"Whether you are a beginning teacher looking to enhance instruction or a veteran teacher hoping to refresh your teaching strategies, you will find meaningful, creative ways to address your students' needs." -Patricia M. Richardson, Professor of Practice University of Maryland Visit the classrooms of master teachers and observe their most successful lessons! There is no better way to learn the craft of teaching than by watching an expert teacher at work. In this sequel to Randi Stone's Best Classroom Practices, nationally recognized, award-winning elementary teachers showcase selected practices from their classroom repertoire to share with their colleagues. Learn what it takes to build a productive, engaged community of learners from some of the nation's best teachers in their own words. This inspirational, one-stop guide covers everything from classroom management to teaching reading, writing, math, science, social studies, music, art, technology, and physical education. You will find: Detailed, successful teaching strategies with lists of relevant standards and materials needed Innovative activities, projects, lesson plans, and units of study for every content area Classroom strategies across the curriculum, including ideas for involving parents and ways to make inclusion work MORE Best Practices for Elementary Classrooms provides a wide array of excellent lessons to choose from, road-tested by your award-winning colleagues.
"The Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) holds the power to help students and teachers 'see the whole' of what they are learning. We invite practitioners to read more about this model and join us on a professional journey that we believe will yield that joy and wisdom that comes from seeing the whole. To address the varying needs of teachers across the K-12 grade span-as well as different content areas-we decided to create a series of curriculum units, based on PCM, that could be used by practitioners. It is our hope that the lessons not only underscore important and discipline-specific content, but also illuminate the four parallels in unique and enduring ways." -From the Introduction Design exemplary language arts lessons based on the Parallel Curriculum Model! Want to create rigorous learning opportunities for students in language arts based on a deeper understanding of pedagogy and curriculum design? As demonstrated in the best-selling book The Parallel Curriculum, the Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) allows teachers to determine student performance levels and design intellectual challenges that help students develop expertise in specific subject areas. Parallel Curriculum Units for Language Arts, Grades 6-12 provides sample language arts units written by practicing teachers to demonstrate what high-quality curriculum looks like within a PCM framework. Covering a variety of topics-including narrative voice, literary criticism, and writing original pieces-these field-tested units each contain: Teacher rationales explaining the unit design Connections to concepts, skills, and national or state standards Step-by-step directions for delivering the lessons and unit Modification strategies, assessments, and reproducibles Use these examples to design your own units and deepen your understanding of how the PCM framework helps tailor curriculum to the abilities, interests, and learning preferences of each learner.
Developing the PLTS Framework Through Themed Learning
This book explores the concept of a competency-based curriculum for KS3 and provides a range of resources for implementing creative learning in schools. It is widely acknowledged that students will need to be fl exible, self-motivated learners if they are to thrive in our rapidly changing global community. Do students need ......
"This book is the perfect guide for those administrators and teachers who are truly interested in equalizing educational opportunities at all levels." -Rebecca S. Compton, Professor of Elementary Education East Central University Proven strategies for increasing the academic performance of students with low school-readiness skills! Children of low socioeconomic status often enter school with low school-readiness skills, leading them to be misidentified as learning disabled. Educators in Grades K-12 can allocate resources for special education services more effectively and meet the needs of low SES students by preventing students from being placed in the wrong program and by providing readiness supports. Offering an in-depth look at schools that have realized effective results in remarkable time frames, the authors challenge educators and parents to consider how low expectations can affect student achievement-and emphasize optimism as a necessary tenet of schools' day-to-day teaching/learning programs and school-community relationships. This resource provides: Training resources for teaching low SES students Assessment tools for identifying learning needs Strategies for building relationships of trust and collaboration throughout the school community Data charts that illustrate the increase in student achievement from schoolwide initiatives A bibliography and glossary of pertinent research and terminology With these strategies and tools, schools can meet the developmental and environmental needs of their most vulnerable students and watch student achievement and confidence soar!
