Finally- a roadmap for growing students' confidence and competence in learning. We strive to empower our students to lead their own inquiry, discover knowledge, and construct approaches to solving real-life challenges. Often, though, we make the mistake of designing learning experiences that burden students with the unrealistic expectation of expertise that hasn't yet been developed. The solution: proper scaffolding for surface, deep, and transfer learning. Building upon the groundwork from Michael McDowell's book Rigorous PBL by Design, this new resource provides practices that strategically support students as they move from novices to experts in core academics. You'll learn high-impact strategies that ensure students develop ownership and confidence in their learning, plus essential tools to build your own efficacy and support your colleagues in building collective expertise. Chock full of mission-critical guidance, this book Provides an actionable framework for developing student expertise Offers practical strategies, tools, and routines for creating a culture that cultivates expertise and builds student efficacy Gives a simple, effective unit and lesson template that clarifies the steps students must take to build, deepen, and apply core content knowledge and skills Ensures your students' progress in their learning through a process for selecting instructional, feedback, and learning strategies Includes strategies for improving your professional expertise individually and collectively "As educators, we are challenged to prepare our students for college and career readiness as they go into the real world. Developing Expert Learners addresses the intentional moves of the teacher to prepare students for challenging work at their level of learning, resulting in students reaching their fullest potential as experts in their own learning." Elizabeth Alvarez, Chief of Schools Chicago Public Schools

"The finest writer of paperback originals in America." - Stephen King
"Surely one of the most terrifying novels ever written." - Poppy Z. Brite
"Beyond any trace of doubt, one of the best writers of horror in this or any other country." - Peter Straub
"Readers of weak constitution should beware " - "Publishers Weekly"
"McDowell has a flair for the gruesome." - "Washington Post"
After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait. Something that has terrified Dauphin Savage and Luker McCray since they were boys and which still haunts their nightmares. Something horrific that may be responsible for several terrible and unexplained deaths years earlier - and is now ready to kill again . . .
A haunted house story unlike any other, Michael McDowell's "The Elementals" (1981) was one of the finest novels to come out of the horror publishing explosion of the 1970s and '80s. Though best known for his screenplays for Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas," McDowell is now being rediscovered as one of the best modern horror writers and a master of Southern Gothic literature. This edition of McDowell's masterpiece of terror features a new introduction by award-winning horror author Michael Rowe. McDowell's first novel, the grisly and darkly comic "The Amulet" (1979), is also available from Valancourt Books.

To make a lasting impact, redefine your leadership. Discover a new model of educational leadership, one that ensures growth for all students in both core academic content and 21st-century skills. With practical examples, stories from the field, and numerous activities and reflective questions, this insightful book takes you step-by-step through the work of the learning leader, helping you meet the unique learning needs of staff and students-and get the biggest impact from your own limited time. You'll also find ways to: Ensure clarity in strategic planning Establish coherence throughout the system Enact system-wide capacity-building processes Craft your personal leadership skills

Project- and Problem-Based Learning is a very popular method of instruction, but PBL is often not designed thoughtfully to address surface, deep, and transfer learning outcomes. In this book, McDowell describes three key shifts that need to happen in PBL design to reach students' learning goals, which are clarity, challenge and culture. When these shifts are implemented in PBL design, the result is learners who are both confident and competent. Confident learners have a growth mindset, are assessment capable, and collaborate. Competent learners have the right surface and deep knowledge, and can transfer it to new situations.

" O]ne of the best writers of horror in this or any other country." - Peter Straub
"One of the genre's most underrated writers . . . enjoyably nasty." - Poppy Z. Brite
"A must-read for horror fiction fans. . . . Obtain "The Amulet" by any means necessary." - "Too Much Horror Fiction"
"McDowell has a flair for the gruesome." - "Washington Post"
When a rifle range accident leaves Dean Howell disfigured and in a vegetative state, his wife Sarah finds her dreary life in Pine Cone, Alabama made even worse. After long and tedious days on the assembly line, she returns home to care for her corpselike husband while enduring her loathsome and hateful mother-in-law, Jo. Jo blames the entire town for her son's mishap, and when she gives a strange piece of jewelry to the man she believes most responsible, a series of gruesome deaths is set in motion. Sarah believes the amulet has something to do with the rising body count, but no one will believe her. As the inexplicable murders continue, Sarah and her friend Becca Blair have no choice but to track down the amulet themselves, before it's too late . . .
Michael McDowell (1950-1999) is best known for his screenplays to the films "Beetlejuice" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas," but he was also the author of several excellent and underrated Southern Gothic horror novels, of which "The Amulet" (1979) was the first. Originally published as a pulp paperback, now scarce and long out-of-print, McDowell's grimly humorous and delightfully horrific novel returns to print in this edition, which features a new introduction by Poppy Z. Brite.