Build learning environments that support Black girls' excellence and academic achievement. In this thought-provoking and illuminating book, former educator and social justice advocate Monique W. Morris addresses the harmful policies, practices, conditions, and assumptions that too often criminalize Black girls' behavior and steer them down "school-to-confinement pathways" in disproportionate numbers. The key to disrupting such punitive pushout is for educators to develop meaningful relationships with Black girls-connections that are grounded in cultural understanding and focused on helping Black girls develop their identities as valued individuals and contributors to the larger community. Such relationships, Morris argues, can shift Black girls' schooling from a punishment-oriented experience to one that is joyful, healing, and transformative. Along with her own research and experience, Morris explores the topic through in-depth conversations with three distinguished educators and clinical practitioners: Venus Evans-Winters, Janice Johnson Dias, and Kakenya Ntaiya, who provide insights about the challenges of educating Black girls and uplifting accounts of success in promoting their excellence and achievement. These conversations and takeaways for practice are essential guideposts for any teacher, school leader, and policymaker committed to creating learning environments that dispel damaging attitudes and practices and allow Black girls to flourish.

Maya was miserable. She hadn't been out for a good walk for weeks. London was smothered in a crippling fog, and her human said walking was too dangerous. Then she makes a discovery that leads her to a magical world that changes her life and the lives of everyone around her. Spelling bee included!

At the heart of education are two fundamental questions: What should we teach? and How should we teach it? Educators striving to design and deliver the best-possible learning experiences can feel overwhelmed by the possibilities. To help them make these critical decisions, Angela Di Michele Lalor identifies five key priorities of a curriculum that matters-practices, deep thinking, social and emotional learning, civic engagement and discourse, and equity. Emphasizing the importance of schools' determining their own path forward, Lalor provides a framework for action by * Describing how each element contributes to a rigorous, meaningful curriculum, * Providing strategies for incorporating each element into daily instruction and assessment, and * Offering reflection activities to identify strengths, needs, and possible next steps. With insightful observations, research-based background information, and real-world examples from a variety of schools and districts, Making Curriculum Matter presents teachers and administrators with a path for reaching their most important overall goal: to provide comprehensive, meaningful learning to all students.

2015 Global Teacher Prize winner Nancie Atwell and educator Anne McLeod Merkel share strategies for helping students become skilled, passionate, habitual, and critical readers. This new updated edition includes Atwell's latest thinking about the real meaning of close reading, collaborative, literary discussions, teacher-student reading conferences, the content-rich nature of fiction, and features links to expert-tip videos.

We want students to master academic standards, and we want them to be confident, adaptive, and socially responsible. Above all, we want them to find meaning and satisfaction in their lives. Achieving these goals requires a concerted focus on the social-emotional skills that empower students in and beyond the classroom. In Teaching to Empower, Debbie Zacarian and Michael Silverstone explore what an empowered student looks like in our increasingly diverse contemporary schools and prompt educators to examine their own relationship to empowerment. The book's evidence-based strategies and authentic examples show you how to foster an inclusive culture of agency, self-confidence, and collaboration that will give each of your students-regardless of race, culture, language, socioeconomic status, abilities, sexuality, or gender-the opportunity, responsibility, and tools to become an active learner, thoughtful community member, and engaged global citizen. Whether you're a preservice teacher, a classroom novice, or a veteran, you'll find the practical guidance you'll need to: Create inclusive and empowering physical learning spaces. Set up self-directed learning and promote positive interdependence. Promote student self-reflection. Teach the skills of collaboration. Foster the self-advocacy that fuels deeper, more autonomous learning. Partner more effectively with families and the community to support student empowerment.

A clear and comprehensive guide to evaluating and supporting instructional coaches and coaching programs, including how to recruit, hire, and retain effective coaches. With sound practices in place to evaluate coaching programs, instructional coaches will become better partners, teachers will become better mentors, and students will become better learners.Few evaluation systems are specifically geared toward coaching roles. Ensuring that school districts have accurate information about both coaches and coaching programs is crucial to guide improvement in supporting classrooms, as well as in ensuring accountability. With sound evaluation processes in place, districts can effectively evaluate instructional coaches and coaching programs and use data to set goals. A joint publication of ASCD and One Fine Bird Press.

