School Climate


Book Description

Build a positive school climate to impact students, teachers, and the community! Is improving school climate on your to-do list? Do you think about it as a top-down directive or as a dialogue to build equity within the school? A healthy school environment should never be seen as an option, but instead supported as a must-have. Peter DeWitt offers leaders practical high impact strategies to improve school climate, deepen involvement in student learning, and engage a broader family network. In addition to international vignettes focused on community stakeholders and research-based practices, this book features tools such as · a leadership growth cycle to help leaders build their self-efficacy · a teacher observation cycle centered on building collective efficacy · an early warning system to identify potential at-risk students · action steps following each chapter to apply to your own setting · discussion questions for use in team environments Establishing a supportive and inclusive school climate where professionals can take risks to improve the lives of students is vital to maximize learning in any school community.




Miseducation


Book Description

Why are so many American children learning so much misinformation about climate change? Investigative reporter Katie Worth reviewed scores of textbooks, built a 50-state database, and traveled to a dozen communities to talk to children and teachers about what is being taught, and found a red-blue divide in climate education. More than one-third of young adults believe that climate change is not man-made, and science teachers who teach global warming are being contradicted by history teachers who tell children not to worry about it. Who has tried to influence what children learn, and how successful have they been? Worth connects the dots to find out how oil corporations, state legislatures, school boards, and textbook publishers sow uncertainty, confusion, and distrust about climate science. A thoroughly researched, eye-opening look at how some states do not want children to learn the facts about climate change.




Collective Efficacy


Book Description

Improve student outcomes with collective teacher efficacy. If educators’ realities are filtered through the belief that they can do very little to influence student achievement, then it is likely these beliefs will manifest in their practice. The solution? Collective efficacy (CE)—the belief that, through collective actions, educators can influence student outcomes and increase achievement. Educators with high efficacy show greater effort and persistence, willingness to try new teaching approaches, and attend more closely to struggling students’ needs. This book presents practical strategies and tools for increasing student achievement by sharing: Rationale and sources for establishing CE Conditions and leadership practices for CE to flourish Professional learning structures/protocols




The School Climate Solution


Book Description

Research shows that a socially-emotionally supportive setting is the solution to increasing student achievement. The School Climate Solution helps kids and adults master critical social-emotional skills, encourages student leadership, provides effective and compassionate behavior management strategies, and raises academic performance. With dozens of fun and easy-to-do activities and community meeting agendas, this book provides everything you need to create a positive learning environment in any classroom, school, or school community. Based on William Glasser's Choice Theory and steeped in social-emotional learning, the book shows educators how to engage the whole school community in identifying and celebrating its positive values. For use by principals, teachers, counselors, coaches, or any other school leaders looking to improve classroom climate, the strategies in this book have been tested in schools, and they work. Digital content includes customizable forms from the book.




School Climate


Book Description

Like a strong foundation in a house, the climate of a school is the foundation that supports the structures of teaching and learning. This book provides a framework for educators to look at school and classroom climates using both informal and formal measures. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of climate and details techniques which may be used by heads or classroom teachers to judge the health of their learning environment. The book sets out to enhance understanding of the components of a healthy learning environment and the tools needed to improve that environment. It also looks at ways to assess the impact of change activities in improving and sustaining educational excellence. The international team of contributors bring perspectives from the school systems in America, UK, Australia and Holland.




Understanding Climate Change


Book Description

This nine-session module is written to be practical and accessible. It provides both extensive background and step-by-step instructions for using three-dimensional methods to explore this complex subject. It fits easily into a middle or high school curriculum while addressing the Next Generation Science Standards.




Leading Collective Efficacy


Book Description

Inspiration and Guidance to Develop Collective Teacher Efficacy Collective efficacy, or a shared belief that through collective action educators can positively influence student outcomes, has remained at the top of a list of influences on student achievement in John Hattie’s Visible Learning research. Collective efficacy has been embodied by many educators, though collaboration tends to be focused on building community and relationships, which alone are not enough to move the needle on student achievement. This book contains stories of collective efficacy in schools where it has been actualized in practice, and includes: • Real-world case studies of teams who have fostered and sustained collective efficacy • Practical guidance for building collective efficacy through professional learning designs • Tools that can be adapted for specific needs or local contexts Through these accounts, readers will gain a better understanding of ways to capitalize on the reciprocal relationship between student achievement and collective efficacy by having a clear understanding of what collective efficacy looks like and how it can be accomplished.




A People's Curriculum for the Earth


Book Description

A People’s Curriculum for the Earth is a collection of articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics to help breathe life into teaching about the environmental crisis. The book features some of the best articles from Rethinking Schools magazine alongside classroom-friendly readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution—as well as on people who are working to make things better. A People’s Curriculum for the Earth has the breadth and depth ofRethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World, one of the most popular books we’ve published. At a time when it’s becoming increasingly obvious that life on Earth is at risk, here is a resource that helps students see what’s wrong and imagine solutions. Praise for A People's Curriculum for the Earth "To really confront the climate crisis, we need to think differently, build differently, and teach differently. A People’s Curriculum for the Earth is an educator’s toolkit for our times." — Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate "This volume is a marvelous example of justice in ALL facets of our lives—civil, social, educational, economic, and yes, environmental. Bravo to the Rethinking Schools team for pulling this collection together and making us think more holistically about what we mean when we talk about justice." — Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison "Bigelow and Swinehart have created a critical resource for today’s young people about humanity’s responsibility for the Earth. This book can engender the shift in perspective so needed at this point on the clock of the universe." — Gregory Smith, Professor of Education, Lewis & Clark College, co-author with David Sobel of Place- and Community-based Education in Schools




Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents


Book Description

THE essential resource for middle and high school English language arts teachers to help their students understand and address the urgent issues and challenges facing life on Earth today, this text features classroom activities written and used by teachers and a website [http://climatechangeela.pbworks.com] with additional information and lineks.All royalties from the sale of this book are donated to Alliance for Climate Education https://acespace.org




Human Impacts on Our Climate, Grade 6


Book Description

"In sixth grade, students will begin to grapple with some of the biggest challenges, and often debates, within and outside of the scientific community. The Cause and Effect STEM Road Map theme for sixth grade focuses on human impacts on climate. In this module, students in science and mathematics class will investigate aspects of climate change driven by the rise in global temperatures over the past century and develop potential solutions that might address one aspect of human activity that has contributed to global climate change. This project will require students to conduct and use the engineering process to identify a problem and develop a model to help mitigate the identified problem. The book will have students explain the causes and effects of climate change and how humans have influenced climate change, use mathematical modeling and statistics to explore the impact of climate change, analyze and synthesize reputable media to form scientific arguments regarding climate change, and explore the influence of climate change on the economy, society, and human populations"--