Reimagining the Mathematics Classroom


Book Description

Presents a comprehensive systems approach to examining mathematics teaching. This volume synthesizes and illustrates current research on the essential elements of mathematics teaching and learning, unpacking each component. In addition, tips on using technology to assess and enhance learning are embedded throughout the book.




Ratchetdemic


Book Description

A revolutionary new educational model that encourages educators to provide spaces for students to display their academic brilliance without sacrificing their identities Building on the ideas introduced in his New York Times best-selling book, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood, Christopher Emdin introduces an alternative educational model that will help students (and teachers) celebrate ratchet identity in the classroom. Ratchetdemic advocates for a new kind of student identity—one that bridges the seemingly disparate worlds of the ivory tower and the urban classroom. Because modern schooling often centers whiteness, Emdin argues, it dismisses ratchet identity (the embodying of “negative” characteristics associated with lowbrow culture, often thought to be possessed by people of a particular ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic status) as anti-intellectual and punishes young people for straying from these alleged “academic norms,” leaving young people in classrooms frustrated and uninspired. These deviations, Emdin explains, include so-called “disruptive behavior” and a celebration of hip-hop music and culture. Emdin argues that being “ratchetdemic,” or both ratchet and academic (like having rap battles about science, for example), can empower students to embrace themselves, their backgrounds, and their education as parts of a whole, not disparate identities. This means celebrating protest, disrupting the status quo, and reclaiming the genius of youth in the classroom.







"These Kids Are Out of Control"


Book Description

Today’s classrooms reimagined If you’re looking for a book on how to "control" your students, this isn’t it! Instead, this is a book on what classroom learning could be if we aspire to co-create more culturally responsive and equitable environments—environments that are safe, affirming, learner-centered, intellectually challenging, and engaging. If we create the kind of places where our students want to be . . . A critically important resource for teachers and administrators alike, "These Kids Are Out of Control" details the specific practices, tools, beliefs, dispositions, and mindsets that are essential to better serving the complex needs of our diverse learners, especially our marginalized students. Gain expert insight on: What it means to be culturally responsive in today’s classroom environments, even in schools at large How to decide what to teach, understand the curriculum, build relationships in and outside of school, and assess student development and learning The four best practices for building a classroom culture that is both nurturing and rigorous, and where all students are seen, heard, and respected Alternatives to punitive disciplinary action that too often sustains the cradle-to-prison pipeline Classroom "management" takes care of itself when you engage students, help them see links and alignment of the curriculum to their lives, build on and from student identity and culture, and recognize the many ways instructional practices can shift. "These Kids Are Out of Control" is your opportunity to get started right away!




100 Or Nothing


Book Description

In March of 2020, when the world was struck by COVID-19, Glen Coleman's high school in New Jersey became one of the thousand schools nationwide that were forced to pivot to online instruction. While so much about this new reality was unknown, Glen was certain of two things: 1) The year ahead would be an epic disruption. 2) He would write a book to help his fellow teachers not just survive but thrive. The result of his year-long effort is 100 or Nothing: Reimagining Success in the Classroom. Part memoir, part field guide, and part toolbox for the disheartened, Glen builds upon his extensive experience and exhaustive research during the most consequential year of our lifetime. As an educator who understood the need to exploit the power of digital technology with the introduction of laptops in the classroom in 2006, Glen reinvented his teaching. He now harnesses failure, teaches from the back of the classroom, puts students at the front of the classroom, and challenges them with "impossible" tests. With critical thinking as the goal, students workshop their responses to difficult questions in order to connect the classroom to the outside world. Readers will come to understand the need to think outside the box. When we create a system in which students learn from and support one another "all boats rise." "Glen's book is a must-read for anyone who wants to reclaim their love for teaching. It's also a manual for rethinking basic approaches. He is honest in his outlook, compelling in his insights, and creative in his use of technology." - Bill Librera, former NJ Commissioner of Education. "Glen has leveraged his 20-plus years of experience in the classroom, his innovations as an HP Teaching Fellow, and his epiphanies during COVID to craft compelling new teaching strategies that have applications far beyond the classroom. His insights that students fail their way to mastery, learn best collaboratively, and motivate each other to success are just as relevant for startups as they are for students: 100 or Nothing should be on every entrepreneur's desk." - Tony Coretto, NYSERDA Entrepreneur-in-Residence and 4-time Inc 5000 award-winning CEO "Teaching's been around since the dawn of civilization, so it's quite a feat to break new ground in pedagogy, yet Coleman seems to have done just that. His solutions to common classroom situations are innovative, and the evidence he presents to back up his points is persuasive. As someone who spent two decades in classrooms of one sort or another, I highly recommend his book to anyone ready for a fresh take on teaching." - Vincent Czyz, W. Faulkner-@. Wisdom Prize Winner for Short Fiction Excerpts I believe to ask is human, to pursue, divine. Great questions have the power to open minds, especially when we stop, listen, and engage in conversation with our students... Yes, I feel the stress of a society whose ties are fraying, but the question "What do you think?" still has the power to awaken young people. If we've become robots, perhaps a surviving corpuscle will remind our circuitry of when we were human: teaching meant deepening human bonds with course material, especially with young people. But if you're hankering to teach has not yet been crushed-may it never!-let this book spark your reinvention. Page 9 I try to instill in my students that learning requires not perfection but failure, not depression but a sense of humor. Learning checkmates everyone. Laugh. Try again. Finding the strength to get back up is the lesson. Page 14 It's not about the answer. It's not about the grade. It's not about technology. It's about students' voices, the challenge, and what results. Page 99




Teaching for Joy and Justice


Book Description

Teaching for Joy and Justice is the much-anticipated sequel to Linda Christensen's bestselling Reading, Writing, and Rising Up. Christensen is recognized as one of the country's finest teachers. Her latest book shows why. Through story upon story, Christensen demonstrates how she draws on students' lives and the world to teach poetry, essay, narrative, and critical literacy skills. Teaching for Joy and Justice reveals what happens when a teacher treats all students as intellectuals, instead of intellectually challenged. Part autobiography, part curriculum guide, part critique of today's numbing standardized mandates, this book sings with hope -- born of Christensen's more than 30 years as a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, and teacher educator. Practical, inspirational, passionate: this is a must-have book for every language arts teacher, whether veteran or novice. In fact, Teaching for Joy and Justice is a must-have book for anyone who wants concrete examples of what it really means to teach for social justice.




