Praise for the Original Edition: "Lots of fresh ideas, along with some very helpful suggestions." -Pamela Galvani, Teacher Central Kitsap High School, Silverdale, Washington Praise for the New Edition: "Useful as the first version of their book was, Marlowe and Page's second edition is even better. It offers a rare blend of thoughtful critique, solid theory, and practical strategy." -Alfie Kohn, author of The Schools Our Children Deserve Make constructivism work for you and your students! Taking students from passive spoon-fed knowledge to creation and acquisition of real learning: It sounds terrific. But how do you do it? This book shows you how. In this updated and expanded second edition, Marlowe and Page use a larger and clearer format to bring together constructivist theory with step-by-step guidance to make constructivist learning a reality in your classroom. Creating and Sustaining the Constructivist Classroom, Second Edition includes the firsthand experiences of practicing teachers to help you understand the challenges and rewards you can expect from constructivism. The teachers' stories along with guidance from the authors give you a solid foundation on which to build your own student-created learning classroom. The authors provide: Active learning examples to customize for any grade or classroom Checklists to help you evaluate your starting point, progress, and goals Expanded coverage of state and national content standards Practical assistance with issues surrounding student assessment, differentiation, and the inclusive classroom Ideas for involving parents and community members Ways to implement technology into the mix Strategies to help even beginning teachers implement constructivist principles Stimulate your students' creativity, autonomy, and independent thinking. Help raise their self-esteem and confidence. Get their minds working on proactive ways to bring real-world learning into their schoolwork. Encourage your students to discover new ways to search for information, process what they find out, and translate it into meaningful knowledge for themselves.
Enhance classroom practice by promoting an open and shared process with your students! Middle school students have much to say about the quality of their schooling experiences and can provide rich insight into what works for them and what doesn't. Educators Penny A. Bishop and Susanna W. Pflaum demonstrate how to enhance classroom practice by inviting students to offer feedback on pedagogy, learning styles, and their individual preferences and needs. Written for new and veteran teachers of grades 4-8, the unique framework of this book takes its cue from the students themselves by using their own words and drawings, combined with the authors' action research, insightful analysis, and shared experiences. Highlights of this powerful resource include: Instructional strategies and content-area learning Social interactions within the classroom that promote or inhibit learning Learner insights into their own engagement and disengagement in the classroom Student drawings, reflective questions for teachers, mini-lessons, and frequently asked questions about consulting students and honoring their insights Reaching and Teaching Middle School Learners focuses on the learning needs of adolescents as identified by the students themselves. By promoting an open and shared process with your students, you can meet the unique challenges of working with middle school learners and create a positive schooling experience for all.
This edited work looks at how the concept of inquiry-based learning can be applied to all subject areas. Inquiry learning is similar to many other popular forms of curriculum and instruction, including student-centered and activity-based. Covering History, Social Studies, Geography, Mathematics, English, Language Arts, and Special Education, this practitioner-friendly book includes tools, strategies, sample lesson plans and assessment strategies. In addition, the chapters are aligned with the content standards in each subject area.
"Offers exciting information organized and presented in a format that is easy to read, understand, and to use in the classroom . . . accessible to teachers in all the subject areas." Pamela Fannin Wilkinson, Educational consultant Houston, TX Energize your lesson planning ideas through the creativity and inspiration of the visual arts! Are you struggling to create memorable, exciting, and effective lesson plans? This invaluable resource demonstrates how you can use the visual arts to provide imaginative lesson plans for all subject areas-from language arts to physical education. Each chapter highlights lesson planning ideas, artists, and works of art, which are given focus by visual thinking questions. Suggested readings and links to websites that offer color images of works of art are also included, while an Idea Guide provides suggestions for fine-tuning both lessons and student assignments. Learn how you can use the visual arts to: Provide imaginative lesson plans for all subject areas Discover thought-provoking ideas and new ways of teaching in the content areas Appeal to the learning styles of a broad range of students, including gifted and talented learners Meet the needs of an integrated curriculum Visual Knowing is an innovative resource to energize your approach to everyday lesson planning by bringing art and creativity to required curriculum topics.
