Teacher Info: New Curriculum Resources

Discover how the integration of two of education's most powerful frameworks will help teachers impart essential knowledge and skills to the full spectrum of learners.

'I love the author's delineation of her own understanding of concept-based teaching over an 18-year period. Somehow that humanizes the work of teaching-helps us understand that only as we risk growth will we be able to guide our students in that way as well' - Carol Tomlinson, Professor of Educational Leadership, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia 'A worthwhile and important contribution to the field' - Jay McTighe, Educational Author and Consultant, McTighe and Associates 'Reader friendly, lots of illustrations and examples, personal in tone, and down to earth' - Kathy Hargrove, Associate Dean, School of Education and Human Development, Southern Methodist University Drawing on Lynn Erickson's 15 years experience of working with teachers, curriculum developers, teacher educators, and instructional leaders, this resource offers a complete guide to designing curricula that foster the continuous growth and development of a student's critical, abstract, and creative learning skills. Educators will learn how to: * Bring coherence and clarity to high-quality curriculum design and instructional planning * Teach the way that students' minds learn best * Encourage students' creative and abstract thinking, regardless of level or subject area * Gain the support of headteachers and district administrators

A cutting-edge model for 21st century curriculum and instruction Looking for that one transformative moment when a student's eyes light up, signaling he or she has finally grasped that big idea behind critical academic content? Concept-based curriculum and instruction is a way to make those moments many. H. Lynn Erickson and Lois Lanning offer new insight on: How to design and implement concept-based curriculum and instruction across all subjects and grade levels Why content and process are two equally important aspects of any effective concept-based curriculum How to ensure students develop the all-important skill of synergistic thinking

A Guide for Shaping Your School's Culture In this thoroughly revised and updated edition of their classic book, Shaping School Culture, Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson address the latest thinking on organizational culture and change and offer new ideas and strategies on how stories, rituals, traditions, and other cultural practices can be used to create positive, caring, and purposeful schools. This new edition gives expanded attention to the important symbolic roles of school leaders, including practical suggestions on how leaders can balance cultural goals and values against accountability demands, and features new and powerful case examples throughout. Most important, the authors show how school leaders can transform negative and toxic cultures so that trust, commitment, and sense of unity can prevail. Praise for Shaping School Culture "For those seeking enduring change that is measured in generations rather than months, and to create a legacy rather than a headline, then Shaping School Culture is your guide." --Dr. Douglas B. Reeves, founder, The Leadership and Learning Center, Englewood, CO "Deal and Peterson combine exquisite language, vibrant stories, and sage advice to support school leaders in embracing the paradoxical nature of their work. A 'must read' for all school leaders." --Pam Robbins, educational consultant and author "Once again, the authors have presented practitioners, researchers, professional developers, school coaches, and others with a tremendous resource for renovating and reinvigorating schools." --Karen M. Dyer, Ed.D., group director, Education and Nonprofit Sector Office, Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC

In her book Teaching to Diversity, Dr. Jennifer Katz synthesizes the research, and 16 years experience of teaching in inclusive classrooms and schools, to provide answers to several questions: How do I make inclusion work for ALL students? What are the foundational best practices of a truly inclusive learning community? How does one create such a community? The author pulls together, in an organized way, a three-block model of universal design for learning (UDL) and suggests a step-by-step approach for implementing it. This framework includes: Block One, Social and Emotional Learning: details ways to build compassionate learning communities (K-12) in which all students feel safe and valued, and develop a positive self-concept, sense of belonging, and respect for diverse others. Block Two, Inclusive Instructional Practice: includes a framework for planning units from K-12, and explains instructional and management practices for teaching, assessing, grading, and reporting in UDL Classrooms. Block Three, Systems and Structures: suggests strategies for creating inclusive learning communities, and explores ways in which resource teachers, student services personnel, and school administrators can support and create socially and academically inclusive schools and classrooms. The three-block model of UDL can empower educators with the knowledge, skills, and confidence required to teach diverse learners in the same classroom--including those who have previously been excluded. Ultimately, it is about creating classrooms and schools that heal by teaching to the heart, mind, and spirit of every student.

