Performance tasks are highly effective tools to assist you in implementing rigorous standards. But how do you create, evaluate, and use such tools? In this bestselling book, educational experts Charlotte Danielson and Elizabeth Marquez explain how to construct and apply performance tasks to gauge students' deeper understanding of mathematical concepts at the high school level. You'll learn how to: Evaluate the quality of performance tasks, whether you've written them yourself or found them online; Use performance tasks for instructional decision-making and to prepare students for summative assessments; Create your own performance tasks, or adapt pre-made tasks to best suit students' needs; Design and use scoring rubrics to evaluate complex performance tasks; Use your students' results to communicate more effectively with parents. This must-have second edition is fully aligned to the Common Core State Standards and assessments and includes a variety of new performance tasks and rubrics, along with samples of student work. Additionally, downloadable student handout versions of all the performance tasks are available as free eResources from our website (www.routledge.com/9781138906990), so you can easily distribute them to your class.

Debate holds enormous potential to build 21st century skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution in the K-12 classroom, but teachers often struggle to implement and contextualize it effectively. Using Debate in the Classroom draws on research from a variety of academic disciplines to explain the benefits of debate across subject areas, and describes how teachers can use debate to enliven their curriculum and support the aims of the Common Core. Topics include: Introducing debate as a pedagogical practice to engage students, improve school culture, and disrupt the school to prison pipeline. Using debate to teach critical literacy and improve students' reading, writing, and speaking skills. Implementing role-playing techniques to strengthen information literacy and reasoning skills. Building students' empathy, perspective-taking skills, and cultural humility as they confront difficult social issues through debate. Appendices provide a variety of tools to assist K-12 teachers in implementing debate in the classroom, including ready-made debate activities, student handouts, and a step-by-step guide to introducing students to debate in just one week.

Help your students develop logical reasoning and critical thinking skills. This new book from bestselling authors and popular consultants Tammy Jones and Leslie Texas offers authentic logic-building activities and writing strategies that can be used across all subject areas in grades 6-8. Filled with hands-on activities and photocopiable tools, Strategic Journeys will help you guide your students into deeper thinking to go beyond the surface of content to true understanding. Topics include: Identifying opportunities for students to engage in meaningful and relevant writing across the content areas; Introducing a logical reasoning process, questioning structure, and bridging models to allow students to delve deeper into problems; Incorporating literature to increase student engagement and make content come alive for your students; Building vocabulary and literacy skills through fun activities aimed at increasing proficiency; Using the Three Phases of Logical Reasoning to plan lessons effectively, help students reflect on their progress, and implement the strategies successfully. The strategies in this book have been implemented in hundreds of classrooms around the country, and have been proven to increase student engagement, promote higher-order thinking and in-depth reasoning, and improve overall achievement.

Becoming an Outstanding English Teacher supports all English teachers in offering a wide range of approaches to teaching and learning that will stimulate and engage students in studying English. It offers practical strategies that can be used instantly in English lessons. The topics offer examples for questioning, differentiation and assessing progress. Some of the ideas have also been incorporated into lesson plans using texts from the revised English National Curriculum. With a strong focus on creativity and engagement, this book covers: promoting thinking and independent learning skills in students methods to check learning rather than doing in the classroom techniques for personalising learning for students creating an environment for behaviour for learning. Fully up to date with the National Curriculum guidelines and packed with practical strategies and activities that are easily accessible, this book will be an essential resource for all English teachers who are aiming to deliver outstanding teaching and learning continuously in their classrooms.

Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a movement that teaches reasoning and argumentative skills to children of all ages. This book looks at the progress that P4C has made in the UK in addressing issues of literacy, critical thinking, PSHE, education for sustainable development and wider issues such as bullying. Chapters identify the different theories and practices that have emerged and discuss the necessity for a reflective approach that P4C brings to education. The book highlights how this movement can fit into the early years, primary and secondary curriculum and the challenges and rewards that come with it. Chapters include: The Evolution of Philosophy for Children in the UK Pedagogical Judgement Negotiating meaning in classrooms: P4C as an exemplar of dialogic pedagogy The impact of P4C on teacher educators Being and becoming a philosophical teacher This will be an invaluable guide for all those interested in P4C and studying courses on Early Childhood Studies, Education Studies and Initial Teacher Training courses.

Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a movement that teaches reasoning and argumentative skills to children of all ages. This book looks at the progress that P4C has made in the UK in addressing issues of literacy, critical thinking, PSHE, education for sustainable development and wider issues such as bullying. Chapters identify the different theories and practices that have emerged and discuss the necessity for a reflective approach that P4C brings to education. The book highlights how this movement can fit into the early years, primary and secondary curriculum and the challenges and rewards that come with it. Chapters include: The Evolution of Philosophy for Children in the UK Pedagogical Judgement Negotiating meaning in classrooms: P4C as an exemplar of dialogic pedagogy The impact of P4C on teacher educators Being and becoming a philosophical teacher This will be an invaluable guide for all those interested in P4C and studying courses on Early Childhood Studies, Education Studies and Initial Teacher Training courses.

The book compares the standardized test scores of both elementary and high schools charter schools with the scores for regular public schools located nearby. It examines the position supported by charter school advocates that charter schools should be supported because they outperform regular public schools. Given that charter schools in Chicago have enjoyed a great deal of support from the past two mayors, and that they make up some 20% of all public schools in the city, Chicago is the perfect location in which to examine this critical issue. Charter schools siphon money and in theory better students from regular public schools at a time when public schools in almost every big city faces financial difficulties. Teachers unions oppose them, as do most liberal scholars. Conservatives and big business support them, as do most conservative scholars. The existence of charter schools is a most divisive issue! Yet, little real data exist to allow us to properly judge the effectiveness of charters. The current work changes that by examining test data in a sophisticated manner that allows comparisons between charters and regular schools. This work should move the debate forward, but will no doubt generate controversy as well.

Understanding Young People's Science Aspirations offers new evidence and understanding about how young people develop their aspirations for education, learning and, ultimately, careers in science. Integrating new findings from a major research study with a wide ranging review of existing international literature, it brings a distinctive sociological analytic lens to the field of science education. The book offers an explanation of how some young people do become dedicated to follow science, and what might be done to increase and broaden this population, exploring the need for increased scientific literacy among citizens to enable them to exercise agency and lead a life underpinned by informed decisions about their own health and their environment. Key issues considered include: why we should study young people's science aspirations the role of families, social class and science capital in career choice the links between ethnicity, gender and science aspirations the implications for research, policy and practice. Set in the context of widespread international policy concern about the urgent need to improve, increase and diversify participation in post-16 science, this key text considers how we must encourage a supply of appropriately qualified future scientists and workers in STEM industries and ensure a high level of scientific literacy in society. It is a crucial read for all training and practicing science teachers, education researchers and academics, as well as anyone invested in the desire to help fulfil young people's science aspirations.

Packed full of games, activities and exercises, this book is designed to be a drama teacher's best friend. Written by a drama teacher with over twenty years' experience which includes heading up a performing arts faculty in a secondary school, GCSE and A-Level examining and presiding as the principal of a successful theatre school, as well as being a published playwright and having her work featured in the 2019 LAMDA Acting Anthology. As well as featuring drama games to use in the classroom, this book contains thorough instructions, valuable advice and useful activities to use in the teaching of improvisation and devising for small and large groups and working with script.

Updated to reflect the latest thinking and includes new material on Religion and Worldviews and Inclusion and RE A one-stop-shop handbook for new and non-specialist RE teachers looking for a succinct guide to effective teaching and essential subject knowledge. Written by an experienced teacher, teacher education and examiner who knows exactly what teachers are looking for and what they're most concerned about. Cover key areas of teaching such as lesson planning and assessment plus a guide to each Key Stage. Offers a new common-sense pedagogy based on the best of best pedagogies out there, which has been tried, tested and refined in a range of secondary schools in the UK. An emphasis throughout on how religious education can promote understanding, tolerance and respect.

