Challenging times demand dynamic leadership. Schools rely on teachers to assume a variety of leadership roles, both formal and informal, including department chair, peer coach, faculty representative, and Web page curator. With little or no leadership training, however, many teachers are unprepared to take advantage of such opportunities. In How to Thrive as a Teacher Leader , John G. Gabriel explores the responsibilities and rewards of teacher leadership, offering practical, positive advice on ▪ identifying leadership qualities and building a team, ▪ enhancing communication and earning respect, ▪ overcoming obstacles and implementing change, ▪ energizing colleagues and strengthening morale, and▪ improving student and teacher achievement. From setting goals to mediating conflicts, from mentoring colleagues to motivating students, Gabriel provides clear strategies–grounded in experience and illustrated by examples–for becoming an effective teacher leader. A generous resource section, including sample letters, surveys, and checklists, enables readers to quickly put these techniques into practice. Whether you aspire to a leadership position or are in a position to inspire future leaders, this insightful and informative book will help you lead the way to success.
In Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement , Robert J. Marzano shows how a carefully structured combination of two approaches—sustained silent reading and instruction in subject-specific vocabulary terms—can help overcome the deficiencies in background knowledge that hamper the achievement of many children. Readers will learn * The principles that underlie an effective sustained silent reading program* A five-step process for using sustained silent reading to enhance background knowledge* The defining characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction * A six-step process for direct instruction in vocabulary in each discipline* The vocabulary terms critical to students’ success in every academic subject Vignettes suggest how the recommended reading and vocabulary instruction programs might be implemented in elementary schools, middle and junior high schools, and high schools. The book also includes a list of 7,923 vocabulary terms culled from the national standards documents and other publications, organized into 11 subject areas and 4 grade-level categories. With its research-based recommendations and step-by-step approach, Building Background Knowledge equips educators with the tools they need to help close the achievement gap and enable all students to succeed.
Teaching is as much about students as it is about curriculum, and no one understands this better than middle and high school teachers. But even the most dedicated teacher can sometimes feel defeated by the challenge of reaching distracted, disconnected, and defiant adolescents. Drawing on her own experience as a high school teacher, Katy Ridnouer shares an approach to classroom management that will help you spend less time «dealing with» your adolescent learners and more time inspiring them to be their best selves in school and beyond. Managing with heart means accepting teenage students as they are and recognizing what they need: a connection with the curriculum; a sense of order; and most essentially, a sense that someone cares. In this book, you'll find practical strategies for * Balancing care and discipline* Interacting with students and their parents* Establishing classroom routines that keep students on task* Communicating expectations and ensuring accountability* Handling common challenges, from classroom noise and personality conflicts to inappropriate clothing and disrespectful language* Building trust and helping students feel emotionally and intellectually safe. Vivid, real-life examples and questions for reflection make this a perfect choice for faculty reading groups and any middle or high school teacher looking to create a positive learning community, enhance students' confidence and interpersonal skills, and rediscover the reward of being a teacher.
Designed to promote reflection, discussion, and action among the entire learning community, Educating Everybody's Children encapsulates what research has revealed about successfully addressing the needs of students from economically, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse groups and identifies a wide range of effective principles and instructional strategies. Although good teaching works well with all students, educators must develop an extensive repertoire of instructional tools to meet the varying needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Those tools and the knowledge base behind them are the foundation of this expanded and revised second edition of Educating Everybody's Children . Each strategy discussed in the book includes classroom examples and a list of the research studies that support it. The most important thing we have learned as a result of the education reform movement is that student achievement stands or falls on the motivation and skills of teachers. We must ensure that all teachers are capable of delivering a standards‑based curriculum that describes what students should know and be able to do, and that these standards are delivered by means of a rich and engaging «pedagogy of plenty.» By these two acts we can ensure that all schools will be ready and able to educate everybody's children.
With grade-specific examples throughout, Handling Student Frustrations offers strategies that educators at all levels can immediately apply to foster classrooms where students can overcome stress to focus on learning.
Are you looking for ways to incorporate rigorous problem solving in your classroom? Are you struggling with how to include the “E” in your STEM instruction? Here is where to start.
In this practical introduction to engineering for elementary through high school teachers, you’ll learn how to create effective engineering-infused lessons that break down the barriers between science, math, and technology instruction. Veteran teacher Pamela Truesdell highlights engineering’s connection to 21st century skills and college and career readiness, addresses the Next Generation Science Standards, and walks you through each step of the simple but powerful engineering design process. This is the essential tool of professional engineers and the key to engaging students in hands-on, collaborative projects that ask them to apply content area knowledge to find solutions for real-world problems. A sample lesson, links to additional resources, and guidelines for assessment ensure you’ll have the essentials you need to kick off your students’ exploration of engineering.
Explore practical ways to foster humor, mindfulness, resilience, curiosity, and gratitude for a positive classroom that engages students and enhances their learning.
Although much has changed in schools in recent years, the power of differentiated instruction remains the same–and the need for it has only increased. Today's classroom is more diverse, more inclusive, and more plugged into technology than ever before. And it's led by teachers under enormous pressure to help decidedly unstandardized students meet an expanding set of rigorous, standardized learning targets. In this updated second edition of her best-selling classic work, Carol Ann Tomlinson offers these teachers a powerful and practical way to meet a challenge that is both very modern and completely timeless: how to divide their time, resources, and efforts to effectively instruct so many students of various backgrounds, readiness and skill levels, and interests. With a perspective informed by advances in research and deepened by more than 15 years of implementation feedback in all types of schools, Tomlinson explains the theoretical basis of differentiated instruction, explores the variables of curriculum and learning environment, shares dozens of instructional strategies, and then goes inside elementary and secondary classrooms in nearly all subject areas to illustrate how real teachers are applying differentiation principles and strategies to respond to the needs of all learners. This book's insightful guidance on what to differentiate, how to differentiate, and why lays the groundwork for bringing differentiated instruction into your own classroom or refining the work you already do to help each of your wonderfully unique learners move toward greater knowledge, more advanced skills, and expanded understanding. Today more than ever, The Differentiated Classroom is a must-have staple for every teacher's shelf and every school's professional development collection.
Erik Palmer presents an approach to teaching long-neglected but essential language arts that is aligned with the Common Core but focused on preparing K–12 students in all subject areas for 21st century communication inside and beyond the classroom.