Learn how you can succeed with the students who need you most in ways you never thought possible.In this thought-provoking book, renowned educator and learning expert Eric Jensen takes his most personal, profound look yet at how poverty and inequity hurt students and their chances for success in life-and how teachers across all grade levels and subject areas can infuse equity into every aspect of their practice. Drawing from a broad survey of research, personal and professional experience, and inspiring real-life success stories, Teaching with Poverty and Equity in Mind explains how teachers can Build relationships with students and create a classwide "in-group" where all learners feel a sense of safety and belonging. Incorporate relevance and cultural responsiveness into curriculum and instruction, increasing student buy-in and replacing compliance with collaboration and leadership. Use the uplifting power of stories to optimize energy and engagement and foster growth mindsets. Provide clear, actionable feedback that empowers students to evaluate and direct their own learning. Shift from disciplining students to coaching them with empathy, de-escalating disruptions and fostering more productive behaviors. Build stronger brains and cultivate capacity through powerful accelerated learning tools. Take steps to become a reflective and equitable educator, examining and debunking harmful biases and establishing personal and professional habits for a lifetime of growth. This insightful, comprehensive guide also includes reflection prompts and downloadable tools and templates to help you move forward with implementation. If we truly believe all students deserve a high-quality education, we need to commit to equity. It starts with each one of us. It starts with you.

What role does empathy play in your success as a school leader? A principal's skills, knowledge, and experience are important when it comes to leading schools. But whether interacting with staff, students, or parents, principals also need empathy-a key social-emotional skill-to be effective and drive continuous improvement. In this book, veteran school leader Thomas R. Hoerr makes the case for why schools need a Chief Empathy Officer as principal and how to become one. Discover how to grow your own empathy, as well as that of others, and the enormous positive effect this can have on your school. Explore how to view differences of opinion as opportunities to learn. And learn how empathy can help you: Build strong relationships with and among staff members; Better connect with students' parents; Reduce conflict by eliminating problems before they get out of hand; Model and pursue the crucial issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion; Improve instructional leadership. Hoerr includes self-assessment and feedback tools, strategies for incorporating empathy schoolwide, and lively anecdotes that will walk you through the do's and don'ts of empathic leadership. If you're interested in taking your leadership skills up a notch (or two or three), The Principal as Chief Empathy Officer is for you!

This book answers the questions of whether teachers can assess students in a genuinely objective manner and if so, how it can be done. Also the answers to the question of how teachers can use assessment most effectively to promote learning are provided. With detailed practical information on all this and more, the 'Assessing Young People' book is an essential resource for all those in teaching and working with young people in a rapidly growing field.

Megan Kortlandt, Carly Stone, and Samantha Keesling have developed a flexible structure for collaborative professional learning that they call the principal lab, in which K-12 principals learn with and from each other to become better instructional leaders. Each chapter walks through the foundational components of a successful principal lab-relationship building, anchoring experiences, observations, and feedback-and then discusses how to lay the groundwork, figure out logistics, and plan and structure labs.Principal Labs: Strengthening Instructional Leadership Through Shared Learning combines the latest research in adult learning with the authors' practical experience to discuss the qualities of a successful principal lab and provide the tools to build your own. It's easy to get started with downloadable reflection and observation templates based on the examples in each chapter. As a school principal you have many responsibilities, and finding time for your own professional development can be a challenge. The approach in this book will help you effectively use your time to connect with other principals, practice and develop feedback skills, and ultimately make informed decisions for instructional improvement in your school.

This timely and essential book provides a comprehensive guide for school leaders who desire to engage their school communities in transformative systemic change. Sharon I. Radd, Gretchen Givens Generett, Mark Anthony Gooden, and George Theoharis offer five practices to increase educational equity and eliminate marginalization based on race, disability, socioeconomics, language, gender and sexual identity, and religion. For each dimension of diversity, the authors provide background information for understanding the current realities in schools and beyond, and they suggest "disruptive practices" to replace the status quo in order to achieve full inclusion and educational excellence for every child.Assuming that leadership to create equity is a unique practice, the book offers * Clear explanations of foundational terms and concepts, such as equity, systemic inequity, paradigms and cognitive dissonance, and privilege; * Specific recommendations for how to build support and sustainability by engaging colleagues and other stakeholders in constructive dialogues with multiple perspectives; * Detailed descriptions of routines and roles for building effective equity-leadership teams; * Guidelines and tools for performing an equity audit, including environmental scans; * A change framework to skillfully transform your system; and * Reflection activities for self-discovery, understanding, and personal and professional growth. A call to action that is both passionate and practical, Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership is an indispensable roadmap for educators undertaking the journey toward an education system that acknowledges and advances the worth and potential of all students.

