"This book is a testimony to true transformative practice. The whole school community pursued a single vision, with multiple checkpoints, while providing incremental support to the staff." -Cheryl Steele Oakes, Teacher Wells High School, ME Advance your professional learning community into the digital age What if your professional learning community was available 24 hours a day, every day of the year? Would you like to have a place to share lesson plans, student work, a new curriculum, and to provide a discussion forum for all stakeholders? You can, even with only a basic understanding of technology. The authors explain how they created an online professional learning network to share a new core curriculum, providing a framework for constructing such a network to fit your school's needs. The many benefits include: Enhanced communication among teachers, administrators, and the community Easy access to professional development for many more participants Implementation of best practices and instructional strategies for improved teacher performance Increased understanding of and commitment to educational goals Included are checklists, flowcharts, screenshots of an actual learning network, case studies, and a glossary of terms. This book provides all the tools you need to build a successful and motivating professional community online.
"Infoclutter...a great term to describe the information overload we experience each day! This book provides us with practical tips and tricks for learning to manage this information for a variety of purposes, from personal productivity to information literacy, for an audience of teachers, students, and parents." From the Foreword by Kathy Schrock ......
Increase student learning by developing teacher leaders! Research over the years has consistently identified leadership as a critical component of school change and, as initiatives to reform the educational system have emerged, one significant line of work emphasizes teachers assuming greater leadership roles within their organizations. Connecting ......
Increase student learning by developing teacher leaders! Research over the years has consistently identified leadership as a critical component of school change and, as initiatives to reform the educational system have emerged, one significant line of work emphasizes teachers assuming greater leadership roles within their organizations. Connecting Teacher Leadership and School Improvement is the first book to synthesize theoretical, empirical, and practice-based literature in order to provide a comprehensive look at what is known about teacher leadership and what works to support it. The first part of the book explores the core concepts of teacher leadership, while the second part shows readers how to establish the context in their school or LEA to cultivate and support teacher leaders. A vital piece of equipment in the school improvement toolbox, this book covers such important topics as: * The headteacher's critical role in supporting teacher leadership * Cultivating teacher leadership through professional development * Overcoming organizational barriers that hinder teacher leadership * How teacher leadership can help advance school improvement efforts Presenting a comprehensive model of this successful change strategy, author Joseph Murphy examines the ideological and empirical basis of teacher leadership and offers strategies to help teachers and headteachers create productive relationships that will strengthen our nation's schools.
Transform classrooms and student performance with evidence-based, effective practices Two brains are better than one, as the saying goes, and this is especially true in education. Educators who employ effective collaboration and co-teaching greatly amplify student engagement, achievement, and growth, particularly for those learners needing extra support. Written by two of the nation's top experts in co-teaching, Connecting High-Leverage Practices to Student Success is an essential, reader-friendly guide for educators and instructional leaders who are passionate about creating truly inclusive classrooms where all students thrive- academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. Inside, authors Melissa Jenkins and Wendy Murawski provide: Three clearly defined steps to build a strong foundation, leverage collaboration, and support students' growth A laser focus on high-leverage and evidence-based practices for general and special education that optimize educators' impact, including collaboration, instruction, assessment, and social emotional/behavior skills Seamless integration of practices within MTSS and RTI processes to meet the needs of all learners Countless and concrete samples, examples, tools, reflection exercises, and supplemental materials that enable you to move from theory to immediate instructional practice Positioning collaboration as the catalyst to maximizing high-leverage and evidence-based practices for the success of all students, this easy-to-use handbook belongs on the desk of every teacher working toward a truly inclusive environment.
For English Learners and other struggling students, understanding and using academic language is absolutely critical to literacy development and school achievement, but it takes careful planning to help these students develop mastery. Ruth Swinney and Patricia Velasco's teacher-friendly guide explains how to weave together content and language goals when planning lesson units, as well as offering strategies for moving students from social to academic language and creating a curriculum of talk in the classroom. In addition, Swinney and Velasco provide detailed sample unit plans in all content areas to demonstrate how these strategies can be employed while simultaneously meeting curriculum demands. Using specific structures of balanced literacy including read along, shared reading, and shared writing, these unit plans also include a self-assessment guide for teachers to use as they scaffold the content to increase comprehension and student achievement
This book will provide practical strategies, applications, real life examples, and helpful tips for becoming a connected educator. Through this process, readers will learn the skills and techniques necessary to become connected to other like-minded educators throughout the world in order to overcome the feeling of isolation and stifled professional growth.