'Filled with easy-to-implement ideas, clearly explained. This book helps teachers differentiate with confidence. I absolutely recommend it to ALL teachers' - Steve Knobl, Principal, Gulf High School, New Port Richey, FL 'Chapman and King have done it again. The new edition has so many new activities and strategies for teachers to help students become motivated to write and become better writers!' - Linda Prichard, PreK/Fifth-Grade Instructional Specialist, Rutherford County Schools, Murfreesboro, TN Every classroom is made up of students at different levels of proficiency in writing. This concise guide helps teachers work with each students' unique skills and needs so that the student learns to apply information, demonstrate content mastery, think creatively and critically, and solve real-world problems through writing. This updated edition of a best-selling book offers explicit strategies for differentiating writing instruction to help students learn content and develop as writers. The authors address how to create a climate for writing, use flexible groupings, differentiate instruction, and assess student writing. Offering new strategies and activities for effective writing instruction, this second edition: - Covers informational text writing and critical thinking skills - Includes guidance for working with English language learners - Discusses current research about writing and learning - Offers expanded coverage of assessment methods and tools Differentiated Instructional Strategies for Writing in the Content Areas provides educators with the tools they need to address students' writing and learning needs across different grade levels, developmental stages, and learning styles.
"The second edition of Elaine McEwan's book is a user-friendly guide that integrates research into practice. It carefully explains the research behind reading development and provides truly clear, no-nonsense steps to implement the best practices of instruction. McEwan does not sugar-coat how difficult teaching reading can be, but she provides powerful methods for achieving it." -Jennifer Sandberg, Curriculum/Reading Coordinator Sutherland Public School, NE Provide effective reading instruction for every student in your classroom and schoolwide! To successfully teach reading, teachers have to first believe that all children can learn to read-and then they have to turn that belief into a reality. In this thoroughly updated and revised version of her best-selling book, Elaine K. McEwan guides educators through the challenging but crucial work of teaching every child how to read. Written for all teachers as well as administrators, this resource covers strategies for nine essential components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, fluency, developing a reading culture, providing opportunities to read, writing, word knowledge, and comprehension. This second edition features: The most up-to-date research in reading instruction Effective instructional practices and strategies Brief vignettes and graphic organizers that illustrate and summarize key concepts A comprehensive case study of one district's remarkable success This resource reveals precisely how educators in successful schools are teaching students to read-and how all educators can achieve the same results in their schools!
"The return to K-8 schools is an opportunity to step back, be purposeful and thoughtful, and plan for what we want for young persons in our schools. This book provides the vision and the tools we need to plan and build something better in Grades K-8." -Heather MacTaggart, Executive Director Classroom Connections, Ontario, Canada A how-to guide for developing or transitioning to a K-8 school! The K-8 model for school design has gained popularity with educators and parents for demonstrating higher student achievement, fewer behavioral problems, and increased cost effectiveness. This comprehensive guide provides school leaders with the tools to develop and implement a sound plan for creating an exemplary K-8 school or transitioning successfully to the K-8 approach. Developing Successful K-8 Schools offers strategies for designing curriculum aligned to state standards, promoting 21st-century skills, planning instruction, and evaluating an effective K-8 program. Readers will also find: Ten proven instructional methods for meeting the learning needs of K-8 students, plus examples that illustrate how to apply the strategies and deal with problems that might arise Student assessment techniques and record-keeping procedures Implementation tools such as checklists, activity charts, and much more! This resource is ideal for school leaders who want to articulate a clear vision for a K-8 school and stay on the cutting edge of educational excellence and student achievement.
How can KS1/2 teachers improve their mathematics teaching? This book helps readers to become better, more confident teachers of mathematics by enabling them to focus critically on what they know and what they do in the classroom. Building on their close observation of primary mathematics classrooms, the authors provide those starting out in the teaching profession with a four-stage framework which acts as a tool of support for developing their teaching: - making sense of foundation knowledge - focusing on what teachers know about mathematics - transforming knowledge - representing mathematics to learners through examples, analogies, illustrations and demonstrations - connection - helping learners to make sense of mathematics through understanding how ideas and concepts are linked to each other - contingency - what to do when the unexpected happens Each chapter includes practical activities, lesson descriptions and extracts of classroom transcripts to help teachers reflect on effective practice. Download video versions of these lessons by clicking on the links below: Video Content Clip 1 - to view streaming click here - to download, click here (6.3 MB) Clip 2 - to view streaming click here - to download, click here (26.5MB) Clip 3 - to view streaming click here - to download, click here (27.8MB) Clip 4 - to view streaming click here - to download, click here (43.9MB) Clip 5 - to view streaming click here - to download, click here (17.3MB) Please note: When downloading, right click the link and "Save target as " ("Save link as " in Firefox)