"Generation Alpha" applies to children born between 2011 and 2025. They will be raised in smaller and constantly evolving families, digital natives, more tech-savvy than previous generations, globally-connected, diverse, and will live and interact with many more generations. Because of these differences, the next generation and the nation is transforming in ways that adults have never experienced before. Valora Washington invites you to consider how to advocate for and influence the trajectories of this next generation. Raising Generation Alpha Kids looks at how this generation of young children presents new opportunities and challenges, and supports and informs the two principal groups of adults in children's lives-their families and early childhood educators.

It can be difficult to think clearly and deeply when a decision must be made, especially for principals and other administrators barraged with information, questions, and demands on their time. When even the smallest mistake can negatively affect students and staff, strong decision-making skills are crucial. By focusing on key questions, however, school leaders can find a path through the complex decisions they encounter every day. What If I'm Wrong? and Other Key Questions for Decisive School Leadership guides you past the pitfalls of split-second instinct, groupthink, prejudice, and the rush to judgment. Leadership coach and former principal Simon Rodberg pulls together true stories from his own experience, examples of a range of school issues, and the latest research in cognitive science into a five-question framework for school leaders to ask themselves when facing a decision: What am I missing? What's one small step? Where's the trade-off? Does it have to be this way? What if I'm wrong? By prompting you to reflect on your own thought processes and cognitive blind spots, Rodberg's approach helps you build good habits of strategic decision making. Learn to navigate both tough dilemmas and everyday challenges as a decisive school leader.

When children of color enter their classrooms each year, many often encounter low expectations, disconnection, and other barriers to their success. In The Innocent Classroom, Alexs Pate traces the roots of these disparities to pervasive negative stereotypes, which children are made aware of before they even walk through the school door. The cumulative weight of these stereotypes eventually takes shape as guilt, which inhibits students' engagement, learning, and relationships and hurts their prospects for the future. If guilt is the primary barrier for children of color in the classroom, then the solution, according to Pate, is to create an Innocent Classroom that neutralizes students' guilt and restores their innocence. To do so, readers will embark on a relationship ""construction project"" in which they will deepen their understanding of how children of color are burdened with guilt; discover students' ""good,"" or the motivation behind their behaviors, and develop strategic responses to that good; and nurture, protect, and advocate for students' innocence. Ultimately, students will reclaim their innocence and begin to make choices that will lead to their success. Teachers will renew their commitment to their students. And the current ineffective system can give way to one that reflects a more enlightened understanding of who our children are-and what they are capable of.

In this revised edition, Carl Glickman and coauthor Rebecca West Burns synthesize their decades of experience in teacher education and supervision into a comprehensive guide to supporting teacher growth and student learning. Embedded in every page are the essential knowledge, skills, approaches, and methods that leaders need to drive instructional improvement. Official school leaders and classroom teachers striving to be the best will learn how to put the school's goals and priorities into practice by: Selecting the right structure for differentiating teacher professional learning to improve outcomes for students. Implementing the technical and procedural skills needed to support teacher learning while observing, assessing, and evaluating instruction. Identifying appropriate relational skills for communicating and working with teachers. Applying the best interpersonal approach to stretch each teacher based on their own developmental level. Making the most of teachable moments with immediate response skills. Understanding how to support teachers' social-emotional wellness as an essential component of improving practice. In addition, each chapter provides detailed scenarios and case studies that illustrate exceptional leadership, and the Appendixes offer connections to dozens of promising practices.We are in a new era of teaching and learning, and a new kind of leader is needed to guide successful and extraordinary schools. Leadership for Learning: How to Bring Out the Best in Every Teacher gives preK-12 leaders the powerful tools they need to ensure that competent, caring, qualified professionals who want to improve teaching and learning are in every classroom.

