Softening the Edges


Book Description

With foreword by Cassandra Erkens The assessment process can be a rich experience for you and your students. With Softening the Edges, you'll discover how to design and deliver differentiated instruction and assessment to address learners' diverse intellectual and emotional needs. By creating an effective assessment architecture, you can ensure your students are invested in their own learning and have the confidence to face any learning challenge. Examine how to use self-assessment, formative assessment, summative assessment, and preassessment in ways that cultivate a positive culture of learning. This book will show you how to use assessment responsibly to build enriching relationships among teachers and students: Spot the indicators of hard and soft edges in classroom practices to differentiate instruction and assessment for learning. Learn how to educate for the whole child to meet students' cognitive, physical, and ethical development needs and support their social and emotional learning. Examine the importance of a learning continuum to smoothly guide students and increase student engagement and positive learning experiences. Visualize the qualities of a shared space that supports students' learning targets. Contents: Foreword by Cassandra Erkens Chapter 1: Assessment and the Whole Person Chapter 2: Instruction and Assessment Planning Using a Learning Continuum Chapter 3: Preassessment Chapter 4: Formative Assessment and Feedback Chapter 5: Self-Assessment and Goal Setting Chapter 6: Summative Assessment Chapter 7: Systems of Reporting Appendix: Sample Learning Continuums




Student Self-Assessment


Book Description

Increase the achievement of every learner with Student Self-Assessment. In this practical guide, author Katie White outlines how to plan and implement various self-assessment strategies to ensure student growth at all grade levels. She covers every stage of the process--from setup to goal setting to celebrating. In each chapter, you'll find helpful step-by-step guidelines as well as questions to guide conversation and reflection throughout the journey. Understand how self-assessment skills benefit students now and in the future. Learn how to set up a self-assessment process and document learning. Train students to analyze and reflect on their own performances. Set strong, achievable goals in order to motivate students to realize their potential. Celebrate successes and continue to engage students with self-assessment. Contents: Introduction: Embracing Student Self-Assessment Chapter 1: Making a Compelling Case for Student-Self-Assessment Chapter 2: Setting Up a Self-Assessment Process and Documenting Learning Chapter 3: Engaging in Analysis and Reflection Chapter 4: Imagining Possibilities and Setting Goals Chapter 5: Celebrating Growth Chapter 6: Examining Age, Security, Families, and Other Factors Epilogue Appendix: Sample Data Notebook Sequence References and Resources Index




Sharp Edges


Book Description

Love’s passionate snags get the smooth touch in this sparkling masterpiece from Jayne Ann Krentz! She put her art on the line—and her heart in his hands... Eugenia Swift is a young woman of singular sensibilities, and a connoisseur of beauty. As director of the Leabrook Glass Museum, she’s been asked to travel to Frog Cove Island—an artistic haven near Seattle—to catalog an important collection of art glass. But thanks to unsavory rumors surrounding the collector’s death, the museum insists that Eugenia take along Cyrus Chandler Colfax—a rough-hewn private investigator whose taste in glass runs to ice-cold bottles filled with beer. When Colfax declares they must pose as a couple, Eugenia protests in a manner as loud as his Hawaiian shirts. But now their very lives depend on the most artful collaboration they can imagine. For a killer is lurking among Frog Cove’s chic galleries, and if anyone sees through their marital masquerade, their own secret agendas—as well as their plans for survival—may be smashed to smithereens!




