This accessible guide is a must-have for teachers, curriculum designers, and school leaders, providing them with everything they need to know about developing curriculum and instruction for the K-12 classroom. takes a unique approach to the topic of curriculum development by bringing together Lynn Erikson's Structure of Knowledge and Lois Lanning's Structure of Process to help educators create Common Core-aligned, concept-based curriculum across subject areas and grade-levels.

This is a guide to developing students' critical thinking, abstract reasoning, and creative learning skills with concept-based teaching. Concept-Based teachers will learn how to meet the demands of rigorous academic standards, engage students in inquiry through inductive teaching and identify conceptual lenses as well as craft quality generalizations.

Demonstrate how teachers can use a "conceptual lens" to design instructional units and differentiated lessons that deepen students' thinking skills and inspire a genuine love of learning.

"This book is a potent reminder of what it means when teachers teach whole human beings-their minds, hearts, and souls. Erickson helps us recall what all great teachers know: quality teaching is about building young lives." -Carol Ann Tomlinson, Professor, University of Virginia Author, The Parallel Curriculum "Erickson sets the standard for concept-based curriculum. Her work offers a theoretically rich and eminently practical approach for constructing curriculum around rich, transferable concepts. The third edition extends this seminal work for the benefit of educators and their students." -Jay McTighe, Educational Consultant, McTighe and Associates Author, Understanding by Design Help students analyze and synthesize information for a deeper understanding of big ideas! This updated edition of the classic bestseller on curriculum design for quality instruction provides practical structures, planning tools, and specific classroom examples of effective teaching strategies. The author focuses on the need for curriculum and instruction that allows students to move beyond factual learning to a level of understanding where knowledge transfers readily to new situations and thinking becomes integrated. The book's wide-ranging topics include: Aligning local curriculum with state and national content standards Using brain-based teaching methods Developing higher-order thinking skills Assessing and reporting student progress Creating a lifelong love of learning in students This invaluable resource encourages teachers to create an educational environment that challenges students' personal intellect, engages their spirits, and fosters a greater understanding of the world around them.