The book compares the standardized test scores of both elementary and high schools charter schools with the scores for regular public schools located nearby. It examines the position supported by charter school advocates that charter schools should be supported because they outperform regular public schools. Given that charter schools in Chicago have enjoyed a great deal of support from the past two mayors, and that they make up some 20% of all public schools in the city, Chicago is the perfect location in which to examine this critical issue. Charter schools siphon money and in theory better students from regular public schools at a time when public schools in almost every big city faces financial difficulties. Teachers unions oppose them, as do most liberal scholars. Conservatives and big business support them, as do most conservative scholars. The existence of charter schools is a most divisive issue! Yet, little real data exist to allow us to properly judge the effectiveness of charters. The current work changes that by examining test data in a sophisticated manner that allows comparisons between charters and regular schools. This work should move the debate forward, but will no doubt generate controversy as well.

Bring ACT Math and Science prep into the classroom to enhance student learning! In this new copublication from Routledge and test-prep experts A-List Education, you'll learn how the updated ACT exam is closely aligned with the Common Core, making it easy to weave test prep into your curriculum and help students hone the skills they need for college readiness. The book is filled with practical examples of how the Common Core State Standards are connected to specific sections, question types, and strategies applicable to the ACT, so you can simultaneously prepare your students for the test while improving their overall math, science, and reasoning skills.

Middle Grades Research Journal (MGRJ) is a refereed, peer reviewed journal that publishes original studies providing both empirical and theoretical frameworks that focus on middle grades education. A variety of articles are published quarterly in March, June, September, and December of each volume year.

Bring ACT Math and Science prep into the classroom to enhance student learning! In this new copublication from Routledge and test-prep experts A-List Education, you'll learn how the updated ACT exam is closely aligned with the Common Core, making it easy to weave test prep into your curriculum and help students hone the skills they need for college readiness. The book is filled with practical examples of how the Common Core State Standards are connected to specific sections, question types, and strategies applicable to the ACT, so you can simultaneously prepare your students for the test while improving their overall math, science, and reasoning skills.

Bring ACT ELA prep into the classroom to enhance student learning! In this new copublication from Routledge and test-prep experts A-List Education, you'll learn how the updated ACT exam is closely aligned with the Common Core, making it easy to weave test prep into your curriculum and help students hone the skills they need for college readiness. The book is filled with practical examples of how the Common Core State Standards are connected to specific sections, question types, and strategies applicable to the ACT, so you can simultaneously prepare your students for the test while improving their reading, writing, and language skills.

For too many students, mathematics consists of facts in a vacuum, to be memorized because the instructor says so, and to be forgotten when the course of study is completed. In this all-too-common scenario, young learners often miss the chance to develop skills-specifically, reasoning skills-that can serve them for a lifetime. The elegant pages of Teaching Mathematical Reasoning in Secondary School Classrooms propose a more positive solution by presenting a reasoning- and discussion-based approach to teaching mathematics, emphasizing the connections between ideas, or why math works. The teachers whose work forms the basis of the book create a powerful record of methods, interactions, and decisions (including dealing with challenges and impasses) involving this elusive topic. And because this approach shifts the locus of authority from the instructor to mathematics itself, students gain a system of knowledge that they can apply not only to discrete tasks relating to numbers, but also to the larger world of people and the humanities.

A sampling of the topics covered:

• Whole-class discussion methods for teaching mathematics reasoning.
• Learning mathematical reasoning through tasks.
• Teaching mathematics using the five strands.
• Classroom strategies for promoting mathematical reasoning.
• Maximizing student contributions in the classroom.
• Overcoming student resistance to mathematical conversations.

Teaching Mathematical Reasoning in Secondary School Classrooms makes a wealth of cutting-edge strategies available to mathematics teachers and teacher educators. This book is an invaluable resource for researchers in mathematics and curriculum reform and of great interest to teacher educators and teachers.

Knowing About Language is an essential and comprehensive introduction to and discussion of the value of linguistics in the secondary and post 16 curriculum. Split into three easily accessible parts, each chapter draws on theoretical and practical reasons for developing language awareness for the teacher and student, the impact of government and institutional policy on teaching and teacher knowledge, and explores recent research about the value of linguistic knowledge to support student attainment. Expert contributors show how recent innovations in linguistics can support language teaching by providing a range of practical ideas that can be used in the classroom. Knowing About Language is a valuable theoretical, critical and practical guide for the teacher and researcher, and anyone interested in applied linguistics and the study of language in education.Written by authors who are passionate about the value of language study both as a classroom topic and more generally, this book acts as a resource to inform and support teachers in wider aspects of their role by demonstrating the powerfully enabling nature and inherent value of language study and linguistics in secondary and post-16 curricula.

