A Teacher, His Students, and the Great Questions of Life


Book Description

Throughout history, philosophers have attempted to unravel the mystery of life. People from many diverse traditions have been invited to sit face to face at the table of philosophy to engage in analytical and critical reflection in what Dr. John Morgan calls the great questions of life. This book invites students to explore the meaning of life in an easy and understandable manner through the infamous character Professor Plotimus. The antics of Professor Plotimus make philosophy interesting, uncomplicated, and easy to grasp while deeply compelling . . . It allows our minds to wonder and listen to the wisdom of the ages that life has meaning and purpose if we only loosen the chains of dogma and venture out of our caves as we attempt to see life in a fresh way.--from the Preface by Linda Lewis RiccardiAdjunct Professor of Humanities and Philosophy, Reading Area Community College




A Teacher, His Students, and the Great Questions of Life, Second Edition


Book Description

Throughout history, philosophers have attempted to unravel the mystery of life. People from many diverse traditions have been invited to sit face to face at the table of philosophy to engage in analytical and critical reflection in what Dr. John Morgan calls "the great questions of life." This book invites students to explore the meaning of life in an easy and understandable manner through the infamous character Professor Plotimus. The antics of Professor Plotimus make philosophy interesting, uncomplicated, and easy to grasp while deeply compelling . . . It allows our minds to wonder and listen to the wisdom of the ages that life has meaning and purpose if we only loosen the chains of dogma and venture out of our caves as we attempt to see life in a fresh way. --from the Preface by Linda Lewis Riccardi Adjunct Professor of Humanities and Philosophy, Reading Area Community College




The Teacher Wars


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking history of 175 years of American education that brings the lessons of the past to bear on the dilemmas we face today—and brilliantly illuminates the path forward for public schools. “[A] lively account." —New York Times Book Review In The Teacher Wars, a rich, lively, and unprecedented history of public school teaching, Dana Goldstein reveals that teachers have been embattled for nearly two centuries. She uncovers the surprising roots of hot button issues, from teacher tenure to charter schools, and finds that recent popular ideas to improve schools—instituting merit pay, evaluating teachers by student test scores, ranking and firing veteran teachers, and recruiting “elite” graduates to teach—are all approaches that have been tried in the past without producing widespread change.




The Last Lecture


Book Description

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.




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.




Give Me an Answer


Book Description

Cliffe Knechtle offers clear, reasoned and compassionate responses to the tough questions skeptics ask.




The Great Ideas


Book Description

Previously published: New York : Macmillan, 1992.




Heart!


