This book will confirm for school counsellors the importance of their efforts to involve parents and provide them with the tools to gain the support of their colleagues in such efforts. In addition to making practical suggestions for facilitating smooth interactions with parents during visits and conferences, the author provides a framework for understanding `difficult' parents, along with techniques for working with them.
This book will confirm for school counsellors the importance of their efforts to involve parents and provide them with the tools to gain the support of their colleagues in such efforts. In addition to making practical suggestions for facilitating smooth interactions with parents during visits and conferences, the author provides a framework for understanding `difficult' parents, along with techniques for working with them.
"Gives us an inside view of what children should experience in the primary grades and shows us how we can build them up to new experiences in the intermediate grades. A great resource for vertical team collaborations, teachers who are transitioning from teaching primary to intermediate grades or vice versa, teachers in multiage classrooms, and teacher education classes." -Helena Stevens, Intermediate Literacy Coach Ricardo Richards Elementary School, Kingshill, Virgin Islands "Full of practical, everyday ideas to implement immediately. Offers true student examples that teachers see and experience daily." -Scott Kovatch, Principal Horizon Elementary School, Granger, IN How can teachers help their primary students become competent intermediate readers and writers? Supporting students as they advance from beginning to intermediate literacy levels poses a unique challenge for teachers. In Building Bridges From Early to Intermediate Literacy, Grades 2-4, Sarah F. Mahurt, Ruth E. Metcalfe, and Margaret A. Gwyther show how teachers can meet the instructional needs of students in transition from one level to the next. The authors offer practical guidance and classroom-tested strategies that demonstrate how thoughtful instruction can help each student reach new levels of competency in reading and writing. This invaluable resource shows teachers how to examine and refine their instructional practices to more effectively meet the needs of all the students in their classrooms, whether they are struggling readers or advanced learners. Educators will find: Specialized assessment tools and instructional strategies for word study, reading, and writing Detailed examples of reading and writing instruction Methods for integrating language arts with science and social studies Charts to track students' progress A teacher's reflection section at the end of each chapter Written by experienced literacy educators, this accessible text helps ensure that all students confidently cross the bridge from the primary to the intermediate grades.
The Educator's Guide to Evidence-Based Initiatives
Based on the authors' review and synthesis of the most common research on behavior practices, programs, and initiatives implemented in schools nationwide, this practical guide helps school leaders take an intentional look at their behavior systems so they can refine and enhance them in a systematic and sustainable way.
"Taking your school from great to greater-this compelling book gives you tools to use with staff for reflecting on and refining professional practices. You and your team will find tools for taking learners to the next level of improvement!" -Lynn A. Kaszynski, Principal Harrison Street Elementary School, Sunbury, OH Networked learning communities: A powerful school improvement strategy for school leaders! Ideal for school leaders and superintendents leading change efforts, this book describes how separate professional learning communities can be linked across schools by common instructional and learning issues to create dynamic networked learning communities (NLCs). Drawing on their work with schools throughout North America and England, Steven Katz, Lorna M. Earl, and Sonia Ben Jaafar show how participants in NLCs can share professional knowledge that ultimately improves performance at the school and district level. Through a sample school narrative, the book illustrates how NLCs can significantly enhance instruction, increase student performance, and empower local professional learning communities. This resource examines: Collaborative inquiry as a process that challenges teachers' thinking, generates new learning, and fosters trusting relationships The development of formal and informal leadership roles in NLCs How NLCs support systematic data analysis and accountability Demonstrating how NLCs-small or large, local or statewide-can promote critical reforms while strengthening the work of individual professional learning communities, this invaluable resource reveals how educators can join forces across school and district boundaries to generate deep, meaningful, and sustainable change.
Ideal for school leaders, teacher leaders, and superintendents leading district-level change, this book describes how separate professional learning communities can be purposefully linked across schools to create effective Networked Learning Communities (NLCs). Steven Katz, Lorna M. Earl, and Sonia Ben Jaafar demonstrate how NLCs can effectively engage schools in creating and sharing professional knowledge and develop the kind of deep and sustained changes that enhance student learning, engagement, and success.Based on the authorsAE research and work with districts and schools in North America and England, the book defines NLCs, explains how they work, and leads readers in examining:The importance of having a clear, evidence-based focusCollaborative inquiry as a process that challenges thinking and practice and generates new learning for teachersThe role of formal and informal leaders in both professional learning communities and networked learning communitiesBuilding and Connecting Learning Communities demonstrates how to work together to create the conditions for focused professional learning for teachers and tackles the challenge of how to sustain the work of NLCs.
"Charles Elbot and David Fulton get it! They get how dominant a force a school's culture is in assisting-or thwarting-the development of learning and character and how extraordinarily difficult it is to make changes. Unlike most of us, they also get how possible it is to build a desirable school culture. This tidy little volume is the authors' first step in sharing their inventive 'lesson plans' from their successful work as school culture builders. When we take these lessons learned to heart, we too will get it!" -Roland Barth, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education Harvard University Transform your school by shaping a culture based on shared values, beliefs, and behaviors. Based on lessons learned from the authors' work in improving school culture for more than sixty schools across the country, this inspiring guide for school leaders helps create an "intentional school culture" that fosters excellence, builds character, and improves student achievement. The book provides tools, case studies, strategies, and implementation plans for building a strong school culture and offers guidelines for teacher trainings, principal workshops, staff meetings, and district-level use. The authors demonstrate how to: Support students' independent and interdependent thinking and behavior Foster ethical decision making Collaborate with students, parents, and teachers Evaluate and monitor a plan to enhance the existing school culture The authors illustrate how deliberately shaping a school culture cultivates faculty trust, sets the groundwork for raising test scores, and is a critical ingredient in building a successful school.
In Building an Intentional School Culture, the authors propose the theory that if school leaders want to improve students' academic achievement and personal development, they need to create an 'intentional school culture' that builds excellence and character. Based on work created out of the Denver Public Schools, this resource shares the tools, strategies, and implementation plan for creating a strong school culture. The book provides a road map developed expressly for teacher trainings, principal workshops, staff meetings, and for district-level use.