Knowing About Language is an essential and comprehensive introduction to and discussion of the value of linguistics in the secondary and post 16 curriculum. Split into three easily accessible parts, each chapter draws on theoretical and practical reasons for developing language awareness for the teacher and student, the impact of government and institutional policy on teaching and teacher knowledge, and explores recent research about the value of linguistic knowledge to support student attainment. Expert contributors show how recent innovations in linguistics can support language teaching by providing a range of practical ideas that can be used in the classroom. Knowing About Language is a valuable theoretical, critical and practical guide for the teacher and researcher, and anyone interested in applied linguistics and the study of language in education.Written by authors who are passionate about the value of language study both as a classroom topic and more generally, this book acts as a resource to inform and support teachers in wider aspects of their role by demonstrating the powerfully enabling nature and inherent value of language study and linguistics in secondary and post-16 curricula.

-Offers an interdisciplinary, five-lesson module using project- and problem-based learning to help seventh grade students investigate the health, social, and economic impacts of GMO production and consumption, designed to infuse real-world learning into K-12 classrooms. -Written and developed for seventh grade teachers, the book offers lesson plans guiding students to research different aspects of GMO production and consumption, analyze various sources of research, and share their findings by creating a documentary. -Anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning, which can be used in full or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools and teachers charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach.

Having a positive understanding of yourself is empowering and boosts wellbeing. The young people's workbook is written with the young people at the forefront, so it is autism-friendly and has a positive focus on difference. When a young person receives an autism diagnosis, many parents and professionals do not know how to talk to them about this, and this book pairing gives them the tools and confidence to do that. There isn't currently a book on the market that enables a lead adult to feel skilled enough to have these conversations with a young person. Rebecca Duffus has years of experience using this format with young people, with positive outcomes, as well as 14 years of experience of working with young people, families and education settings.

A perennial discussion about teacher development is the optimal content background for teachers. In recent years, that discussion has taken center stage in the work of mathematics education researchers, mathematicians, mathematics professional developers, and mathematics education policymakers. Much of the existing and prior work in this area has been directed toward mathematical knowledge for teaching at the elementary level. The work described in this volume takes a sometimes-neglected approach, focusing on the dynamic nature of mathematical understanding rather than on a stable description of mathematical knowledge, and on mathematics for secondary teaching rather than mathematics for teaching at the elementary level. The work reported in Mathematical Understanding for Secondary Teaching: A Framework and Classroom-Based Situations is a practice-based response to the question of what mathematical understandings secondary teachers could productively use in their teaching. For each of more than 50 events, our team of almost 50 mathematics educators who were experienced mathematics teachers developed descriptions of the mathematics that teachers could use-each of those descriptions (consisting of the event and the mathematics related to the event) is what we call a Situation. We developed our Framework for Mathematical Understanding for Secondary Teaching (MUST) based on an analysis of our entire set of Situations. We call the work practice-based because the MUST framework is based on actual events that we witnessed in our observations of secondary mathematics practice. Groups of mathematics teachers can use this volume to enhance their own understandings of secondary mathematics. School leaders and professional developers in secondary mathematics will find our MUST Framework and Situations useful as they work with teachers in enhancing and deepening their understanding of secondary mathematics. Mathematics teacher educators and mathematicians who teach mathematics to prospective and in-service secondary teachers will be able to couch their mathematical discussions in the Situations-examples that arise from secondary mathematics classrooms. They will be able to use this volume as they design courses and programs that enhance mathematics from the perspectives identified in the MUST framework. Policymakers and researchers can use our MUST framework as they consider the mathematics background needed by teachers.