Discover why and how schools must become places where thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted As educators, parents, and citizens, we must settle for nothing less than environments that bring out the best in people, take learning to the next level, allow for great discoveries, and propel both the individual and the group forward into a lifetime of learning. This is something all teachers want and all students deserve. In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart, author of Making Thinking Visible, explains how creating a culture of thinking is more important to learning than any particular curriculum and he outlines how any school or teacher can accomplish this by leveraging 8 cultural forces: expectations, language, time, modeling, opportunities, routines, interactions, and environment. With the techniques and rich classroom vignettes throughout this book, Ritchhart shows that creating a culture of thinking is not about just adhering to a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A culture of thinking produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work.

Keys for unlocking the doors to learning for ALL students! nbsp; This updated edition of the bestsellernbsp;Successful Inclusion Strategies for Secondary and Middle School Teachersnbsp;identifies "locks" to learning--input locks, processing/retention locks, affective locks, and output locks--and provides research-based "keys" to unlock learning barriers for students with disabilities and learning challenges. Packed with teacher-friendly, developmentally appropriate strategies that work, this new edition examines: Research on the unique teaching environment of secondary school classrooms The reauthorization of IDEA 2004 The impact of NCLB on special education Incorporating strategies into a Response to Intervention program Applications for Universal Design for Learning

What are "essential questions," and how do they differ from other kinds of questions? What's so great about them? Why should you design and use essential questions in your classroom? Essential questions (EQs) help target standards as you organize curriculum content into coherent units that yield focused and thoughtful learning. In the classroom, EQs are used to stimulate students' discussions and promote a deeper understanding of the content. Whether you are an Understanding by Design (UbD) devotee or are searching for ways to address standards--local or Common Core State Standards--in an engaging way, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins provide practical guidance on how to design, initiate, and embed inquiry-based teaching and learning in your classroom. Offering dozens of examples, the authors explore the usefulness of EQs in all K-12 content areas, including skill-based areas such as math, PE, language instruction, and arts education. As an important element of their backward design approach to designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors *Give a comprehensive explanation of why EQs are so important; *Explore seven defining characteristics of EQs; *Distinguish between topical and overarching questions and their uses; *Outline the rationale for using EQs as the focal point in creating units of study; and *Show how to create effective EQs, working from sources including standards, desired understandings, and student misconceptions. Using essential questions can be challenging--for both teachers and students--and this book provides guidance through practical and proven processes, as well as suggested "response strategies" to encourage student engagement. Finally, you will learn how to create a culture of inquiry so that all members of the educational community--students, teachers, and administrators--benefit from the increased rigor and deepened understanding that emerge when essential questions become a guiding force for learners of all ages.

Understanding by Design is based on a backward design approach and is used by thousands of educators to create curriculum units and assessments that focus on developing students understanding of essential ideas and helping students attain important skills. The Guide is intended for use by individuals or groups in K 16 education (teachers, school and district administrators, curriculum directors, graduate and undergraduate students in curriculum, and others) who want to further develop their skill in Understanding by Design. Users can work through the modules in order or pick and choose, depending on their interests and needs.

This guide is intended for K-16 educators either individuals or groups who may have received some training in Understanding by Design and want to continue their work independently; those who've read Understanding by Design and want to design curriculum units but have no access to formal training; graduate and undergraduate students in university curriculum courses; and school and district administrators, curriculum directors, and others who facilitate Understanding by Design work with staff. Users can go through the modules in sequence or skip around, depending on their previous experience with UbD and their preferred curriculum design style or approach. Unit creation, planning, and adaptation are easier than ever with the accompanying downloadable resources, including the Understanding by Design template set up as a fillable PDF form, additional worksheets, examples, and FAQs about the module topics that speak to Understanding by Design novices and veterans alike.

Meet the standards. Celebrate kids' curiosity and questions. Cover the curriculum. Reach and include everyone. Grow resourceful, engaged citizens. With inquiry circles, you seriously can. Comprehension & Collaboration is your end-to-end guide to small-group inquiry projects that work. Successful inquiry isn't simply sticking five kids together and telling them to research a topic. So Steph and Smokey share four kinds of inquiry units of increasing richness with all the teaching and planning resources you need. From preparing students for active learning and effective collaboration through assessment and evaluation, Comprehension & Collaboration, gives you more of what teachers loved about the first edition: 37 strategy lessons, including 11 completely new ones, for thinking and collaboration 7 new step-by-step classroom stories that model inquiry-based units. Groundbreaking research in comprehension, collaboration, and inquiry Connections to inquiry structures such as makers, design thinking, genius hour, and capstone projects Tips on common questions about management and accountability.