'Public education is constantly evolving, and new challenges require school officials to be insightful, well planned, and innovative. It is because of these changing times that this book, which offers a different view of systems analysis and organizational behavior, is so valuable' - Frank Bush, Executive Director Indiana School Boards Association 'Educational leaders need a basis for confident decision making. The authors have a solution for challenging times' - Kay Harmless, Interim Director, Indiana Principal Leadership Academy, Indiana Department of Education 'A great read for leaders desiring to practically apply principles of sincerity, integrity, and commitment to an organization's culture' - James Thompson, President, Gibraltar Design, Inc. What decisions are in the best interest of students, teachers, staff, and others in your school community? Transformational Leadership & Decision Making in Schools emphasizes the need for a resilient decision-making pedagogy, helping school leaders find and re-centre their approaches to making good and productive decisions for their schools and districts. This important resource provides methods and strategies to tackle tough decisions, providing concise step-by-step considerations to inform your decision making. Some of the essential information included: - A personal decision-making self-assessment - Reflective thinking sections for individual reflection and group conversation - Discussion of the role of vision and mission - Ideas surrounding motivation and the capacity for change - A look at barriers to decision making - Information on developing respect and rapport Transformational leadership and decision making gives school leaders the confidence to make the best decisions that can positively impact student achievement, school climate, and goal alignment
Foreword by Anthony Bryk 'While trust has been shown as a key mechanism for facilitating school improvement, how that can be accomplished is not altogether clear. In this excellent book, Kochanek, through in-depth case studies and sophisticated quantitative analyses of data from a large urban school system, convincingly demonstrates how principal leadership can promote and sustain trust among administrators, teachers, and parents' - Barbara Schneider, Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago 'Kochanek's book not only clearly explains the theoretical underpinnings of trust development in schools, but also provides rich case studies which explore this theory in action' - Carmen Manning, Assistant Professor, English Education, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Why is trust in schools so important? What does trust mean to a school's productivity? Relationships between headteachers, teachers, and parents cannot be ignored when attempting school reform. No matter how innovative the changes or ideas, reform is unlikely to succeed unless the adults work together to implement it. Building Trust for Better Schools answers the question of how to build trust within the school community. Parents are dependent on teachers to educate their children. Teachers are dependent on headteachers to create school conditions that are conducive to helping children learn. This excellent new resource identifies links between the growth of trust and positive organizational outcomes that benefit school improvement efforts. But how do we build trust? Kochanek offers an innovative process model of trust building. Increased trust in schools: - Increases participation among faculty in school reform efforts - Creates a greater openness among teachers to innovations - Increases outreach to parents - Produces even higher academic productivity in schools There is a need for efficient sharing of information in schools across role relationships. This can be done with the building of trust among headteachers, teachers, and parents as they work together toward a common goal!
Based on the content and performance standards developed by the United States' National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, this is a step-by-step guide to developing performance-based curriculum. Replete with specific examples, the book reflects all the requirements of restructured curriculum including student identification of the problem to be solved and the use of multiple problem-solving strategies.
Frameworks, Agendas, Tips, and Case Stories for Mentors and Mentees
This guide will be invaluable to mentors of new headteachers and designers of mentoring programs. For the mentee or new headteacher, it will jump start their process and shorten their learning curve. The authors recognize the primary role of the headteacher as instructional leader but also address the practical aspects of the headship. Their overview of mentoring includes a checklist of specific objectives linked to learning activities. At the core of the book, a series of mentoring field stories, including comments from mentees, brings to life the issues and crises around which new headteachers are likely to speed dial their mentors, and also provides models for how the mentor can guide, support, encourage, but ultimately leave decision and responsibility with the new headteacher. A recognized headship expert, the lead author has invited and shared here the collected wisdom and mentoring guidelines from leading mentoring colleagues from around the country to make this the truly indispensable handbook for mentoring reflective headteachers.
Are you a talented teacher in the classroom but a little rusty when it comes to looking for your next teaching job? This handbook by the best-selling author of Time-Saving Tips for Teachers will give you the advantage you need to succeed! Joanne Wachter's years of hiring experience as a public school system supervisor have taught her that good teachers are often reluctant to "toot their own horns," or just may not know how to impress interviewers. Given the intense competition, today's teachers need to know how to put their best foot forward to get that deserved transfer or promotion. This detailed how-to manual will walk you through every step in the job change process, including: Setting goals, including a quiz to find out what you really want in a job, from educational philosophy to commuting time Working the process, with a list of the topics that matter to the administrators making the hiring decisions Filling out an A+ application, getting reference letters, and writing cover letters Strengthening resumes and portfolios, with advice on what and what NOT to include Making personal contacts and rehearsing for that dazzling interview Let the ideas and strategies in The Teacher's Guide to Successful Job Transfers and Promotions be the career guide that helps you get the job you've always wanted!
