Next-Level Teaching


Book Description

Next-level teachers are anything but average. They're willing to use any and every strategy to reach students, increase motivation, and improve student outcomes. A next-level teacher never settles for the status quo. Instead, they ignite students' passion for learning, and that enthusiasm spreads through the whole school. What's more, next-level teachers can create school environments so exciting and electric that not only the students but even other teachers and administrators are inspired to greatness. Whether he's creating unique content-retention strategies, collaborating with streetwear brands, or bringing out-of-the-box guest speakers into the classroom, award-winning teacher Jonathan Alsheimer never says no to an opportunity to incorporate innovative tools in his teaching. With unstoppable enthusiasm, in Next-Level Teaching Alsheimer demonstrates how educators can: generate productive excitement in students using nonacademic strategies; transform student enthusiasm into engagement; create powerful relationships with students and colleagues; seek out every chance to be a positive, motivating influence; and become valued assets not only in the classroom but throughout the school. With dedication, creativity, and a vision of what's possible, any educator can be that teacher for their students. Are you ready to level up?




Powerful Teaching


Book Description

Unleash powerful teaching and the science of learning in your classroom Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning empowers educators to harness rigorous research on how students learn and unleash it in their classrooms. In this book, cognitive scientist Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D., and veteran K–12 teacher Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S., decipher cognitive science research and illustrate ways to successfully apply the science of learning in classrooms settings. This practical resource is filled with evidence-based strategies that are easily implemented in less than a minute—without additional prepping, grading, or funding! Research demonstrates that these powerful strategies raise student achievement by a letter grade or more; boost learning for diverse students, grade levels, and subject areas; and enhance students’ higher order learning and transfer of knowledge beyond the classroom. Drawing on a fifteen-year scientist-teacher collaboration, more than 100 years of research on learning, and rich experiences from educators in K–12 and higher education, the authors present highly accessible step-by-step guidance on how to transform teaching with four essential strategies: Retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition. With Powerful Teaching, you will: Develop a deep understanding of powerful teaching strategies based on the science of learning Gain insight from real-world examples of how evidence-based strategies are being implemented in a variety of academic settings Think critically about your current teaching practices from a research-based perspective Develop tools to share the science of learning with students and parents, ensuring success inside and outside the classroom Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning is an indispensable resource for educators who want to take their instruction to the next level. Equipped with scientific knowledge and evidence-based tools, turn your teaching into powerful teaching and unleash student learning in your classroom.




Next Level Grammar for a Digital Age


Book Description

This innovative book explores how digital language and tools can be used to teach applied grammar in the classroom. With a spotlight on internet language, Crovitz, Devereaux, and Moran demonstrate how students can practice rhetorical grammar with digital tools in order to use language purposefully.




Engaging Students


Book Description

ENGAGING STUDENTS In Phillip Schlechty's best-selling book Working on the Work, he outlined a motivational framework for improving student performance by improving the quality of schools designed for students. Engaging Students offers a next-step resource in which Schlechty incorporates what he's learned from the field and from the hundreds of workshops he and the Schlechty Center staff have conducted since Working on the Work was first published. This innovative and practical book is focused on helping teachers become increasingly successful in designing engaging work for their students. Schlechty contends that rather than viewing schools as teaching platforms, schools must be viewed as learning platforms. Rather than seeing schools as knowledge distribution systems, schools must be seen as knowledge work systems. Rather than defining teachers as instructors, teachers must be defined as designers, leaders, and guides to instruction. Engaging Students also includes useful questionnaires that will facilitate discussion, analysis, and action planning at both school and classroom levels. Praise for Engaging Students "In Engaging Students, Schlechty boldly delineates why the focus on engaging students overrides the focus on test scores. Every teacher and administrator in my district will use this guide to transform our entire organization into one that is truly focused on student engagement." KIM REDMOND, superintendent, Canton Local Schools, Canton, Ohio "This insightful book reminds us that every decision made in schools should ultimately benefit students. You will find yourself referring to this book again and again as a guide to support you in your role as an educator." ALLENE MAGILL, executive director, Professional Association of Georgia Educators, Atlanta, Georgia "Here is a much-enriched framework for everything Dr. Schlechty advocates: well articulated curriculum standards, schools as a platform for learning, teachers as leaders and designers of engaging and meaningful work, and students becoming responsible for their learning." NYANA SIMS, K-12 literacy and induction facilitator, Goshen School District, Torrington, Wyoming "By understanding and implementing the principles so thoughtfully articulated in this book, schools can become centers of highly engaged learners and in that endeavor find again the joy of teaching and learning." JOHNNY VESELKA, executive director, Texas Association of School Administrators, Austin, Texas




