While various activity books exist in the market, it is rare to find any activity book connected to research, aligned with Common Core, NETS, and 21st Century and Skills. In addition, Student Voice: Turn Up the Volume books recognize that teachers are learners, too. The short narrative in each activity engages teachers and provides them an opportunity to expand their thinking and connect to the activities they are leading. The three unique sections following each activity allow educators to expand, enhance, and differentiate instruction. Group Discussion supports student engagement, collaboration, and a variety of cognitive skills. Personal Reflection enhances the meaning of the depth and relevancy of each activity, encouraging students to relate the activity to their experiences and apply their learning to other contexts and settings. The final section following each activity is Extended Learning, connecting the activity to technology, for example creating iMovies, exploring new apps, and tweeting their learning. Introductory narratives and overviews for each section are provided by Russ Quaglia.
This powerful professional development program features a leader's guide to re-engaging educators in the real work of improving their schools, particularly in those settings with a high percentage of our nation's most marginalized students, along with an original video series hosted by master educator and best-selling author Gary Howard. Implemented in hundreds of districts, this proven approach to cultural competence and culturally responsive teaching supports school leaders and their faculties in an examination of their actual practices.
Unlock hidden writing skills in all learners through UDL! The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for writing are promising but present a host of challenges in implementation, especially for struggling students. In this valuable resource, Sally A. Spencer demonstrates the potential of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a framework for making the CCSS writing and language standards accessible to all kids. Educators who utilize these strategies will know: How to leverage the strengths of students to optimize writing instruction and overcome their weaknesses The ways UDL can minimize the roadblocks in CCSS implementation How to - and how not to - use technology to teach writing and language conventions With dozens of classroom-ready activities, resources for further reading, and reproducibles, this easy-to-use guide will help you make all students proficient writers.
Talk About Teaching! helps educators understand the value and power of meaningful informal conversations about teaching to promote teacher learning, improve classroom teaching, and increase learner achievement. It also provides all educators with the "mental maps" and practical tools to enable them to conduct meaningful, although frequently informal, professional conversations about practice. This book: Identifies topics for professional conversations that are linked to the "big ideas" or essential components of successful teaching Links the "big ideas" to both critical research and to the author's frameworks Identifies and describes research-based conversation skills, including setting the tone, probing, paraphrasing, and inviting thinking Demonstrates how to create an environment that supports informal and effective professional conversations, e.g., making time for the conversations, establishing the necessary trust, reaching consensus on the essential components of successful teaching Provides an entire chapter of very specific conversation activities or protocols organized around the "big ideas" that comprise suggested questions, materials to support the conversations, and likely outcomes of discussions
Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement
Master The Latest Educational Technology To Teach 21st Century Skills. The pace of technological change picks up speed with each passing day. Educators must place the proper emphasis on technology leadership-using proven methods-if they are to prepare students to thrive in the classroom and beyond. When first published in 2009, this book empowered administrators and teachers to plan and execute effective strategies for enhancing student engagement and achievement through technology. This second edition features 80% brand-new material addressing the latest technological developments, combined with the authors' tested methods for applying them in schools. Features include: Aligning technology to the ISLLC Standards, ISTE Standards, and Common Core State Standards Comprehensive guides to the newest technologies and trends that school leaders need to know A companion website featuring a massive volume of resources for additional progress With this book close at hand, school leaders will confidently guide students into the exciting digital future.
Make Creativity The Core Of The Curriculum! Ignoring creativity is a crisis-in-waiting. But in today's economy, the ability to think independently and innovatively is no longer a "nice extra"-it's a survival skill. This book addresses the difficulties of integrating real creativity into the curriculum, and delivers surefire strategies for equipping learners across all grades and subjects with the motivation and critical thinking skills to thrive in a high-tech future. Content includes: Why "one right answer" instruction paradigms discourage critical thinking and risk-taking Why using the latest technology does not equate to teaching creatively Projects and Prompts that ask "So what does this mean in the classroom today?" Don't wait another day to begin teaching your students this valuable skill. With this book, you'll turn your classroom into a hotbed of creativity populated by tomorrow's innovators.
15 Must-Have Skills Every Student Needs to Achieve
Turn today's youth into innovative, ambitious thinkers with fifteen critical reading, writing, and thinking processes. Jim and Barry distill each process into a potent concision that spans subject areas.
This book will benefit those responsible for creating an effective coaching program within their school system. They will learn the essential elements of coaching and what should be incorporated into a successful program.
Your user's guide to the mathematics standards In the 12 short months since the ELA versions of The Common Core Companions, Grades K-2 and 3-5, burst on the scene, they've already assisted tens of thousands of teachers with the day-to-day "what you do." Teachers' one big criticism: what about mathematics? Luckily NCTM past-president Linda Gojak and mathematics coach Ruth Harbin Miles stepped up to the task. The result? That version of the mathematics standards you wish you had. Page by page, The Common Core Mathematics Companions clearly lay out: The mathematics embedded in each standard for a deeper understanding of the content Examples of what effective teaching and learning look like in the classroom Connected standards within each domain so teachers can better appreciate how they relate Priorities within clusters so teachers know where to focus their time The three components of rigor: conceptual understanding, procedural skills, and applications Vocabulary and suggested materials for each grade-level band with explicit connections to the standards Common student misconceptions around key mathematical ideas with ways to address them Don't spend another minute poring over the mathematics standards. Gojak and Miles have already done the heavy-lifting for you. Focus instead on how to teach them, using The Common Core Mathematics Companion as your one-stop guide for teaching, planning, assessing, collaborating, and designing powerful mathematics curriculum.
