How can we ensure that all students, regardless of cultural background or socioeconomic status, are granted equitable opportunities to succeed in the classroom and beyond? In Keeping It Real and Relevant: Building Authentic Relationships in Your Diverse Classroom, author and veteran educator Ignacio Lopez offers hard-won lessons that educators at all levels can apply to teaching, assessing, counseling, and designing interventions for learners from all walks of life. These insights are all rooted in the same core principle: building deep and meaningful relationships with students is the key driver of their success. In addition to examining the pivotal role of relationship-building among teachers and students in preparing the latter to perform at the highest level, this book offers: Real-life examples of challenging classroom situations, each with a detailed breakdown of how they were peacefully and non-punitively resolved. Strategies for designing learning environments suited to the individual needs of students and reflective of their cultural backgrounds. Ideas for scaffolding students as they experience and internalize epiphanies about what works and what doesn't, both academically and behaviorally. Activities and reflection questions for use in professional development. Many teachers find balancing the needs of increasingly diverse classrooms made up of learners from increasingly diverse backgrounds to be a difficult and often thankless task-and one that takes precious time away from instructional planning. Here, Lopez outlines simple but ingenious steps for addressing these needs holistically, in a way that takes no extra time yet amply enhances the learning experience for students. Clear, practical, and much-needed, Keeping It Real and Relevant is the ultimate blueprint for creating a harmonious and successful classroom for kids of all colors, creeds, and cultures.

What will it take to create truly contemporary learning environments that meet the demands of 21st-century society, engage learners, and produce graduates who are prepared to succeed in the world? What skills and capacities do teachers and leaders need to create and sustain such schools? What actions are necessary? Bold Moves for Schools offers a compelling vision that answers these questions-and action steps to make the vision a reality. Looking through the lenses of three pedagogies-antiquated, classical, and contemporary-authors Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Marie Hubley Alcock examine every aspect of K-12 education, including curriculum, instruction, assessment, and the program structures of space (both physical and virtual), time, and grouping of learners and professionals. In a new job description for teachers, Jacobs and Alcock highlight and expound on the following roles: Self-navigating professional learner. Social contractor. Media critic and media maker. Innovative designer. Globally connected citizen. Advocate for learners and learning. With thought-provoking proposals and practical strategies for change, Bold Moves for Schools sets educators on the path to redefining their profession and creating exciting new learning environments. The challenge is unprecedented. The possibilities are unlimited.

In this book, Erik M. Francis explores how one of the most fundamental instructional strategies-questioning-can provide the proper scaffolding to deepen student thinking, understanding, and application of knowledge. You'll learn: Techniques for using questioning to extend and evaluate student learning experiences. Eight different kinds of questions that challenge students to demonstrate higher-order thinking and communicate depth of knowledge. How to rephrase the performance objectives of college and career readiness standards into questions that engage and challenge students. Francis offers myriad examples of good questions across content areas and grade levels, as well as structures to help teachers create and use the different kinds of questions. By using this book to fine-tune your approach to questioning, you can awaken the spirit of inquiry in your classroom and help students deepen their knowledge, understanding, and ability to communicate what they think and know.

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.

Focusing on academic entrepreneurship in the university context, the authors explore how researchers, teachers, students, academic managers and administrators make sense of entrepreneurship and of the paradoxes and contradictions involved. The book investigates how these diverse entrepreneurial actors and their stakeholders interpret and analyse entrepreneurial activities within the university ecosystem. New Movements in Academic Entrepreneurship covers research commercialisation, academic start-up companies and entrepreneurship education, as well as university-society relationships more widely. With contributions from Europe, North America and Asia, this book helps to broaden our understanding of academic entrepreneurship using original theoretical insights and rich empirical data. Essential reading for students and researchers of entrepreneurial universities and ecosystems, this book provides fresh theoretical frameworks and an inclusive understanding of academic entrepreneurship.

Based on the work of N-RAIS, an independent organisation working with teachers, learners, parents, and community groups, this book is for education professionals involved in creating positive cultures for learning in schools and communities.

