Empowering our Students for the Future


Book Description

Educators of every kind such as school superintendents, principals, teachers, higher education practitioners, community organizers and even students will gain essential skills, resources and examples to encourage and support individual as well as collective empowerment from early childhood education through college in both traditional classrooms and in the broader community. Working toward the goal of empowering young people as active citizens, this collection of chapters presents voices from across the broad community of educators who share their successful individual work of methods and practices that empower young people to engage in their own agency. By using student centered practices in and out of the classroom, their stories demonstrate multiple ways to successfully achieve these ends. The book clearly and effectively presents these concepts: How to encourage self-directed learning; methods and examples of participatory practices and inquiry methods; strategies designing and supporting Problem Based Learning; models for civic engagement; organizing strategies; and practices related to Critical Race Theory. This collection can provide practitioners with strategies and skills that will encourage and develop self-confidence and self-direction in many arenas working together to create change in a democratic landscape as youth learn to use their power.




Empowering Students to Transform Schools


Book Description

In school reform, students are rarely consulted. This book presents a step-by-step process for involving students in transforming schools and empowering them to make real decisions that affect their education.




Empower


Book Description

In Empower, A.J. Juliani and John Spencer provide teachers, coaches, and administrators with a roadmap that will inspire innovation, authentic learning experiences, and practical ways to empower students to pursue their passions while in school. Empower will provide ways to overcome challenges and turn them into opportunities for our learners.




The Knowledge Gap


Book Description

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.




Behavior:The Forgotten Curriculum


Book Description

To fully prepare students for college, careers, and life, it is essential for educators to nurture students' behavioral skills along with their academic skills. With Behavior: The Forgotten Curriculum, you will learn how to employ the most effective behavioral and social skills activities for your particular class and form unique relationships with each and every learner. Through this personalized classroom behavior-management approach, you can anticipate potential problem areas and confidently respond to students in need of intensive and differentiated supports. Use behavior-management strategies based on response to intervention to: Understand the importance of communicating the why of behavioral learning to students. Identify and define the behavioral skills that will most benefit your students. Model and teach behavioral skills simultaneously with academic skills. Learn how and when to employ behavioral system supports across all three RTI tiers (MTSS). Implement formative assessment and other tools for measuring behavioral-skill development and success. Hear from educators who have successfully applied behavioral-skill teaching in their classroom-management strategies. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Identifying and Defining Behavioral Skill Priorities Chapter 2: Teaching and Modeling Chapter 3: Measuring Student Success, Providing Feedback, and Differentiating in Tier 1 Chapter 4: If It's Predictable, It's Preventable: Considerations for Tiers 2 and 3 Chapter 5: Predictable Challenges and Considerations for Implementation Epilogue Appendix References and Resources




Make Learning Personal


Book Description

Put learning back into the hands of the learner! Through personalized learning, education as we know it is transformed as learners are empowered to take control of their own learning. This thorough and timely resource draws on Universal Design for Learning® principles to create a powerful shift in classroom dynamics by guiding learners to become self-directed, self-monitoring, and self-motivated. You’ll discover: A system that includes tools and strategies to reduce barriers and maximize learning for all learners A clear explanation distinguishing personalized learning from differentiation and individualized instruction Teachers’ personal stories of moving through the Stages of Personalized Learning Environments to transform teacher and learner roles and school culture Background information on developing a rationale on why to personalize learning Strategies to create the change that occurs with the culture shift that happens in classrooms and schools as you personalize learning. Recognized authorities in personalized learning, the authors have led educational innovation for almost three decades. "As an educator for more than 30 years, I have seen a myriad of ideas to improve education. Personalized learning could truly be the game-changer! Barbara and Kathleen have certainly done their homework in clearly defining what it means to personalize learning. They identify stages that can help teachers gradually adapt their role, moving from a teacher-centered classroom to a learner-driven environment. This book will serve as a valuable handbook as educators make the decision to empower their learners!" - Betty Wottreng, Director of Technology Services, Verona Area School District, Wisconsin




Bringing Innovation to School


Book Description

Are you preparing a new generation of innovators? Activate your students’ creativity and problem-solving potential with breakthrough learning projects. Across all grades and content areas, student-driven, collaborative projects will teach students how to generate innovative ideas and then put them into action. You’ll take learning to new heights and help students master core content.