Pretended is a vivid historical, political and cultural account of schools and teaching under Section 28, a law that banned schools in the UK from promoting homosexuality as a 'pretended family relationship'. Catherine Lee was a teacher in schools for each of the 15 years that Section 28 was law (between 1988 and 2003). In Pretended, she considers the landscape for lesbian and gay teachers leading up to, during and after Section 28. Drawing on her diary entries from the Section 28 era, Lee poignantly recalls the challenges and incidents affecting her and thousands of other teachers during this period of state-sanctioned homophobia. She reveals how these diaries led to her involvement in the 2022 feature film Blue Jean, and describes how this unexpected opportunity helped her to make peace with Section 28. Pretended will resonate with every lesbian and gay teacher who experienced Section 28 and will shock those who previously knew nothing about this law. Crucially, Pretended will explain to those who were lesbian and gay students during Section 28 why they never saw people like them in the curriculum, never had a role model and never had an adult in school to talk to about their identity.

Discover all about how students learn to read! This teacher resource examines current research on the science of reading and discusses what it means for classrooms today. From detailed background information to useful classroom tips, authors Jennifer Jump and Robin D. Johnson cover everything teachers need to help students with word recognition. Perfect for professional development, this book includes key words for teacher understanding, teaching checklists, top must-dos, and other features to support teachers as they bring these research-based strategies into their classrooms.

When it comes to 'The Excludables', it is time to shake up the debate. Students who are excluded from school, and society, are at a higher risk of being incarcerated. They are more likely to have mental health difficulties, special educational needs, live in poverty, have social care involvement and they disproportionately come from certain ethnic groups. This book pulls on all those threads using up to date research and establishes a deeper understanding of how and why these things affect school behaviours. The factors that lead to exclusion are complex, and this book meets that challenge head on, including the kinds of "crunchy bits" that are usually avoided at all costs, such as children who are high in callous-unemotional traits, and trauma-informed approaches in prison education. Written by an experienced educator and behaviour consultant, this book steps away from the worn-out discourse that surrounds behaviour in schools, and away from the notion that educators are the only relevant experts. Get ready to explore genetics, bias, epistemic trust, and the human stress-response system; all examined through the lens of the realities of behavioural challenge faced by educators every day. This is a read that will confront everyone in some way.

Teacher quality is widely reputed to be the key determinant of educational success for students. Teachers at the beginning of their career need support and guidance in providing a sustained, high quality experience for their learners. The role of continuing professional development (CPD) is crucial in honing and refining the knowledge, understanding and skills of teachers. Effective CPD can also provide teachers with the self-efficacy needed, particularly when they start teaching, to stay in the profession. With teacher shortages reported across the globe, and up to one third of teachers in England leaving the profession by their fifth year in teaching, CPD is an attractive solution to retain teachers. The Department for Education have established a mandatory CPD framework for all early career teachers (ECTs) teaching in schools in England - The Early Career Framework (ECF). Tanya Ovenden-Hope (Editor) brings together insights from those most closely connected to the ECF; the training providers, school leaders and academics involved in understanding the efficacy of professional development and learning in schools. Ovenden-Hope offers an historical record of the ECF, showing where it came from, what it offers now for schools and early career teachers (ECTs) and the challenges and opportunities for development in the future.

All the talk of closing the achievement gap in schools obscures a more fundamental issue: do the grades we assign to students truly reflect the extent of their learning? In this lively and eye-opening book, educator Myron Dueck reveals how many of the assessment policies that teachers adopt can actually prove detrimental to student motivation and achievement and shows how we can tailor policies to address what really matters: student understanding of content. In sharing lessons, anecdotes, and cautionary tales from his own experiences revamping assessment procedures in the classroom, Dueck offers a variety of practical strategies for ensuring that grades measure what students know without punishing them for factors outside their control; critically examining the fairness and effectiveness of grading homework assignments; designing and distributing unit plans that make assessment criteria crystal-clear to students; creating a flexible and modular retesting system so that students can improve their scores on individual sections of important tests. Grading Smarter, Not Harder is brimming with reproducible forms, templates, and real-life examples of grading solutions developed to allow students every opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Written with abundant humor and heart, this book is a must-read for all teachers who want their grades to contribute to, rather than hinder, their students' success.

Singing Maths is a user-friendly songbook and CD designed to support maths teaching. Singing Maths is a user-friendly songbook and CD designed to support maths teaching and enrich young children's experience of numeracy in a fun and engaging way. The songs and activities introduce key numeracy concepts such as counting, sequences, shape, space and measure, handling data and algebra. The songs are written in an exciting, modern style on subjects that interest children. Each song or chant is accompanied by a set of activities and ideas for further development. No music reading is required and the pack includes a CD with sample performances.

