How do you take the passion and chatter that K-5 students bring to the classroom and turn it into conversation skills that make them better learners? Academic conversation can help hone speaking and listening, critical thinking, and social-emotional skills, as well as deepen content knowledge. But despite its effectiveness, this kind of purposeful, student-led discussion is rarely taught or used at the elementary level. The mystery for teachers is how to support students at various stages of development and build an environment of trust that lets them cultivate these skills. In Demystifying Discussion, veteran teacher Jennifer Orr gives elementary school teachers a primer on teaching students to engage in student-led academic conversation. The strategies, sample assessments, and example conversations in this book show you how to help young learners get better at sharing, exploring, and synthesizing their individual and collective thinking. You'll also learn how to manage different perspectives and disagreements among students. This is a book to use all year long to improve classroom discussion, hone students' skills (and your own), and enhance students' overall learning throughout their time in school and beyond.

In this timely and thoughtful call to action, author and educator Starr Sackstein examines the critical intersection between assessment and social and emotional learning (SEL), particularly as it affects students of color and other marginalized groups. The book addresses the five SEL competencies identified by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)-self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making-and explains how teaching students to develop their abilities in these areas can help them improve their learning and assessment experiences.Sackstein also raises important considerations for educators, urging them to * Examine their implicit biases to improve their relationships with students. * Deepen their understanding of the impact of grades and assessments on students' self-image and their ability to reach their full potential as learners. * Develop personalized assessment systems that ensure an accurate, fair, and equitable portrayal of what students know and can do. In addition to presenting the relevant research, Sackstein draws from personal experience and the reflections of students, teachers, and administrators to present a compelling case for approaching assessment through the SEL lens. Educators at all levels who have witnessed the devasting effects that testing can have on students' beliefs in themselves as learners will find Assessing with Respect to be an invaluable guide to ensuring better outcomes-and better emotional health-for all students.

Carol Ann Tomlinson and Tonya R. Moon take an in-depth look at assessment and show how differentiation can improve the process in all grade levels and subject areas. After discussing differentiation in general, the authors focus on how differentiation applies to various forms of assessment-pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment-and to grading and report cards. Readers learn how differentiation can: Capture student interest and increase motivation. Clarify teachers' understanding about what is most important to teach. Enhance students' and teachers' belief in student learning capacity. Help teachers understand their students' individual similarities and differences so they can reach more students, more effectively. Throughout, Tomlinson and Moon emphasize the importance of maintaining a consistent focus on the essential knowledge, understandings, and skills that all students must acquire, no matter what their starting point. Detailed scenarios illustrate how assessment differentiation can occur in three realms (student readiness, interest, and learning style or preference) and how it can improve assessment validity and reliability and decrease errors and teacher bias. Grounded in research and the authors' teaching experience, Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom outlines a common-sense approach that is both thoughtful and practical, and that empowers teachers and students to discover, strive for, and achieve their true potential.

First published as "Tracks: the Cv" work directory in 1997, the tenth revised and updated edition is published in 2006. It gives information of over 130 professions in the UK, organised in eight booklets, from communications media to service industries. Titles include pathways in the arts, construction industry, financial services, health care, insurance, land and sea work, law, leisure and tourism, local government, manufacturing crafts, marketing, planning and public services. Qualifications are listed from GCSE and NVQ/BTEC to degree level. There are work descriptions and pay scales, with interviews and advice from British chartered institutes and individuals established in the particular field. Designed in an easy to access format of a page per profession, the handbooks also include contacts for working in countries in the European Union, and a detailed index of internet recruitment sites for each sector. "Tracks 5" documents career paths in law, government and administration, from barrister and solicitor to the police and prison service, and in civil and public office ranging from local government to international relations.

For those who have a friend that has been devastated by the loss of a loved one. When others care enough to rub shoulders with grieving friends and are willing to be inconvenienced. It requires someone to care enough to put aside cliche condolences and stick close through a long grieving process. An individual's grief can never be 'fixed'. But friends can wash a sink full of dishes, listen, go along on a cemetery visit. Sharing another's grief is not about 'fixing-it'- it's about showing up.Harold Ivan Smith, popular speaker and grief educator, guides others to respond with their heart. He shows tangible, meaningful ways to make a significant difference as one journeys through grief with someone they care about.

This Technology Teachers Guide is CAPS Approved and one of many titles available in the PLATINUM series.

Many students arrive at school with unique mixtures of family histories, traumatic experiences, and special needs that test our skills and try our patience. In Hanging In: Strategies for Teaching the Students Who Challenge Us Most, veteran educator Jeffrey Benson shows educators the value of tenacity and building connections in teaching the students who most need our help. This essential guide includes Detailed portraits based on real-life students whose serious challenges inhibited their classroom experience-and how they eventually achieved success. Strategies for how to analyze students' challenges and develop individualized plans to help them discover a sense of comfort with learning-with in-depth examples of plans in action. Recommendations for teachers and support team on how to gain skills and support and not lose hope through the ups and downs of the work. Specific advice for administrators on constructing systems and procedures that give all our students the best chance for success. Just as teaching the students who challenge us is among our most frustrating experiences as educators, sticking with students until they finally ""get it"" is among our most rewarding. In Hanging In, you'll find the inspiration and field-tested ideas necessary to create a patient and supportive environment for even the most demanding cases in the classroom.

There are particular challenges involved in teaching social work. As with other professional disciplines, it is not simply a matter of passing on the key elements of the knowledge base; there is also the need to equip students to be able to make use of that knowledge in practice and in the context of relevant professional values. This book offers broad insights into effective social work education. It provides insightful guidance to 50 aspects of the social work curriculum and warns of common pitfalls and obstacles to learning. Practical suggestions for exercises and activities are presented in a clearly written, successful blend of theory and practice. Neil Thompson is a distinguished, international scholar and brings over 30 years of experience to a wide range of case studies and transferable skills that will provide a foundation for future social workers everywhere. This guide will be essential for academics teaching social work, practice educators and workforce and freelance development officers.

Are you picking up all your students' work is trying to tell you? In this book, assessment expert Susan M. Brookhart and instructional coach Alice Oakley walk teachers through a better and more illuminating way to approach student work across grade levels and content areas. You'll learn to view students' assignments not as a verdict on right or wrong but as a window into what students "got" and how they are thinking about it. The insight you'll gain will help you * Infer what students are thinking, * Provide effective feedback, * Decide on next instructional moves, and * Grow as a professional. Brookhart and Oakley then guide teachers through the next steps: clarify learning goals, increase the quality of classroom assessments, deepen your content and pedagogical knowledge, study student work with colleagues, and involve students in the formative learning cycle. The book's many authentic examples of student work and teacher insights, coaching tips, and reflection questions will help readers move from looking at student work for correctness to looking at student work as evidence of student thinking.