Empowering Students for the Future


Book Description

Empowering Students for the Future: Using the Right Questions to Teach the Value of Passion, Success, and Failure arms educators with the tools to teach what we all wish we had learned in school. You will uncover how to help your students think deeper, redefine failure, and authentically create their definition of success. Author Eric Yuhasz offers a variety of practical ideas throughout, including rapid-fire questions and a bowl meeting structure to help students find their passions; activities to help students address negativity from social media plus negative, self-inflicted mantras they may unconsciously be following; a chart that enables students to see their progress toward achieving their definition of success; tips for discussing value, sacrifice, self-discipline, motivation, and the tyranny of low expectations; plus ideas for helping students embrace failure as a steppingstone toward learning and triumph. With clear strategies in each chapter, this unique book will show you how your learners can truly map out a happier, healthier, more successful future.




Teaching for God's Glory


Book Description

Congratulations! You may have just finished up your student-teaching and landed your first teaching position. You begin to think about your first year with your new students. Student teaching was a great experience, but now you may be searching for answers of how to get started running your own classroom. This practical and inspirational daily guide for teachers was comprised over many years and through interviews of teachers at all grade levels. The collective years of teaching experience interviewed was over 500 years of experience from K-12 educators both in private and public schools across the country! Teaching for God’s Glory is a daily walk with the new teacher to help the new educator plan for their first years of teaching. The first section, Before the School Year Begins, gives practical advice on ways to set up your classroom, communication with parents and students, as well as orienting yourself with your new surroundings. The rest of the year is divided into quarters of the year with applicable and inspiring advice and wisdom that new teachers can use right away in their classrooms. At the end of each school week, there is a place for reflection on what worked well that week, areas for growth, and prayer requests for you or your students. This book makes the perfect gift for those starting their own career in education. Years later, they will be able to look back and reflect on how much they have grown in their craft! Tyler Harms has over a decade of experience serving students and families at the elementary and secondary levels. He graduated from Calvin College with a BA in Education and went on to get two Master’s Degrees in Special Education and Mathematics. Tyler spent many hours interviewing master teachers across the country and reflecting on his own journey as an educator. Teaching for God’s Glory is the book we all wish we had read in college before becoming a teacher. The book gives practical advice and inspiration to those who are in the trenches each day educating our future leaders.




Reaching for the Sky: Empowering Girls Through Education


Book Description

Transforming the Lives of Impoverished Girls in Patriarchal Societies Since 2003 a privately funded high school in India has provided desperately needed education for girls from impoverished families in Lucknow, the capital and largest city in Uttar Pradesh. Urvashi Sahni, the founder of Prerna Girls School, has written a compelling narrative of how this modest school in northeast India has changed the lives of more than 5,000 girls and their families. Most important, it is through the perspectives of the girls themselves, rather than through a remote academic viewpoint, that Prerna’s success unfolds. The book focuses on the importance of education in bringing about gender equality in a patriarchal society. It shows how girls learn to be equal and autonomous persons in school as part of their official curriculum and how they use this learning to transform their lives and those of their families. The book’s central argument is that education can be truly transformative if it addresses the everyday reality of girls’ lives and responds to their special needs and challenges with respect and care. The example of just one relatively small school in one corner of India, the message and the stories it tells will inspire anyone concerned about the necessity of girls’ education, especially in developing countries. The lives of the girls at Prerna Girls School are largely representative of those of millions living in poor regions in countries where patriarchal structures and norms prevail.