Book Description

This inspiring book presents the concept of a heartprint -- the distinctive impression that an educator's heart leaves on students and colleagues during his or her professional career. For teachers, understand how teacher motivation, teacher-student relationships, and collaborative teaching all affect your self-efficacy, career, and professional development. For school leaders and administrators, discover your impact on staff, students, and school culture as you progress in your career and gain perspective on creating sustainable change. Examine the 5 HEART aspects of your professional life: Happiness: a passion for teaching, a purpose, and a desire to positively impact education Engagement: teacher motivation, energy, and effort necessary to impact student learning Alliances: relationships, collaborative teaching, and teacher support Risk: vision-focused risk taking to create sustainable change in schools Thought: the knowledge and professional development integral to advancing your career Discover Your Answer to the Question "Why Teach" and Advance Your Career in Education: Reflect on your journey and the personal and professional qualities of the teacher or leader you want to be. Discover your distinctive heartprint on your students and colleagues, and decide what the qualities of a good teacher are for you. Gain personal development plan ideas and inspirational insights from Dr. Kanold as well as dozens of thought leaders and researchers. Connect your professional life to each chapter and reconnect to the emotion, passion, energy, growth, and collaborative intimacy expected when joining the teaching profession. Build collective teacher efficacy and academic optimism by using the resource as a book study for professional development. Contents: Part 1: H Is for Happiness Chapter 1: The Happiness Dilemma Chapter 2: The Happiness-Passion Connection Chapter 3: What's Love Got to Do With It? Chapter 4: Got Compassion? Check! Chapter 5: Wanted--Persons of Positive Character and Hope Chapter 6: The Joy-Gratitude-Stability Connection Chapter 7: Why Should We Weep? Final Thoughts: The World Happiness Report Part 2: E Is for Engagement Chapter 8: Gallup Says--Full Engagement Not Ahead Chapter 9: Getting Engaged! Chapter 10: It's Energy, Not Time Chapter 11: Name That Energy Quadrant Chapter 12: Avoid the Quadrant III Drift Chapter 13: Quadrant II Time Required Chapter 14: Grit--Deliberate Daily Practice Final Thoughts: The MTXE Perspective Part 3: A Is for Alliances Chapter 15: The Primary Purposes of Collaboration Chapter 16: PLCs--Serving the Greater Good Chapter 17: Oh, the Inequity Places We'll Go! Chapter 18: Reduce Our Professional Noise Chapter 19: Relational Intelligence Required Chapter 20: What Are Those Black Boxes? Chapter 21: Celebration--Making Above and Beyond the Norm the Norm Final Thoughts: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success Part 4: R Is for Risk Chapter 22: What's in a Goal? Chapter 23: Shared Purpose--Each and Every Child Can Learn Chapter 24: Results or Persons? Chapter 25: The Risk-Vision Dependency Chapter 26: Build Trust the Millennial Way Chapter 27: Fixed or Growth Mindset? Chapter 28: Warning--Entropy Ahead! Final Thoughts: A Sense of Urgency Part 5: T Is for Thought Chapter 29: Your Great Adventure! Chapter 30: Your Voice of Wisdom Chapter 31: Clean Up the Climate Chapter 32: Become a Feedback Fanatic Chapter 33: Yours, Mine, and Ours Final Thoughts: Hold the Mayo!




On Being a Teacher


Book Description

Jonathan Kozol, National Book Award-winning author and one of America’s foremost writers on social issues, offers a passionate and provocative critique on the role of the teacher in America’s public school system. Writing as a teacher, Kozol advocates an approach to education that is infused with ethical values: fairness, truth, and integrity, and a driving compassion for the world beyond the classroom. Kozol not only sheds light on what it means to be a teacher, but gives constructive suggestions on how teachers can work conscientiously within the system to foster these values in concert with parents, students and fellow teachers.




Essential Questions


Book Description

What are "essential questions," and how do they differ from other kinds of questions? What's so great about them? Why should you design and use essential questions in your classroom? Essential questions (EQs) help target standards as you organize curriculum content into coherent units that yield focused and thoughtful learning. In the classroom, EQs are used to stimulate students' discussions and promote a deeper understanding of the content. Whether you are an Understanding by Design (UbD) devotee or are searching for ways to address standards—local or Common Core State Standards—in an engaging way, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins provide practical guidance on how to design, initiate, and embed inquiry-based teaching and learning in your classroom. Offering dozens of examples, the authors explore the usefulness of EQs in all K-12 content areas, including skill-based areas such as math, PE, language instruction, and arts education. As an important element of their backward design approach to designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors *Give a comprehensive explanation of why EQs are so important; *Explore seven defining characteristics of EQs; *Distinguish between topical and overarching questions and their uses; *Outline the rationale for using EQs as the focal point in creating units of study; and *Show how to create effective EQs, working from sources including standards, desired understandings, and student misconceptions. Using essential questions can be challenging—for both teachers and students—and this book provides guidance through practical and proven processes, as well as suggested "response strategies" to encourage student engagement. Finally, you will learn how to create a culture of inquiry so that all members of the educational community—students, teachers, and administrators—benefit from the increased rigor and deepened understanding that emerge when essential questions become a guiding force for learners of all ages.