Play, Projects, and Preschool Standards


Book Description

Today's teachers and providers are often challenged by and concerned about the expectations in their states' early learning standards. How appropriate are standards for young children? How do they correlate with existing expectations and curricula? How inclusive are standards for second language learners and those with disabilities and developmental delays? In Play, Projects, and Preschool Standards, authors Gera Jacobs and Kathy Crowley tackle these questions-and more-head-on. They provide readers with plenty of lively, creative ideas to develop children's genuine curiosity while building essential skills for all children to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. With inviting, informal language, the authors walk readers through the creation of well-planned projects and activities that both capture children's interest and enhance social and early academic development in all curriculum areas. Each chapter offers: "What Research and the Experts Tell Us" snapshots and applications of the research in practice, "Try This" activity ideas that engage children and address standards, Suggestions for tailoring activities to meet the needs of bilingual children and children with special needs, This timely book is sure to give teachers and childcare professionals the confidence and ability to connect the experiences that make preschool so enjoyable with the potential for learning that makes preschool so valuable. Book jacket.




A Course in Language Teaching Trainee Book


Book Description

This important course provides a comprehensive basic introduction to teaching languages, for use in pre-service or early experience settings. It can be used by groups of teachers working with a trainer, or as a self-study resource. The Trainee's Book provides all the tasks given in the main book but without background information, bibliographies, notes or solutions. It is suitable for those studying on a trainer-led course, where feedback is readily available.




Routines for Reasoning


Book Description

Routines can keep your classroom running smoothly. Now imagine having a set of routines focused not on classroom management, but on helping students develop their mathematical thinking skills. Routines for Reasoning provides expert guidance for weaving the Standards for Mathematical Practice into your teaching by harnessing the power of classroom-tested instructional routines. Grace Kelemanik, Amy Lucenta, and Susan Janssen Creighton have applied their extensive experience teaching mathematics and supporting teachers to crafting routines that are practical teaching and learning tools. -- Provided by publisher.




Funds of Knowledge


Book Description

The concept of "funds of knowledge" is based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. The claim in this book is that first-hand research experiences with families allow one to document this competence and knowledge, and that such engagement provides many possibilities for positive pedagogical actions. Drawing from both Vygotskian and neo-sociocultural perspectives in designing a methodology that views the everyday practices of language and action as constructing knowledge, the funds of knowledge approach facilitates a systematic and powerful way to represent communities in terms of the resources they possess and how to harness them for classroom teaching. This book accomplishes three objectives: It gives readers the basic methodology and techniques followed in the contributors' funds of knowledge research; it extends the boundaries of what these researchers have done; and it explores the applications to classroom practice that can result from teachers knowing the communities in which they work. In a time when national educational discourses focus on system reform and wholesale replicability across school sites, this book offers a counter-perspective stating that instruction must be linked to students' lives, and that details of effective pedagogy should be linked to local histories and community contexts. This approach should not be confused with parent participation programs, although that is often a fortuitous consequence of the work described. It is also not an attempt to teach parents "how to do school" although that could certainly be an outcome if the parents so desired. Instead, the funds of knowledge approach attempts to accomplish something that may be even more challenging: to alter the perceptions of working-class or poor communities by viewing their households primarily in terms of their strengths and resources, their defining pedagogical characteristics. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms is a critically important volume for all teachers and teachers-to-be, and for researchers and graduate students of language, culture, and education.




Materials Development in Language Teaching


Book Description

Comprehensively revised and updated to take account of the impact of technology on the field of materials development







Science Teaching Reconsidered


Book Description

Effective science teaching requires creativity, imagination, and innovation. In light of concerns about American science literacy, scientists and educators have struggled to teach this discipline more effectively. Science Teaching Reconsidered provides undergraduate science educators with a path to understanding students, accommodating their individual differences, and helping them grasp the methodsâ€"and the wonderâ€"of science. What impact does teaching style have? How do I plan a course curriculum? How do I make lectures, classes, and laboratories more effective? How can I tell what students are thinking? Why don't they understand? This handbook provides productive approaches to these and other questions. Written by scientists who are also educators, the handbook offers suggestions for having a greater impact in the classroom and provides resources for further research.




Developing Materials for Language Teaching


Book Description

This supplementary ebook contains the 12 chapters from the first edition of Brain Tomlinson's comprehensive Developing Materials for Language Teaching on various aspects of materials development for language teaching that did not, for reasons of space, appear in the second edition.







Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8


Book Description

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.