A Learner's Paradise


Book Description

Do you think education works? Does it meet the needs of future society, business and most importantly, the average school leaver? In this book, Richard Wells explains his amazement at how all the components of New Zealand education collaborate in creating an ever forward-moving system better prepared for the 21st century than any other. After teaching in the UK, Wells moved to New Zealand in 2006 to find there was no prescribed curriculum and teachers were trusted to run the whole system, including writing high school graduation assessments themselves. The Government is appreciated by teachers as a supportive aide to them as they hold each other to account in a positive and collaborative nationally networked system. In New Zealand, teachers are proud of the education system they operate and develop with their students, some being unaware of how lucky they are. Wells explains each of the elements and organisations that jointly form the world's leading 21st Century education system. He describes the developments and decisions that were made in achieving this and how it is moving into a phase of using student-negotiated national assessments that few other countries' educators could even contemplate. The book is filled with useful diagrams and posters to illustrate key themes and pedagogies. Wells paints a picture of what happens when young people are measured by their depth of thinking and understanding and can personalise their approach to doing so. The book introduces you to a country where the leading people and schools shape the future of world public education.




The Flexible ELA Classroom


Book Description

Find out how to differentiate your middle school ELA instruction so that all students can become better readers, writers, and critical thinkers. Author Amber Chandler invites you into her classroom and shows how you can adjust your lessons to suit different learning needs while still meeting state standards and keeping your students accountable. She provides a wide variety of helpful tools and strategies, ranging from easy options that you can try out immediately to deeper-integration ideas that will reshape your classroom as a flexible, personalized learning environment. Topics include: Using choice boards and menus to teach vocabulary, reading, and presentation skills in fun and interactive ways; Grouping students strategically to maximize learning outcomes and encourage collaboration; Making vocabulary learning interesting and memorable with visual aids, tiered lists, and personalized word studies; Designing your own Project Based Learning lessons to unleash your students’ creativity; Assessing students’ progress without the use of one-size-fits-all testing; And more! Bonus: downloadable versions of some of the rubrics and handouts in this book are available on the Routledge website at http://www.routledge.com/9781138681040. Also, check out the book’s website, doyoudifferentiate.com, for additional articles and strategies.




Reimagining the Classroom


Book Description

A practical approach to shared inquiry and exploration in K-12 classrooms We are in a period of unknowns unlike any in a generation or more. As educators, we need new pathways and ideas that can help us educate children for the world to come. Reimagining the Classroom: Creating New Learning Spaces and Connecting with the World provides practical steps and examples that parents and educators can use to begin to create new learning spaces, approaches, and outcomes. Dr. Richards’ provocative book asks us to reconsider some of our basic assumptions about teaching and learning. It helps parents and educators question and recast these assumptions and practices while providing concrete, tested activities and ideas that will help readers reimagine educational spaces rooted in the notion that classrooms—and the stories we tell in them—are a metaphor for the world we hope to create. Reimagining the Classroom is divided into two parts. The first offers the intellectual framework parents and educators are seeking; it identifies specific problems with current approaches, offers an alternative vision and set of narratives, and then offers a new pedagogy to satisfy this vision. The second part of the book moves from the theoretical to the practical. Dr. Richards provides tested pedagogical tools for classrooms in science and math; literature and fine arts; spirituality and mindfulness; practical arts; and justice and social-emotional learning. Discover practical tools for creating educational spaces that prepare students for the world they will encounter Help students express their values and learn to live in community Replace or supplement school with at-home learning and activities that will give students an edge for the future Learn how the traditional approach to education is failing our kids and leading to an epidemic of depression and anxiety For educators and parents ready to consider a radical shift in service of our children’s wellbeing, this book explains what, fundamentally, education can and should look like.




Power Up Your Classroom


Book Description

Learn to design learning experiences that leverage gameplay to increase motivation and engagement, while building classroom community. By the time Lindsey Blass and Cate Tolnai’s paths crossed, both had taken a path from teacher to coach to central/county office roles focused on innovative learning design, all while noticing three trends that extended beyond their classrooms: students who weren’t able to own and connect to their learning experience became disengaged; students and teachers alike had a general fear of failure; and teachers were perplexed at how to design learning experiences that fostered student choice and celebrated failure as an opportunity for iteration. Together, they began to ask … what if? What if we designed learning experiences that leveraged the power of gameplay to create more motivated learners? What if we modeled this type of learning with educators so they could experience the impact firsthand and spread the excitement and innovation in their classrooms? What if learning was fun for both students and teachers? This book: • Includes visual elements that model the theme of engaging in a game with tips, hints and suggestions sprinkled throughout the chapters. • Features a downloadable full-color game board that can be used in tandem with the book. • Provides access to an accompanying website that offers dynamic elements and book study questions. • Features the voices of experts and innovators in the fields of gamification and game-based learning. With a uniquely fun and inviting format, Power Up Your Classroom helps educators implement gamification and game-based learning in their classes to drive student engagement and learning.