Is this right? Is this how it's supposed to look? Adolescent writers often ask these kinds of questions because traditional grammar instruction focuses too much on what's right or what's wrong. The fear of making a mistake hides the true power of conventions - the creation of meaning, purpose, and effect, the ultimate reading-writing connection. Join Jeff Anderson, with Travis Leech and Melinda Clark, as they explore grammar in a new way in Patterns of Power: Inviting Adolescent Writers into the Conventions of Language, Grades 6 - 8. Let's lift middle school writers by focusing on possibility and producing effective writing that will transfer to the classroom and beyond. Inside Patterns of Power, Grades 6 - 8, teachers will find a quick yet comprehensive explanation of the invitational process-the easy-to-follow, brain-based process created to invite adolescent writers to learn about and apply conventions of the English language through the celebration of author's purpose and craft. This process is the foundation on which 55 authentic, flexible, and effective lesson sets were built. Through practical guidance and ready-to-use lessons, you'll be fully equipped to teach grammar in an engaging and authentic way in just 10 minutes a day. Inside you'll find: 55 standards-aligned lesson sets that include excerpts from high-interest, authentic, and diverse young adult and middle grade mentor texts Real-life classroom examples and tips gleaned from the authors' work facilitating the Patterns-of-Power process in hundreds of classrooms Resources to use in classroom instruction or as handouts for student literacy notebooks With hundreds of teach-tomorrow visuals and implementation supports that include quick-reference guides as well as soundtrack lists to infuse the joy of music into grammar instruction, Patterns of Power, Grades 6 - 8 gives you everything you need to inspire your adolescent writers to move beyond limitation and into the endless possibilities of what they can do as writers.

Gathering unique and thoughtful contributions from leading international scholars, this timely Research Handbook offers diverse perspectives on university rankings twenty years after the first global rankings emerged. It presents an in-depth analysis that reflects the current state of research on rankings, their influence and impact. The Research Handbook explores how rankings and their impacts can be theorized and conceptualized, as well as the methodological tensions that rankings generate. It further examines how rankings have affected institutional behaviours and interacted with the quality agenda in higher education, examining what rankings mean for equity, teaching and learning, and students. Chapters also analyse how rankings interact with and accentuate the geopolitics of higher education, looking ahead to emergent policy issues and responses to rankings. Higher education researchers, policy and decision makers as well as rankings followers will find the critical insights into globalisation and geopolitics, quality assurance, international comparability and assessment, and student outcomes and learning in this Research Handbook interesting. It will also be a useful read for higher education and university leaders and managers wanting a better understanding of rankings and their usefulness and challenges.

In this provocative and timely book, Luis Eladio Torres challenges a common assumption: that education is the "first priority" for families, including those who are raising their children in low-income, high-need communities. Instead, he argues that these families must confront daunting challenges in five other areas-food, shelter, safety, health, and access to technology-before they can focus on their children's education. To make his case, Torres draws on his experience as the award-winning principal of an elementary school in the Bronx and as a leader in New York City's community schools network. A community school focuses on educating the whole child, supporting families, and extending its reach into the larger community-both by tapping into resources the community can offer and by providing a range of social and health services to that community. The Six Priorities: How to Find the Resources Your School Community Needs demonstrates how leaders in challenging education environments can improve their schools through a "community-matching process" that consists of four steps: 1. Identifying the gaps between what is available and what is necessary for a school and its community to function well 2. Specifying needs, including prioritizing and distinguishing needs from wants. 3. Telling your story, as a way to gain support for the effort to close the gap and address the needs. 4. Establishing strategic partnerships with individuals, organizations, and agencies that can provide resources and expertise. To help you implement the process in your own school, this insightful guide includes a downloadable community-matching worksheet. The goals of this process are clear: to reduce the shocking inequities between impoverished communities and their wealthier counterparts; to help disadvantaged students succeed; and, ultimately, to steer them toward productive lives beyond the classroom. The need has never been greater.

In this revised and updated 4th edition, Discipline with Dignity provides in-depth guidance for implementing a proven approach to classroom management that can help students make better choices and teachers be more effective. Emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and self-control, the authors offer specific strategies and techniques for building strong relationships with disruptive students and countering the toxic social circumstances that affect many of them, including dysfunctional families, gangs, and poverty. Educators at all levels can learn: The difference between formal and informal discipline systems and when to use each. The role of values, rules, and consequences. How to address the underlying causes of discipline problems that occur both in and out of school. What teachers can do to defuse or prevent classroom disruptions and disrespectful behavior without removing students from the classroom. Why traditional approaches such as threats, punishments, and rewards are ineffective-and what to do instead. How to use relevance, teacher enthusiasm, choice, and other elements of curriculum and instruction to motivate students. How to reduce both teacher and student stress that can trigger power struggles. With dozens of specific examples of student-teacher interactions, Discipline with Dignity illustrates what you can do-and not do-to make the classroom a place where students learn and teachers maintain control in a nonconfrontational way. The goal is success for all, in schools that thrive.

