Facilitating for Learning


Book Description

“I have had the good fortune to watch both David and Tina facilitate learning groups and have learned from the power of their modeling. . . . I am delighted that they have gathered their wisdom here in this volume to share with others eager to embark on the journey and experience the joys of facilitating learning with colleagues.” —From the Foreword by Ron Ritchhart, senior research associate, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education One of the most important shifts in schools in the last two decades has been the growing emphasis on collaboration among teachers and other educators. Whether you are a teacher facilitating a group for the first time or an experienced facilitator seeking to further develop your skills, this book is for you. Organized to be used as both an exploration of the role of facilitating and as a handbook of strategies, this resource covers a range of contexts that include faculty meetings, department meetings, professional learning communities, grade-level teams, and inquiry groups. This book is a perfect companion to the authors’ bestseller, The Facilitator’s Book of Questions, which focuses on the skills needed to facilitate protocols or structured conversations. Facilitating for Learning extends the scope of that work by also examining the facilitator’s responsibilities for supporting a group’s learning during all parts of a meeting, between meetings, and within the larger school context and culture. It is an essential resource for teachers, administrators, coaches, and teacher educators. Book Features: Contrasts facilitating for learning with other professional development roles, including staff development, coaching, and supervision.Outlines the basic responsibilities and tasks of facilitating teacher learning groups, including “moves” the facilitator might employ.Considers challenges related to school culture and leadership, group interactions, and time constraints.Provides resources to help facilitators develop their skills, including tools and references to other works on facilitation.




Facilitating Student Learning and Engagement in Higher Education through Assessment Rubrics


Book Description

Despite significant reforms in the past decade in relation to criteria- and standards-based assessment in tertiary education contexts, assessment remains the most significantly criticised aspect of the student tertiary experience and a major driver of student engagement. The key tool in this experience is the rubric, also known as the criteria sheet or the ‘Guide to Making Judgments’. This book discusses the significance of assessment rubrics in tertiary education. Assessment rubrics impact the student experience in multiple ways: as a guide to students and assessors prior to grading; at the point of grading by the assessor; when moderating during the post-grading process; in providing an additional guide to students in the assessment planning stage; and as a feedback mechanism to students once results are released. This book explains how the rubric reflects key principles of assessment. It explores different models of rubrics used in tertiary contexts, and provides data from students and academics on the efficacy of these various models as the key tool when marking, moderating and providing feedback. It also details exemplars of rubrics used in academic disciplines, and discusses how higher education teachers use exemplars and how they integrate exemplars with criteria and rubrics. It captures the student voice by explaining how students use rubrics for self-assessment and self-regulation purposes. A key inclusion is the importance of sessional staff input into the creation of assessment rubrics prior to the grading, moderating and feedback processes.




Practical Guide to Facilitating Language Learning


Book Description

This edition deals with English language teaching in South Africa. With the introduction of the outcomes-based education curriculum, it has become necessary to facilitate student teachers to become qualified teachers with a good foundation in OBE and the methods and terms used.




A Guide to Co-Teaching


Book Description

Information on the 4 types of collaborative teaching models: supportive, parallel, complimentary and team teaching.







Facilitating Authentic Learning, Grades 6-12


Book Description

Your single-best way to nurture higher-order thinkingThere′s no doubt about it: the Common Core has us scrambling. With all the pressure to accelerate instruction, how can we possibly find the time to encourage students to do some serious thinking? For Laura Thomas, the answer couldn′t be clearer: through constructivist, experiential teaching methods. In fact, constructivist teaching is the single-best way to nurture the higher-order thinking so central to the Common Core.Fusing the practical with the theoretical, Thomas offers a clear path for facilitating real understanding and real skill-building within a community of learners. Grade 6-12 teachers will learn how to: Plan learning experiences that teach content and process at the same time Assess students′ development of 21st-century skills Coach students to do the hard work of authentic learning--without leaving them to flounder Teach reflection techniques that help students process their experiences and learn from mistakes. Featuring easy-to-follow graphics, sample lessons, and tools from practicing teachers, Facilitating Authentic Learning is an immediately practical resource that both beginning and veteran teachers can put to work in their classrooms. "This is a valuable book for educators, especially as we strive to help our students move from being receivers of knowledge to owners of their learning. Teachers need to develop strategies to be effective guides for our students, and to facilitate their progress toward educational goals."--Norma Barber, Language Arts TeacherUkiah School District, OR "I LOVE this book! It provides step-by-step instructions for making a classroom student-centered and led by a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage. The author′s real-world examples and reader-friendly writing style make this book a winner!"--Nancy Foote, Teacher/AdministratorHigley Unified School District, AZ




Teaching Talk


Book Description

Talk is part of every classroom, regardless of grade, content area, or school location. So how can teachers harness the energy of talk to spark discussion, strengthen student dialogue, and deepen comprehension? Teaching Talk is a practical resource that will help you focus your lens on classroom talk, making the most of the student voices and ideas that are already part of your classroom, and increasing the potential for learning. Kara Pranikoff offers suggestions and strategies that can be used immediately, starting with a comprehensive list of questions to help teachers assess and reflect on student talk. Each chapter addresses an element of classroom talk along with concrete examples to help you: collect and analyze artifacts of talk provide opportunities for students to share their ideas create conversations orchestrated by students and grounded in their ideas strengthen both talking and listening in conversation reflect on progress, set goals and refine instruction. Conversation is the currency of most ideas in the world. With Teaching Talk as your guide, you'll help students develop the skills they need to be inquisitive, independent, and critical thinkers in all aspects of their lives.




Blended Learning in Action


Book Description

Shift to blended learning to transform education Blended learning has the power to reinvent education, but transitioning to a blended model is challenging. Blended learning requires a fundamentally new approach to learning as well as a new skillset for both teachers and school leaders. Loaded with research, examples, and resources, Blended Learning in Action demonstrates the advantages a blended model has over traditional instruction when technology is used to engage students both inside the classroom and online. Readers will find: Breakdowns of the most effective classroom setups for blended learning Guidelines to build a blended learning toolbox of tech and resources Tips for leaders Ideas for personalizing and differentiating instruction using technology Strategies for managing devices in classrooms and schools Study questions to facilitate professional development and deeper learning Written with system-wide transformation in mind, this is the resource teachers and leaders need to help them shift to a blended learning model and transform education for today′s learning environment. "The time for blended learning is now and the place is ALL classrooms throughout the country. This book provides educators with essential information and practices that will prepare students for the 21st Century." Kim Weber, 4th Grade Teacher Mandell School, New York, NY "This book is different. It is deeper and more serious about creating the change students deserve than most others. The fact that each and every chapter starts out with a student′s perspective confirms that it is built on a vital pedagogical foundation." Brad Gustafson, Principal and Author of Renegade Leadership Greenwood Elementary, Wayzata, MN




Developing Learner-Centered Teaching


Book Description

Developing Learner-Centered Teaching offers a step-by-step plan for transforming any course from teacher-centered to the more engaging learner-centered model. Filled with self-assessments and worksheets that are based on each of the five practices identified in Maryellen Weimer's Learner-Centered Teaching, this groundbreaking book gives instructors, faculty developers, and instructional designers a practical and effective resource for putting the learner-centered model into action.