Research indicates that the quality of classroom assignments makes a difference in student learning. Moreover, assignment quality varies between teachers even within the same school and there is room for improvement in many of the assignments that teachers provide to students. Assignment quality, as described in this book, puts into practice powerful research-based concepts for teaching. To support teachers in developing, reflecting on, and fine-tuning the assignments they create, this book presents a series of dimensions (or rubrics) with benchmark examples from elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The purpose of these rubrics is to serve as diagnostic tools to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an assignment, as well as to guide the creation of new assignments for students. Questions also are included at the end of every chapter to guide reflection on a specific dimension of assignment quality. Topics cover: Choosing the right text, Setting clear and rigorous learning goals, Developing an assignment activity that gives students a chance to apply complex thinking skills, Developing clear and rigorous grading criteria, Communicating the expectations for high quality work to students, Writing high quality assignment directions, Providing comments that support student revision, Aligning the learning goals with the assignment activity and the grading criteria. Will be useful to teachers for self-assessment purposes, collaborative professional development settings, or as a basic text in teacher education courses.

This volume has two purposes. The first is to summarize, substantiate, and extend current knowledge on the development of children with high incidence disabilities--most notably, learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, and mild mental retardation. The second is to honor the career of Professor Barbara K. Keogh and her contributions to the developmental study of children with high incidence disabilities. Internationally recognized for her accomplishments, Keogh is esteemed for her originality and clarity of thought. For nearly forty years, she has set an extraordinary model of analytic rigor combined with a kind and generous manner that inspires, supports, and sets an exacting standard of scholarship. The contributing authors to this volume represent only a fraction of the students and scholars touched by her distinguished career.
In conceiving this volume, the editors sought to represent the topics, problems, and issues to which Keogh has devoted herself. They invited chapters that summarize what is known about the high incidence handicapping conditions that her research has mainly addressed and sought to reflect the probing, questioning style that she brings to her own work. Researchers, policymakers, and graduate students in special education and associated disciplines who seek to stay current will find this volume crucial reading.

Rousing Minds to Life is the education textbook for the '90s: A powerful synthesis of the theoretical advances in Vygotskian theory as applied to every aspect of teaching, learning, and schooling. Drawing on studies from preschool and elementary school through the university seminar, and on their own successful experience with thousands of students over two decades, this text integrates all recent work in the Vygotskian tradition with basic concepts in American and British behaviorism, cognitive science, anthropology, and sociolinguistics. Distinguished by a literate style and an extraordinarily rich content, it is appropriate for courses in educational psychology, curriculum and instruction, educational foundations, educational administration, special education, multicultural education, and any course that treats learning and cognitive development in social context.

Rousing Minds to Life is the education textbook for the '90s: A powerful synthesis of the theoretical advances in Vygotskian theory as applied to every aspect of teaching, learning, and schooling. Drawing on studies from preschool and elementary school through the university seminar, and on their own successful experience with thousands of students over two decades, this text integrates all recent work in the Vygotskian tradition with basic concepts in American and British behaviorism, cognitive science, anthropology, and sociolinguistics. Distinguished by a literate style and an extraordinarily rich content, it is appropriate for courses in educational psychology, curriculum and instruction, educational foundations, educational administration, special education, multicultural education, and any course that treats learning and cognitive development in social context.

This volume has two purposes. The first is to summarize, substantiate, and extend current knowledge on the development of children with high incidence disabilities--most notably, learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, and mild mental retardation. The second is to honor the career of Professor Barbara K. Keogh and her contributions to the developmental study of children with high incidence disabilities. Internationally recognized for her accomplishments, Keogh is esteemed for her originality and clarity of thought. For nearly forty years, she has set an extraordinary model of analytic rigor combined with a kind and generous manner that inspires, supports, and sets an exacting standard of scholarship. The contributing authors to this volume represent only a fraction of the students and scholars touched by her distinguished career.
In conceiving this volume, the editors sought to represent the topics, problems, and issues to which Keogh has devoted herself. They invited chapters that summarize what is known about the high incidence handicapping conditions that her research has mainly addressed and sought to reflect the probing, questioning style that she brings to her own work. Researchers, policymakers, and graduate students in special education and associated disciplines who seek to stay current will find this volume crucial reading.