Pre-service and beginning teachers have to negotiate an unfamiliar and often challenging working environment, in both teaching spaces and staff spaces. Workplace Learning in Physical Education explores the workplace of teaching as a site of professional learning. Using stories and narratives from the experiences of pre-service and beginning teachers, the book takes a closer look at how professional knowledge is developed by investigating the notions of 'professional' and 'workplace learning' by drawing on data from a five year project. The book also critically examines the literature associated with, and the rhetoric that surrounds 'the practicum', 'fieldwork' 'school experience' and the 'induction year'. The book is structured around five significant dimensions of workplace learning: Social tasks of teaching and learning to teach Performance, practice and praxis Identity, subjectivities and the profession/al Space and place for, and of, learning Micropolitics As well as identifying important implications for policy, practice and research methodology in physical education and teacher education, the book also shows how research can be a powerful medium for the communication of good practice. This is an important book for all students, pre-service and beginning teachers working in physical education, for academics researching teacher workspaces, and for anybody with an interest in the wider themes of teacher education, professional practice and professional learning in the workplace.

A perennial discussion about teacher development is the optimal content background for teachers. In recent years, that discussion has taken center stage in the work of mathematics education researchers, mathematicians, mathematics professional developers, and mathematics education policymakers. Much of the existing and prior work in this area has been directed toward mathematical knowledge for teaching at the elementary level. The work described in this volume takes a sometimes-neglected approach, focusing on the dynamic nature of mathematical understanding rather than on a stable description of mathematical knowledge, and on mathematics for secondary teaching rather than mathematics for teaching at the elementary level. The work reported in Mathematical Understanding for Secondary Teaching: A Framework and Classroom-Based Situations is a practice-based response to the question of what mathematical understandings secondary teachers could productively use in their teaching. For each of more than 50 events, our team of almost 50 mathematics educators who were experienced mathematics teachers developed descriptions of the mathematics that teachers could use-each of those descriptions (consisting of the event and the mathematics related to the event) is what we call a Situation. We developed our Framework for Mathematical Understanding for Secondary Teaching (MUST) based on an analysis of our entire set of Situations. We call the work practice-based because the MUST framework is based on actual events that we witnessed in our observations of secondary mathematics practice. Groups of mathematics teachers can use this volume to enhance their own understandings of secondary mathematics. School leaders and professional developers in secondary mathematics will find our MUST Framework and Situations useful as they work with teachers in enhancing and deepening their understanding of secondary mathematics. Mathematics teacher educators and mathematicians who teach mathematics to prospective and in-service secondary teachers will be able to couch their mathematical discussions in the Situations-examples that arise from secondary mathematics classrooms. They will be able to use this volume as they design courses and programs that enhance mathematics from the perspectives identified in the MUST framework. Policymakers and researchers can use our MUST framework as they consider the mathematics background needed by teachers.

This practical book outlines how you can challenge students to grapple with complex problems and engage more meaningfully with information across the content areas, rather than rely solely on rote memorization and standardized testing to measure academic success. Author John Barell shares vignettes from effective middle and high school teachers around the country, analyzes what works and what doesn't when encouraging students to dig deeper, and offers practical strategies that you can try in your own classroom. Topics include: Guiding students to hone their skills in abstract reasoning, inquiry, creative problem solving, and critical thinking; Designing your lessons and units for authentic achievement, to prepare students for success in their future careers and academic pursuits; Using rigorous benchmark assessments to analyze students' progress in meaningful ways; and Encouraging students to set learning goals and drive their own achievement. Aligned with the Common Core and other standards, this book will help you teach students to become inquisitive, engaged citizens who wonder about the universe, stretch their imaginations, and solve problems by asking, What If?

Schools That Succeed, Students Who Achieve compares the academic achievements of students in the United States to those of students in other countries. Examining fundamental questions and educational issues, James Deneen identifies what all students should learn and discusses what American students currently learn. Deneen argues that failing schools can become successful by studying examples of successful schools with similar demographic features. To that end, he presents profiles of ten successful elementary schools, seven middle schools, ten high schools, and three highly diverse but successful school districts. The examples contain a sampling of economically disadvantaged as well as affluent and financially average school communities. This book provides demographic data, evidence of student achievement, and descriptions of programs that contribute to each school and district's success, illuminating what successful schools do to improve student achievement regardless of-or sometimes because of-their socioeconomic status. In the final chapters of this book, Deneen describes the assessment and evaluation of curricular changes and summarizes the policies and practices that work to create successful schools.