Next-Level Spiritual Warfare


Book Description

Does it seem as though your prayers aren't being answered? Even after praying fervently, do you feel that God isn't listening, that God isn't speaking or acting? Most of us have felt this way. Are there tools and strategies we can implement to break through the barriers? Keying in on two vital areas of spiritual warfare--restoration and retribution--apostle and speaker Venner J. Alston reveals strategies for engaging heaven with the expectation of answers to your prayers. You will learn how to recognize the demonic structures operating against you and understand the biblical response necessary for answers to be manifested. Prayer is a fundamental aspect of Christian living and imperative for spiritual warfare. Learn the principles for receiving justice for what has been lost, taken, or delayed by the kingdom of darkness. Spiritual weapons are available for you to overthrow every assignment of hell that comes against you. Take up your arms and fight back!




Teaching Reading in Small Groups


Book Description

Meet instructional challenges effectively and efficiently by uncovering hidden time for meeting individual students' needs. With small groups, you'll work closely with more children each day with her how-tos on using formative assessment to create groups from common needs; differentiating for individuals, even in a group; and enhancing Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction.




Teaching as if Learning Matters


Book Description

Teaching is an essential skill in becoming a faculty member in any institution of higher education. Yet how is that skill actually acquired by graduate students? Teaching as if Learning Matters collects first-person narratives from graduate students and new PhDs that explore how the skills required to teach at a college level are developed. It examines the key issues that graduate students face as they learn to teach effectively when in fact they are still learning and being taught. Featuring contributions from over thirty graduate students from a variety of disciplines at Indiana University, Teaching as if Learning Matters allows these students to explore this topic from their own unique perspectives. They reflect on the importance of teaching to them personally and professionally, telling of both successes and struggles as they learn and embrace teaching for the first time in higher education.




Flash Feedback [Grades 6-12]


Book Description

Beat burnout with time-saving best practices for feedback For ELA teachers, the danger of burnout is all too real. Inundated with seemingly insurmountable piles of papers to read, respond to, and grade, many teachers often find themselves struggling to balance differentiated, individualized feedback with the one resource they are already overextended on—time. Matthew Johnson offers classroom-tested solutions that not only alleviate the feedback-burnout cycle, but also lead to significant growth for students. These time-saving strategies built on best practices for feedback help to improve relationships, ignite motivation, and increase student ownership of learning. Flash Feedback also takes teachers to the next level of strategic feedback by sharing: How to craft effective, efficient, and more memorable feedback Strategies for scaffolding students through the meta-cognitive work necessary for real revision A plan for how to create a culture of feedback, including lessons for how to train students in meaningful peer response Downloadable online tools for teacher and student use Moving beyond the theory of working smarter, not harder, Flash Feedback works deeper by developing practices for teacher efficiency that also boost effectiveness by increasing students’ self-efficacy, improving the clarity of our messages, and ultimately creating a classroom centered around meaningful feedback.




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




Ready-to-Use Resources for Genius Hour in the Classroom


Book Description

Ready-to-Use Resources for Genius Hour in the Classroom provides practical advice and a wealth of hands-on resources for teachers to implement Genius Hour, or passion projects, in the classroom. This book: Includes everything educators need to help students apply their learning and reach deep understanding. Engages the six P's of Genius Hour: passion, plan, pitch, project, product, and presentation. Features built-in opportunities to to gamify the process. Helps increase students' critical thinking, creativity, and engagement. Is a valuable standalone resource and companion to Genius Hour. Students can "level up," earning badges and points, as they create, design, and carry out projects and develop ideas that impact their classroom, school, community, and world. Through the tools and tips provided, teachers will see Genius Hour as more than an hour, more than a strategy or activity separate from the regular curriculum. When implemented effectively, Genius Hour can be a more meaningful teaching and learning experience than any other.