In today's modern world, it is crucial to ensure diversity and inclusion are present in all forms of education. This can be particularly difficult to achieve in virtual learning environments as educators and students adjust to this new way of teaching and learning. Further study on how schools and institutions across the globe are promoting diversity in online environments is necessary to discover the best practices and ensure education as a whole remains inclusive. Comparative Research on Diversity in Virtual Learning: Eastern vs. Western Perspectives collects lived experiences of stakeholders from different countries regarding their experiences with teaching in diverse virtual learning environments. The book identifies characteristics of diversity in virtual online learning and explores the best practices of teaching and learning in said environments. Importantly, the reference covers experiences from both Eastern and Western countries and compares the challenges and opportunities afforded to both. Covering topics such as student engagement, computational thinking, and diverse environments, this reference work is ideal for teachers, administrators, policymakers, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Today's teachers face a daunting challenge: how to ensure a positive school experience for their students, many of whom carry the burden of adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, poverty, divorce, abandonment, and numerous other serious social issues. Spurred by her personal experience and extensive exploration of brain-based learning, author Marilee Sprenger explains how brain science-what we know about how the brain works-can be applied to social-emotional learning. Specifically, she addresses how to: Build strong, caring relationships with students to give them a sense of belonging. Teach and model empathy, so students feel understood and can better understand others. Awaken students' self-awareness, including the ability to name their own emotions, have accurate self-perceptions, and display self-confidence and self-efficacy. Help students manage their behavior through impulse control, stress management, and other positive skills. Improve students' social awareness and interaction with others. Teach students how to handle relationships, including with people whose backgrounds differ from their own. Guide students in making responsible decisions. Offering clear, easy-to-understand explanations of brain activity and dozens of specific strategies for all grade levels, Social-Emotional Learning and the Brain is an essential guide to creating supportive classroom environments and improving outcomes for all our students.nd dozens of specific strategies for all grade levels, Social-Emotional Learning and the Brain is an essential guide to creating supportive classroom environments and improving outcomes for all our students.

Over the past few years, it has become clear that the path of transformation in schools since 1994 has not led South Africa’s education system to where we had hoped it could be. Through tweets, posts and recent protests in schools, it has become apparent that in former Model-C and private schools, children of colour and those who are ‘different’ don’t feel they belong.

Following the astonishing success of How To Fix South Africa’s Schools, the authors sat down with young people who attended former Model-C and private schools, as well as principals and teachers, to reflect on transformation and belonging in South African schools. These filmed reflections, included on DVD in this book, are honest and insightful.

Drawing on the authors’ experiences in supporting schools over the last twenty years, and the insight of those interviewed, A School Where I Belong outlines six areas where true transformation in South African classrooms and schools can begin.

Children are born learning machines who want to learn and can organize and manage their own learning. Unfortunately, today children have little choice over what they do in school and how and when they do it. Children prepared in this ""other-determined"" manner will be poorly equipped to navigate an adult world requiring that they act autonomously and self-direct learning to acquire skills in rapidly changing environments. In Teaching Students to Become Self-Determined Learners, Michael Wehmeyer and Yong Zhao explore the how and why of self-determined learning-which emphasizes autonomy and choice, turning over ownership for learning to students by supporting them in engaging in activities that are of personal value to them, thus enabling them to act volitionally. You'll learn: How to promote self-determined learning in your classroom or school. The importance of autonomy supports, competence supports, and relatednesssupports. Conditions that enable self-determined learning. Teaching strategies for self-determined learning. Assessment strategies in self-determined learning. The role of technology in self-determined living. The practical strategies, case studies, advice, and resources here will help you help your students to motivate themselves and become self-determined learners.