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. The ideas in this book will enable children to experience the delights of watching animals and plants grow, sharing and caring for pets, observing a variety of life-cycles, surveying different minibeasts and finding out how to help vulnerable wild animals like hedgehogs. Linked to the Understanding the World section of the EYFS framework, this book includes ideas for games, creative activities, role play and hands-on experiences with animals and plants to build children's empathy and encourage respect for living things, both in their own environments and further afield.

Student learning communities (SLCs) are more than just a different way of doing group work. Like the professional learning communities they resemble, SLCs provide students with a structured way to solve problems, share insight, and help one another continually develop new skills and expertise. With the right planning and support, dynamic collaborative learning can thrive everywhere. In this book, educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Almarode explain how to create and sustain student learning communities by: Designing group experiences and tasks that encourage dialogue. Fostering the relational conditions that advance academic, social, and emotional development. Providing explicit instruction on goal setting and opportunities to practice progress monitoring. Using thoughtful teaming practices to build cognitive, metacognitive, and emotional regulation skills. Teaching students to seek, give, and receive feedback that amplifies their own and others' learning. Developing the specific leadership skills and strategies that promote individual and group success. Examples from face-to-face and virtual K-12 classrooms help to illustrate what SLCs are, and teacher voices testify to what they can achieve. No more hoping the group work you're assigning will be good enough-or that collaboration will be its own reward. No more crossing your fingers for productive outcomes or struggling to keep order, assess individual student contributions, and ensure fairness. Student Learning Communities shows you how to equip your students with what they need to learn in a way that is truly collective, makes them smarter together than they would be alone, creates a more positive classroom culture, and enables continuous academic and social-emotional growth.

Teaching Research Methods in Political Science brings together experienced instructors to offer a range of perspectives on how to teach courses in political science. It focuses on numerous topics, including identifying good research questions, measuring key concepts, writing literature reviews and developing information literacy skills. Illustrating the ways in which research methods courses connect with wider topics in political science, contributors discuss how methodological considerations can result in recognition of previously silenced voices, and consider the civic education mission of research methods in political science. Chapters outline quantitative and qualitative methods, feminist methodologies and techniques for studying African-American politics, to review and demonstrate the many avenues that instructors of research methods courses might take. This crucial guide to teaching will benefit instructors of courses in research methods in political science, as well as faculty leaders instituting new courses in political science. Its theoretical insights into civic education will also be useful to scholars of education more broadly.

We have a serious problem with the image of teaching in this country. In the eyes of many, teaching is not truly a profession akin to other professions. In the popular imagination, it is not on a par with medicine, law or accountancy, engineering, architecture or business. It is not held in the same esteem as careers which are of equivalent importance to society. Must do better challenges this damaging and pernicious status quo. It examines the origins of our problem with teaching, it shines a light on the exciting reality of teaching in the 21st century, and it charts a new course for the image of the modern teaching profession. The book is written to be easily read by the general reader, because ultimately it is with the general reader - the parent, the employer, the politician - that lies the power to effect the change that society needs. We can and we must change the image of teaching for the better.

Introduce students to this classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by encouraging them to explore social issues within the story and make connections to current and historical events. To Kill a Mockingbird: An Instructional Guide for Literature provides rigorous and engaging cross-curricular activities and lessons that work in conjunction with the text to teach students how to analyze and comprehend rich, complex literature. Students will learn how to analyze story elements in multiple ways, practice close reading and text-based vocabulary, determine meaning through text-dependent questions, and much more.

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.

Educational preparation is currently steered by two oppositional forces in contemporary society: global connectedness and local diversity. The traditional notion that literacy entails the technical ability to decode abstract letters in order to recognise and form words and sentences is contested by the pedagogy of multiliteracies - that there is a wealth of linguistic and cultural pluralism in the world and that people can be part of multiple life contexts that overlap in interest, affiliation and education. Multiliteracies in education develops a pedagogical framework to weave multiliteracies into the fabric of the South African classroom. Multiliteracies in education takes the approach that knowledge is contextually situated and rapidly changing and diverse, which calls for new skills and flexibility, and the ability to work in teams. Chapters are sequenced according to the four pillars of the multiliteracies framework: overt instruction, situated practice, critical framing and transformed practice.

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.