Only Love Today


Book Description

MORE THAN 100,000 COPIES SOLD! New York Times bestselling author Rachel Macy Stafford shares simple words of daily inspiration in this unique, seasonal devotional to help you find new and more connected ways to live undistracted, heart-led, and hands-free every day. Rachel Macy Stafford, known to millions as the Hands Free Mama, equips readers to breathe life into what really matters: the ordinary moments in our routine lives and the people in them. Her inspiring words fill this beautiful book of short pieces constructed around the seasons of life. From finding daily surrender in the autumn and daily hope in the winter to finding daily bloom and daily spark in the spring and summer, you will always find fresh, beautiful words for your day. With a flexible, non-dated devotional structure, Only Love Today offers life-giving words that remind you of the tools you already possess and insights you already have as you seek to find: Clarity when you're conflicted Unity when you're divided Faith when you're uncertain Rest when your soul is weary Meaning in the meaningless A reset button directing you back to what matters most Regardless of what you're experiencing or what season you're in, in these pages, you'll find wisdom, encouragement, strength, vision, and clarity to live for what really matters.




The Family Experience of PDA


Book Description

Eliza Fricker gets it. Describing her perfectly imperfect experience of raising a PDA child, with societal judgements and internal pressures, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, resentful and alone. This book's comedic illustrations explain these challenging situations and feelings in a way that words simply cannot, will bring some much-needed levity back into PDA parenting. Humorous anecdotes with a compassionate tone remind parents that they are not alone, and they're doing a great job. If children are safe, happy, and you leave the house on time, who cares about some smelly socks? A light-hearted and digestible guide to being a PDA parent covering everything from tolerance levels, relationships and meltdowns to collaboration, flexibility, and self care to dip in and out as your schedule allows to help get to grips with this complex condition. This book is an essential read for any parent with a PDA child, to help better understand your child, build support systems and carve out some essential self care time guilt free.




Unlocked


Book Description

Creativity enhances the quality of our lives, encouraging us to look deeper, search wider, and explore multiple perspectives. With Unlocked, you'll discover how to effectively connect creativity and assessment of creativity within any classroom setting. A variety of practical ideas and tools helps you design rich, authentic learning experiences that encourage inquiry and growth rather than compliance and "right" answers. Learn how to develop creativity assessment methods that truly foster creativity: Develop an understanding of the creative process and its four critical stages. Explore the numerous benefits of encouraging and developing students' creative thinking skills. Examine, in depth, the connection between effective assessment and students' creative development. Acquire concrete strategies for developing assessment methods (such as formative and self-assessment for learning) that unlock students' creative skills. Access free online reproducibles and resources for teaching and assessing creativity in the classroom.




Soft City


Book Description

Imagine waking up to the gentle noises of the city, and moving through your day with complete confidence that you will get where you need to go quickly and efficiently. Soft City is about ease and comfort, where density has a human dimension, adapting to our ever-changing needs, nurturing relationships, and accommodating the pleasures of everyday life. How do we move from the current reality in most cites—separated uses and lengthy commutes in single-occupancy vehicles that drain human, environmental, and community resources—to support a soft city approach? In Soft City David Sim, partner and creative director at Gehl, shows how this is possible, presenting ideas and graphic examples from around the globe. He draws from his vast design experience to make a case for a dense and diverse built environment at a human scale, which he presents through a series of observations of older and newer places, and a range of simple built phenomena, some traditional and some totally new inventions. Sim shows that increasing density is not enough. The soft city must consider the organization and layout of the built environment for more fluid movement and comfort, a diversity of building types, and thoughtful design to ensure a sustainable urban environment and society. Soft City begins with the big ideas of happiness and quality of life, and then shows how they are tied to the way we live. The heart of the book is highly visual and shows the building blocks for neighborhoods: building types and their organization and orientation; how we can get along as we get around a city; and living with the weather. As every citizen deals with the reality of a changing climate, Soft City explores how the built environment can adapt and respond. Soft City offers inspiration, ideas, and guidance for anyone interested in city building. Sim shows how to make any city more efficient, more livable, and better connected to the environment.