It is an old cliche that leading and managing academics is like herding cats. This book challenges this myth and presents a way to deal with the many challenges of academic leadership, from managing departments, research groups and teams to managing tensions between research and teaching. The book is a practical and stimulating guide to different pathways to successful academic leadership, both in personal and organizational terms.

In The Coach Approach to School Leadership, Jessica Johnson, Shira Leibowitz, and Kathy Perret address a dilemma faced by many principals: how to function as learning leaders while fulfilling their evaluative and management duties. The answer? Incorporating instructional coaching techniques as an integral part of serious school improvement. The authors explain how principals can: Master the skill of "switching hats" between the nonjudgmental coach role and the evaluative supervisor role. Expand their classroom visits and combine coaching with evaluation requirements. Nurture relationships with teachers and build a positive school culture. Provide high-quality feedback to support the development of both teachers and students. Empower teachers to lead their own professional learning and work together as a team. Drawing from the authors' work with schools as well as their conversations with educators across the globe, this thought-provoking book speaks to the unique needs of principals as instructional leaders, providing solutions to challenges in every aspect of this complex endeavor. The role of the principal is changing at a rapid pace. Let this resource guide you in improving your own practice while helping teachers master the high-quality instruction that leads to student success.

Social justice is a philosophy that has gathered momentum over the past few years to bring to light the inequities that exist within our society. In the field of education, social justice illuminates the challenges that marginalized students and minority students face compared to other students. Social Justice and Culturally-Affirming Education in K-12 Settings seeks to bring together social scientists, researchers, and other practitioners to delve into social justice issues in K-12 settings and considers the various challenges and future directions that are associated with this field. Covering key topics such as inclusive education, educational reform, and school policies, this reference work is ideal for administrators, policymakers, researchers, academicians, practitioners, scholars, instructors, and students.

How to Manage Student Consulting Projects describes the key principles and tools needed by project advisors to manage student consulting projects in an academic setting. The authors highlight different approaches for managing student consulting teams, including an innovative model in which graduate students manage undergraduates. This model of experiential learning suggests that project advisors should include reflection of learning as a key outcome for any student consulting project. The book also emphasizes the importance of evaluating both team and individual performance in a project's overall success, and data are shown on the positive impact that student teams have had on clients. In addition to offering strategies that project advisors can use to improve project performance, the book provides information for program administrators and deans, as well as project managers in non-academic settings, to help in the development and running of project-based learning.

With Doing Poorly on Purpose, veteran educator James R. Delisle dispels the negative associations and stereotypes connected to underachievement. By focusing on smart kids who get poor grades not because they're unable to do better in school but because they don't want to Delisle presents a snapshot of underachievement that may look far different from what you envision it to be. There is no such thing as a ""classic underachiever."" Students (and their reasons for underachieving) are influenced by a wide range of factors, including self-image, self-concept, social-emotional relationships, and the amount of dignity teachers afford their students. Helping ""smart"" students achieve when they don't want to is not an easy task, but you can reengage and inspire students using Delisle's insights and practical advice on these topics: Autonomy. Access. Advocacy. Alternatives. Aspirations. Approachable Educators. Smart, underachieving students need the reassurance that they are capable, valuable, and worth listening to despite their low academic performance. If these students who are otherwise academically capable don't feel they are getting respect from those in charge of their learning, then the desire to conform and achieve is minimized. In a word, they want dignity. Don't we all? This book is a joint publication of ASCD and Free Spirit Publishing.

Karen Quinn has successfully taught hundreds of parents how to prepare their children for testing, and "Testing For Kindergarten" is her ultimate, comprehensive guide to having fun while teaching to the underlying abilities every test assesses.
Whether your child is going to a private kindergarten or a public school, he or she will most likely be tested--and placed in classrooms according to those results. But information about intelligence tests is closely guarded, and it can be difficult to understand what your kids need to know.
As an expert who has successfully taught hundreds of parents how to work with their own children, Karen Quinn has written the ultimate guide to preparing your child for kindergarten testing. The activities she suggests are "not "about "teaching to the test." They are about having fun while teaching to the underlying abilities every test assesses.
From the "right" way to have a conversation to natural ways to bring out your child's inner math geek, Quinn shares the techniques that every parent can do with their kids to give them the best chance to succeed in school and beyond. It's just good parenting--and better test scores are icing on the cake.