Schools across the United States and Canada are disrupting the adverse effects of poverty and supporting students in ways that enable them to succeed in school and in life. In this second edition, Parrett and Budge show you how your school can achieve similar results. Expanding on their original framework's still-critical concepts of actions and school culture, they incorporate new insights for addressing equity, trauma, and social-emotional learning. These fresh perspectives combine with lessons learned from 12 additional high-poverty, high-performing schools to form the updated and enhanced Framework for Collective Action. Emphasizing students' social, emotional, and academic learning as the hub for all action in high-performing, high-poverty schools, the authors describe how educators can work within the expanded Framework to address the needs of all students, but particularly those who live in poverty. Equipped with the Framework and a plethora of tools to build collective efficacy (self-assessments, high-leverage questions, action advice, and more), school and district leaders-as well as teachers, teacher leaders, instructional coaches, and other staff-can close persistent opportunity gaps and reverse longstanding patterns of low achievement.

Design thinking is a person-centered, problem-solving process that's a go-to for innovative businesses and gaining traction with school leaders interested in positive change. But understanding design thinking is one thing; actually putting it in play is something else. Authors Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson offer educators a practical guide for navigating design thinking's invigorating challenges and reaping its considerable rewards. They dig deep into the five-stage design thinking process, highlighting risk factors and recommending specific steps to keep you moving forward. The 25 downloadable and reproducible tools provide prompts and supports that will help you and your team: Identify change opportunities. Dig deeper into complex problems. Analyze topics to isolate specific challenges. Connect with and solve for user needs. Apply what you've learned about users to design challenges. Maximize brainstorming power. Create and employ solution prototypes. Pitch solutions and secure buy-in from stakeholders. Organize and analyze user feedback. Map out a solution's specific actions and resource requirements. Design Thinking in Play is a must-have for education leaders who are tired of waiting for someone else to solve their problems and ready to take action, have fun, and leverage collective insight to figure out what will really work for their school, their colleagues, and their students.

Today's school principals face unprecedented challenges that can overwhelm even the most dedicated among them. What can they do when their initial enthusiasm for the job begins to deflate, when the demands of the job seem to outnumber the rewards? How can they regain the energy that propelled them early in their career? The Principal Reboot answers these questions with specific advice on how to reignite passion in addressing the many aspects of the principalship, including: Defining a school's values and mission through rebranding. Strengthening relationships with staff, students, and communit. Leading renewed efforts to improve instruction. Developing teacher leadership. Using data effectively and innovatively. Improving operational procedures and processes. Sharing the wisdom gained from colleagues and her own experience as a principal, author Jen Schwanke offers an engaging, accessible account of the ups and downs of the job, along with helpful, step-by-step suggestions for how to reinvigorate a flagging career and restore the joy that comes with making a school the best that it can be.

Advancing equity in our schools and society requires deep thought and honest conversations about tough topics. These conversations about emotionally charged subjects, including race, class, and culture, can be daunting. Authors Brenda CampbellJones, Shannon Keeny, and Franklin CampbellJones, experts in research and equitable practices, guide you through a meaningful framework for thinking about, preparing for, and having such critical conversations. They invite you to ponder your own cultural identity and assumptions, reflect and deeply consider values and beliefs, and then understand how these factors affect your conversations and interactions with others. They provide essential information about the types of conversations and behaviors we all consciously and subconsciously exhibit and witness, with authentic stories and experiences from people who have used the authors' framework to enrich their communities. As you explore the information and activities in this book that are specifically designed to help you scaffold new ideas into practice, you and your colleagues will examine biases and begin to build equitable experiences for all students. The book's field-tested approach enables every educator to grow professionally by using the power of conversation to develop trust, ask powerful questions, really hear the answers-and learn together in ways that strengthen and invigorate the school and community.

Aimed at the growing number of educators who are looking to move beyond covering the curriculum, Designing Authentic Performance Tasks and Projects provides a comprehensive guide to ensuring students' deeper learning-in which they can transfer their knowledge, skills, and understandings to the world beyond the classroom. Readers will learn how to: Create authentic tasks and projects to address both academic standards and 21st century skills. Apply task frames to design performance tasks that allow voice and choice for students. Design and use criterion-based evaluation tools and rubrics for assessment, including those for students to use in self-assessment and peer assessment. Incorporate performance-based instructional strategies needed to prepare students for authentic performance. Differentiate tasks and projects for all students, including those needing additional support or challenge. Effectively manage the logistics of a performance-based classroom. Use project management approaches to facilitate successful implementation of tasks and projects. Develop performance-based curriculum at the program, school, and district levels. Authors Jay McTighe, Kristina J. Doubet, and Eric M. Carbaugh provide examples and resources across all grade levels and subject areas. Teachers can use this practical guidance to transform their classrooms into vibrant centers of learning, where students are motivated and engaged and see relevance in the work they are doing.