Big Bad Breakfast


Book Description

From the James Beard Award winner, Top Chef Masters contestant, and acclaimed author comes this fun, festive, and highly caffeinated ode to the joys and rituals of the Southern breakfast, with over 125 recipes inspired by the author's popular restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi. John Currence is one of the most celebrated and well-loved chefs in the South. Among his string of highly successful restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi, Big Bad Breakfast holds a special place in diners' hearts: It is a gathering place where people from all walks come together to share the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Southerners know how to do breakfast right, and Currence has elevated it to an artform: dishes like Banana-Pecan Coffee Cake, Spicy Boudin and Poached Eggs, and Oyster Pot Pie are comforting, soulful, and packed with real Southern flavor. Big Bad Breakfast is full of delicious recipes that will make the day ahead that much better--not to mention stories of the wonderful characters who fill the restaurant every morning, and a meditation on why the Southern breakfast is one of America's most valuable culinary contributions.




Music Assessment for Better Ensembles


Book Description

Assessment is central to ensemble music. Yet, teachers do not always have the expertise to harness its potential to improve rehearsals and performances, and promote and document student learning. Written specifically for band, choir, and orchestra teachers at all levels, this book contains all of the information necessary to design and use assessment in a thriving music classroom. The first section addresses foundations such as learning targets, metacognition, and growth mindset. Assessment jargon such as formative assessment, summative assessment, Assessment for Learning, self and peer assessment, and authentic assessment is clarified and illustrated with music examples. Readers will learn practical strategies for choosing which concepts to assess, which methods to use, and how to use results to provide accurate and effective feedback to students. The second section brings assessment fundamentals into the music room. Filled with practical advice, each chapter examines a different facet of musicianship. Sample assessments in all performance areas are provided, including music literacy, fundamentals and technique, terminology, interpretation, evaluation and critique, composition and improvisation, beliefs and attitudes, and more. There is an entire chapter devoted to tips for applying assessment and feedback strategies in rehearsals, which can result in a fresh and effective approach to performance preparation. The final section is an examination of grading practices in music classes. Readers will gain information about ensemble grades that communicate what students know and are able to do, rather than whether they remembered their black socks. A variety of approaches, including Standards-Based Grading, are evaluated in light of music teachers' unique situations. The book concludes with ways for music educators to take their first steps toward implementing these strategies in their own teaching, including the use of instructional technology. Assessing like an expert is possible, and this book is just what teachers need to get started.




Neurodharma


Book Description

LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • “An easy-to-follow road map for creating day-to-day inner peace in today’s increasingly complex world.”—Lori Gottlieb, MFT, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone Throughout history, people have sought the heights of human potential—to become as wise and strong, happy and loving, as any person can ever be. And now recent science is revealing how these remarkable ways of being are based on equally remarkable changes in our own nervous system, making them more attainable than ever before. In Neurodharma, the follow-up to his classic Buddha’s Brain, New York Times bestselling author Rick Hanson, PhD, not only explores the new neuroscience of awakening but also offers a bold yet plausible plan for reverse-engineering peak experiences, sense of oneness, and even enlightenment itself. And he does so with his trademark blend of solid science and warm encouragement, guiding you along this high-reaching path with good humor, accessible tools, and personal examples. A groundbreaking yet practical book, Neurodharma shares seven practices for strengthening the neural circuitry of profound contentment and inner peace—qualities that offer essential support in everyday life while also supporting the exploration of the most radical reaches of human consciousness. Step by step, this book explains how to apply these insights in order to cultivate unshakable presence of mind, a courageous heart, and serenity in a changing world. The breakthroughs of the great teachers are not reserved for the chosen few. Dr. Hanson shows how we can embody them ourselves in daily life to handle stress, heal old pain, feel at ease with others, and rest in the sense of our natural goodness. The Buddha didn’t use an MRI to become enlightened. Still, 2,500 years after he walked the dusty roads of northern India, neuroscientists are discovering the mechanisms of the brain that underpin the Buddha’s penetrating analysis of the mind. With deep research, stories, guided meditations, examples, and applications, Dr. Hanson offers a fascinating, inspiring vision of who we can be—and an effective path for fulfilling this wonderful possibility.