Understanding by Design


Book Description

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.




The School Team Approach


Book Description




Educating the Student Body


Book Description

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of physical inactivity approaches that of cigarette smoking. The prevalence and substantial disease risk associated with physical inactivity has been described as a pandemic. The prevalence, health impact, and evidence of changeability all have resulted in calls for action to increase physical activity across the lifespan. In response to the need to find ways to make physical activity a health priority for youth, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment was formed. Its purpose was to review the current status of physical activity and physical education in the school environment, including before, during, and after school, and examine the influences of physical activity and physical education on the short and long term physical, cognitive and brain, and psychosocial health and development of children and adolescents. Educating the Student Body makes recommendations about approaches for strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment. This report lays out a set of guiding principles to guide its work on these tasks. These included: recognizing the benefits of instilling life-long physical activity habits in children; the value of using systems thinking in improving physical activity and physical education in the school environment; the recognition of current disparities in opportunities and the need to achieve equity in physical activity and physical education; the importance of considering all types of school environments; the need to take into consideration the diversity of students as recommendations are developed. This report will be of interest to local and national policymakers, school officials, teachers, and the education community, researchers, professional organizations, and parents interested in physical activity, physical education, and health for school-aged children and adolescents.




A Team Approach to Behaviour Management


Book Description

`This is an accessible and clearly set-out book, with a consistently positive and empowering tone. The examples and level of the material are realistic and likely to promote discussion, which is skilfully handled, would lead to a more consistent approach′ - European Journal of Special Needs `Trying to know something about everything is a tall order, but this book can ease the burden considerably if you feel the teaching assistants (or any staff in your school) would benefit from help and advice on behaviour management. This is just the thing for a busy SENCO, although, as a special needs adviser, I can already see how I might use and adapt some of the excellent resources and activity ideas to add sparkle to my own centre - and school-based training′ - British Journal of Special Education `The resource is designed for SENCOs/trainers who work with TAs and it really does hit its target audience, striking a good balance between the SENCO′s need for comprehensive coverage of the material and the TA′s need for an accessible training and developmental experience. In addition, there are clearly potential applications for (perhaps slightly tweaked) elements of the resource with other teaching, and non-teaching, staff in schools. The resource costs £16.99, which works out at just £2.50 per unit. Setting aside the ′real′ value of the resource in terms of the improved behaviour-management performance of our TA′s and other school staff, the value to the SENCO/trainer of having a comprehensively packaged resource which includes so much useful material and which requires little, if any, ′tweaking′ before being presented to its target audience in the individual school, is vastly greater than what is, essentially, just the price of a pint of beer per unit′ - Spare-Chair `According to the SENCO in the school where I work: "It′s just what I′ve been looking for! All the work has been done for me, where can I buy one?". This book is well laid out, easy to access and simple to understand′- Teaching Assistant News `This book provides a clear structure for the SENCO to deliver in-school training on behaviour management...Each unit offers suggestions for practical school-based follow-up work that TAs can undertake. It would be a useful support to SENCOs who are planning training. Brendan Cunnane, Teaching and Learning Consultant for KS3 Behaviour and Attendance notes that: (the book) "chimes fully with the messages of the KS2 pilot on developing SEBS (Social, Emotional and Behavioural Skills) and the KS3 B & A Strand.... Good exercises and strategies which are clearly explained.... A good practical compendium with theoretical underpinnings" ′ - East Riding Teaching Assistant News `The materials are comprehensive and thought-provoking. They deal with the issues of behaviour management at an individual, team and school level and the participant activities provided are at once engaging and insightful′ - TA Help Website Developed from training courses run by the authors for SENCOs and teaching assistants, this book provides a clear structure for the SENCO to deliver in-school training on behaviour management to teaching assistants and other school staff. The emphasis is on planning for a team approach to problem solving within the context of whole-school improvement. The book is split up into a series of units that are designed to develop awareness and understanding through shared training. Each unit offers suggestions for practical school-based follow-up work that the teaching assistant can undertake and provides materials to allow the teaching assistant to maintain a reflective log of their work to support their professional development. The authors: - place their material in the context of the increasingly managerial role SENCOs are undertaking with their teaching assistants - take into account the proposed development of the role of the teaching assistant as outlined in recent DfES guidance - provide the SENCO with all training materials - photocopiable worksheets, suggested aims and objectives, discussion topics, tasks and activities. The units offer a flexible training programme that schools can tailor to their individual needs and everything is written in a highly practical and user-friendly style. SENCOs should find it an invaluable training tool for use with teaching assistants and other school staff. It is suitable for use at both primary and secondary level.




Team-Based Learning


Book Description

This book describes team-based learning (TBL), an unusually powerful and versatile teaching strategy that enables teachers to take small group learning to a whole new level of effectiveness. It is the only pedagogical use of small groups that is based on a recognition of the critical difference between "groups" and "teams", and intentionally employs specific procedures to transform newly-formed groups into high performance learning teams.This book is a complete guide to implementing TBL in a way that will promote the deep learning all teachers strive for. This is a teaching strategy that promotes critical thinking, collaboration, mastery of discipline knowledge, and the ability to apply it.Part I covers the basics, beginning with an analysis of the relative merits and limitations of small groups and teams. It then sets out the processes, with much practical advice, for transforming small groups into cohesive teams, for creating effective assignments and thinking through the implications of team-based learning.In Part II teachers from disciplines as varied as accounting, biology, business, ecology, chemistry, health education and law describe their use of team-based learning. They also demonstrate how this teaching strategy can be applied equally effectively in environments such as large classes, mixed traditional and on-line classes, and with highly diverse student populations.Part III offers a synopsis of the major lessons to be learned from the experiences of the teachers who have used TBL, as described in Part II. For teachers contemplating the use of TBL, this section provides answers to key questions, e.g., whether to use team-based learning, what it takes to make it work effectively, and what benefits one can expect from it–for the teacher as well as for the learners.The appendices answer frequently asked questions, include useful forms and exercises, and offer advice on peer evaluations and grading. A related Web site that allows readers to “continue the conversation,” view video material, access indexed descriptions of applications in various disciplines and post questions further enriches the book. The editors’ claim that team-based instruction can transform the quality of student learning is fully supported by the empirical evidence and examples they present. An important book for all teachers in higher education.







Developing Comprehensive School Safety and Mental Health Programs


Book Description

Developing Comprehensive School Safety and Mental Health Programs offers an integrated, long-term plan to create safe and supportive learning environments. This user-friendly guide illustrates how to develop, implement, evaluate, and sustain multiple evidence-based programs that work. This book informs school mental health professionals, administrators, and teachers about multi-tiered service delivery, organizational development, and facilitating the implementation process. It describes the complementary roles of school administrators, counselors, and school psychologists, providing school staff with time, resources, and ongoing support to strengthen their skills and sustain programs they have embraced. It expresses empathy and appreciation for teachers, advocating for their personal growth, professional collaboration, and stress management. School leaders, facilitators, and teams are provided the knowledge, skills, and long-term plans to effectively advocate, assess needs, select programs, train and encourage staff, provide resources, and implement, evaluate, and sustain desired goals.




School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.