Learner Choice, Learner Voice


Book Description

Learner Choice, Learner Voice offers fresh, forward-thinking supports for teachers creating an empowered, student-centered classroom. Learner agency is a major topic in today’s schools, but what does it mean in practice, and how do these practices give students skills and opportunities they will need to thrive as citizens, parents, and workers in our ever-shifting climate? Showcasing authentic activities and classrooms, this book is full of diverse instructional experiences that will motivate your students to take an agile, adaptable role in their own learning. This wealth of pedagogical ideas – from specific to open-ended, low-tech to digital, self-expressive to collaborative, creative to critical – will help you discover the transformative effects of providing students with ownership, agency, and choice in their learning journeys.




World Class Learners


Book Description

In the new global economy, the jobs that exist now might not exist by the time today's students enter the workplace. To succeed in this ever-changing world, students need to be able to think like entrepreneurs: resourcefully, flexibly, creatively, and globally. Researcher and professor Yong Zhao unlocks the secrets to cultivating independent thinkers who are willing and able to think creatively and differently about creating jobs and contributing positively to the globalized society. World Class Learners presents concepts that teachers, administrators, and even parents can implement immediately, including how to Understand and harness the entrepreneurial spirit Foster student autonomy and leadership Encourage inventive learners with necessary resources Develop global partners and resources With the liberty to make meaningful decisions and explore nontraditional learning opportunities, today's students will develop into tomorrow's global entrepreneurs. Book jacket.




Personalizing Learning Through Voice and Choice


Book Description

"Acknowledgments"--"Table of Contents"--"About the Authors" -- "Foreword" -- "Introduction" -- "Chapter 1" -- "Chapter 2" -- "Chapter 3" -- "Epilogue




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




Disrupting Thinking


Book Description

Supported with student conversations, classroom scenarios, practical strategies, and turn-and-talk moments, teachers and administrators can use this book as a guide for changing the way they think about teaching students to become thoughtful, skillful, attentive, responsive readers.




Student Voice


Book Description

Meaningful school reform starts with your most powerful partner—your students! When you take time to listen, you’ll find that students’ aspirations can drive your school toward exciting new goals—and when students know they’re being heard, they engage meaningfully in their own academic success. Using examples drawn from student surveys, focus groups, observations, and interviews, this groundbreaking book presents a blueprint for a successful partnership between educators and students. You’ll discover how to: Ask the right questions—and understand how to build from the answers Engage students in decision-making and improvement-related processes Implement the Aspirations Framework to guide students toward their full potential




Teaching to Strengths


Book Description

Half the students in U.S. schools are experiencing or have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. Much has been written about these students from a therapeutic perspective, especially regarding how to provide them with adequate counseling supports and services. Conversely, little has been written about teaching this population and doing so from a strengths-based perspective. Using real-world examples as well as research-based principles, this book shows how to * Identify inherent assets that students bring to the classroom. * Connect to students’ experiences through instructional planning and delivery. * Foster students’ strengths through the use of predictable routines and structured paired and small-group learning experiences. * Develop family and community partnerships. Experts Debbie Zacarian, Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz, and Judie Haynes outline a comprehensive, collaborative approach to teaching that focuses on students’ strengths and resiliency. Teaching to Strengths encourages educators to embrace teaching and schoolwide practices that support and enhance the academic and socio-emotional development of students living with trauma, violence, and chronic stress.




180 Days


Book Description

"East Coast and West Coast teachers discuss how they "get it all in" with their respective high school classes"--




Pedagogies of With-ness


Book Description

Across the globe, students are speaking up, walking out, and marching for social and ecological justice. Despite deficit discourses about students, youth are using their voice and agency to call forth a better world. Will educators respond to this call to stand with students in relational solidarity as co-constructors of a new tomorrow? What is possible when teachers and students engage together in new ways? Pedagogies of With-ness: Students, Teachers, Voice and Agency offers insight into the transformative possibilities of education when enacted as the art of being with. Driven by student voices and their experiences of marginalization, this text takes a clear ethical stance. It asserts that students are both capable and competent. Taking a narrative approach, this book honors academic work that is rooted in educational practice. Expanding beyond traditional conceptions of student voice, chapters engage in meditations on three themes: identity, pedagogy, and partnership. This book is an exploration of with-ness, a way of knowing, being, and acting. By centralizing the all-too-often suppressed wisdom of youth, teachers and researchers engage in new forms of critique and possibility-making with students. Editors reflect on this central theme, exploring the dimensions of such pedagogies of with-ness. Through this book, teachers are invited to imagine pedagogy under this new framework, actively committed to students, their voice, and mutual engagement. Click HERE to watch the editors discuss their book. Perfect for courses such as: Social Foundations | Student-Teacher Partnerships | Secondary Methods | Service Learning Leadership Ethnic Studies | Democracy and Civics | Social Justice and Education | Student Voice in Classrooms/Education | Ethical Issues in Education | Leadership for Social Justice




How to Personalize Learning


Book Description

HOW to Personalize Learning This practical follow-up to Bray and McClaskey’s first book, Make Learning Personal: The What, Who, Wow, Where, and Whybrings theory to practice. Teachers will find the tools, skills, and strategies needed to personalize learning and develop self-directed, independent learners with agency. Discover how to get started and go deeper by building a shared vision that supports personalized learning using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Also included are: Tools and templates such as the Learner Profile, Personal Learning Backpack, Personal Learning Plan, as well as tips for lesson design and PBL Lesson and project examples that show how teachers can change instructional practice by encouraging learner voice and choice QR codes and links to the authors’ website for electronic versions of tools, templates, activities, and checklists Create a powerful shift in education by building a culture of learning so every learner is valued. "If you are looking for a step-by-step guide on what personalized learning is and how to implement it, while being inspired and gaining ideas to implement immediately, this is definitely the book to read!" Diana Petschauer, Assistive Technology Professional, CEO AT for Education & Access4Employment, Wolfeboro Falls, NH "Barbara and Kathleen present well-tested strategies for personalization within a coherent framework. This highly practical book forms a reliable foundation for empowering a community striving to make schools work for all learners." John H. Clarke, Professor Emeritus, University of Vermont