The Road to Tenure offers humorous recollections of the messiness and confusion that fill the days of a pre-tenure academic-from graduate school through the postdoc and into the assistant professor days. The book's three sections roughly map onto the chronology of academic life, beginning with graduate school and the job search experience; followed by teaching, research, and service; and finally the challenges of family and academic identity. The book is not a how-to, nor does it emphasize "lessons learned" on the way to tenure. Instead, the collection earnestly, and with good humor, captures a significant and meaningful slice of the experience of pursuing academia in contemporary colleges and universities. For the doctoral student or newly hired faculty member, these essays will provide some comfort with their implicit suggestion that, while it's certainly hard work, you are not alone.

The Road to Tenure offers humorous recollections of the messiness and confusion that fill the days of a pre-tenure academic-from graduate school through the postdoc and into the assistant professor days. The book's three sections roughly map onto the chronology of academic life, beginning with graduate school and the job search experience; followed by teaching, research, and service; and finally the challenges of family and academic identity. The book is not a how-to, nor does it emphasize "lessons learned" on the way to tenure. Instead, the collection earnestly, and with good humor, captures a significant and meaningful slice of the experience of pursuing academia in contemporary colleges and universities. For the doctoral student or newly hired faculty member, these essays will provide some comfort with their implicit suggestion that, while it's certainly hard work, you are not alone.

"This book places students center stage in the discussion of how we know what students know. Using formative assessment to understand student learning is a theme grounded in good teaching and good assessment!" -Jo Topps, Regional Directorth K-12 Alliance/WestEd "This book incorporates current research and not only provides an explanation of the necessity of formative assessment, but offers a system for planning lessons and a variety of tools to implement formative assessment in the classroom." -Susan Leeds, Science Department Chair and Gifted Studies Teacher Howard Middle School, Winter Park, FL Use this powerful tool to enhance science teaching and learning! Research has shown that when teachers use formative assessments effectively, they have a clearer understanding of what students know and are better able to design instruction that meets learners' needs. This practical guide shows teachers how to create and implement formative assessments in their middle and high school science classrooms. Grounded in extensive and solid research, this guide covers all science content areas-physics/physical science, life science/biology, earth and space science, and chemistry-as well as five types of formative assessments: big idea questions, concept maps, evidence-to-explanation, predict-observe-explain, and multiple choice. Teachers will find additional support in: Richly detailed, concrete examples of the five types of assessments In-depth guidelines for implementing the assessments Brief case studies with transcript excerpts that demonstrate how teachers have used formative assessments Easy-to-use templates to help analyze lessons in current units and identify places for inserting formative assessments With this easy-to-use, hands-on guide, any teacher can learn how to use formative assessment strategies to improve student achievement in science!

"This book places students center stage in the discussion of how we know what students know. Using formative assessment to understand student learning is a theme grounded in good teaching and good assessment!" -Jo Topps, Regional Directorth K-12 Alliance/WestEd "This book incorporates current research and not only provides an explanation of the necessity of formative assessment, but offers a system for planning lessons and a variety of tools to implement formative assessment in the classroom." -Susan Leeds, Science Department Chair and Gifted Studies Teacher Howard Middle School, Winter Park, FL Use this powerful tool to enhance science teaching and learning! Research has shown that when teachers use formative assessments effectively, they have a clearer understanding of what students know and are better able to design instruction that meets learners' needs. This practical guide shows teachers how to create and implement formative assessments in their middle and high school science classrooms. Grounded in extensive and solid research, this guide covers all science content areas-physics/physical science, life science/biology, earth and space science, and chemistry-as well as five types of formative assessments: big idea questions, concept maps, evidence-to-explanation, predict-observe-explain, and multiple choice. Teachers will find additional support in: Richly detailed, concrete examples of the five types of assessments In-depth guidelines for implementing the assessments Brief case studies with transcript excerpts that demonstrate how teachers have used formative assessments Easy-to-use templates to help analyze lessons in current units and identify places for inserting formative assessments With this easy-to-use, hands-on guide, any teacher can learn how to use formative assessment strategies to improve student achievement in science!

Recent reforms in US science instruction have encouraged teachers to engage students in the process of inquiry, but have not given clear direction on the extent to which students should, or should not, be guided toward particular conclusions. This paper is a multiple-method exploration of the nature of guidance four middle school teachers provided during discussions during a physical science unit about density. Pre and posttests of students' conceptual understanding identified teachers whose students had high and low learning gains through the course of the unit. Videotapes of each teacher's lessons were then coded according to a framework of authoritative, dialogic, and blended guidance, as well as the conceptual levels addressed during discussions. Results indicate that the teachers whose students had higher learning gains at the end of the unit shifted more often between authoritative and dialogic communicative approaches, and led discussions which more closely mapped onto the expected conceptual progression underlying the unit. The study highlights the importance of actively shifting guidance to develop students' conceptual understanding during inquiry-based teaching.

What really helps your students learn science: Labs? Group work? Certain types of problems or test questions? Something you never even thought about? Find out with data that go way beyond what standardized test scores tell you. The Feedback Loop describes a process by which you design formative assessments of what you do and collect a variety of forms of data. Then, the book shows you ways to actually use the information to improve your teaching. Drawing on research-based findings and the experiences of both new and veteran classroom teachers, the guide offers practical ideas for middle and high school teachers, regardless of discipline. The first chapters introduce the Feedback Loop framework; highlight the four elements of goals, tools, data, and inferences; and explore how to close the loop by connecting inferences and goals through feedback. Later chapters show how to use the full loop to inform your instruction. The book supports the Next Generation Science Standards and includes classroom vignettes that ground the ideas in real-life situations. Meant to illuminate without overwhelming you, The Feedback Loop's data-driven approach will support student learning and help strengthen your teaching practice in your very next lesson or unit.