Making is a dynamic and hands-on learning experience that directly connects with long-established theories of how learning occurs. Although it hasn't been a focus of traditional education or had a prominent place in the classroom, teachers find it an accessible, exciting option for their students. The maker movement brings together diverse communities dedicated to creating things through hands-on projects. Makers represent a growing community of builders and creators-engineers, scientists, artists, DIYers, and hobbyists of all ages, interests, and skill levels-who engage in experimentation and cooperation. Transferring this innovative, collaborative, and creative mindset to the classroom is the goal of maker education. A makerspace isn't about the latest tools and equipment. Rather, it's about the learning experiences and opportunities provided to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as a school workshop with high-tech tools (e.g., 3D printers and laser cutters) or as small and low-tech as the corner of a classroom with bins of craft supplies. Ultimately, it's about the mindset-not the ""stuff.""In Learning in the Making, Jackie Gerstein helps you plan, execute, facilitate, and reflect on maker experiences so both you and your students understand how the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of maker education transfer to real-world settings. She also shows how to seamlessly integrate these activities into your curriculum with intention and a clearly defined purpose.

Winner of AM&P EXCEL Gold Award ""They don't care about their education."" ""They are not capable of learning."" ""I can't work with them."" ""I can't get through to them."" Just as you may have thought these things about your students, they, too, may have similar thoughts about you: ""She doesn't care about my education."" ""He is not capable of understanding me."" ""I can't work with her."" ""I can't get through to him."" While all students in your class, building, or school district need your support, the Black and Latino male students-the most underserved, suspended, and expelled students in education-need you to understand them as you support them so that they can thrive academically. In Becoming the Educator They Need, former professional athlete turned educator Robert Jackson reminds teachers and administrators that although ""a great majority of all the stories in the news about Black and Latino males are negative,"" these young men-the most likely to be incarcerated, drop out of school, and become victims of homicide-need you to work through any biases you may have and internalize and employ the five core beliefs and mindsets necessary to best serve your Black and Latino male students, the six core values for teaching Black and Latino males, and the 11 characteristics of strong, healthy relationships and become the educator that these students need.

This book is a road map for teachers and school leaders who need to meet the needs of increasing numbers of Newcomers and other English Learners (ELs). The authors draw from years of experience in working with, listening to, and coaching administrators, teachers, and coaches nationwide to help you develop and implement an effective plan for your school. Beginning with the core belief that ""getting to know the student is pivotal,"" the authors show how to address both the academic and the social needs of Newcomers to help them integrate and excel-from their first day of school. The main components of the plan are the following: Identifying your students and assessing educational and socioemotional needs. Identifying qualified teachers and staff. Developing highly effective programs for Newcomers and other ELs. Accelerating English learners' acquisition of language, literacy, and knowledge through proven classroom teaching techniques. Supporting Newcomers' socioemotional well-being through classroom and administrative structures. Designing, implementing, and sustaining professional development for all staff. If you already have a plan for integrating Newcomers and ELs, you can use the information in this book to assess and strengthen it and to learn more about resources for continued coaching and growth. Whether your school has a formal plan or not, the information in this practical guide can help your staff better collaborate to attend to the needs and build on the strengths of Newcomers and ELs in your school.

What is play and why is it important? Worldwide, the role and significance of play-based learning as opposed to an academic curriculum is under scrutiny. Rethinking learning through play focuses on the role of play in young children in the early years and how it encourages optimal learning. Rethinking learning through play examines various theories and approaches to play, and explores a range of strategies and techniques to integrate play successfully in the learning environment and daily programme. With its strong theoretical foundation, it explains in practical terms what and how children learn through play, and how to support learning through play in different contexts. Rethinking learning through play is aimed at pre-service teachers as well as those who are already working in the field and who value the development and optimal learning of young children.