skills and—perhaps just as important—increased joy in teaching and learning. Scattered throughout the book are ""Quick Wins""—ideas and actions that can yield positive, affirming results while tackling the tough work of long-term change.

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Why do some students struggle to understand and retain information, while other students don't? The answer may well lie in the memory system, which is the root of all learning. In Memory at Work in the Classroom, Francis Bailey and Ken Pransky expertly guide you through the aspects of human memory most relevant to classroom teachers. Real classroom examples help to deepen your understanding of how memory systems play a central role in the learning process, as well as how culture plays a sometimes surprising role in memory formation and use.The memory systems covered in the book are: Working Memory: the gateway to learning. Executive Function: the cognitive skills children need to independently orchestrate their memory systems in service to learning. Semantic Memory: the storehouse of a person's knowledge of the world, including academic concepts, and the part of the memory system most affected by culture. Episodic Memory: rich, multisensory personal memories of specific events. Autobiographical Memory: one's sense of self, tied directly to student motivation. Although the techniques described apply to all students, the authors concentrate on explaining the source of struggling students' academic challenges and provide effective strategies for helping students become better learners.Whether you're a new or a veteran teacher, this book will offer fresh insights into your students' learning difficulties and move you to explore classroom practices that align with the functioning of memory and the ways students learn.

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Many students arrive at school with unique mixtures of family histories, traumatic experiences, and special needs that test our skills and try our patience. In Hanging In: Strategies for Teaching the Students Who Challenge Us Most, veteran educator Jeffrey Benson shows educators the value of tenacity and building connections in teaching the students who most need our help. This essential guide includes Detailed portraits based on real-life students whose serious challenges inhibited their classroom experience—and how they eventually achieved success. Strategies for how to analyze students' challenges and develop individualized plans to help them discover a sense of comfort with learning—with in-depth examples of plans in action. Recommendations for teachers and support team on how to gain skills and support and not lose hope through the ups and downs of the work. Specific advice for administrators on constructing systems and procedures that give all our students the best chance for success. Just as teaching the students who challenge us is among our most frustrating experiences as educators, sticking with students until they finally ""get it"" is among our most rewarding. In Hanging In, you'll find the inspiration and field-tested ideas necessary to create a patient and supportive environment for even the most demanding cases in the classroom.

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In this inspiring and thought-provoking follow-up to his 2009 best-seller Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life, Baruti Kafele makes the case that the ""attitude gap"" that often affects underperforming students can only be closed if educators first help students develop the will to strive for excellence. According to Kafele, educators can achieve remarkable results by focusing on five key areas: The teacher's attitude toward students. The teacher's relationship with students. The teacher's compassion for students. The learning environment. The cultural relevance of instruction. Replete with practical strategies and illustrative anecdotes drawn from the author's 20-plus years as a teacher and principal in inner-city schools, Closing the Attitude Gap offers a wealth of lessons and valuable insights that educators at all levels can use to fire up their students' passion to learn.

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