Lincoln Middle School Library

An ASCD Bestseller While social and emotional learning (SEL) is most familiar as compartmentalized programs separate from academics, the truth is, all learning is social and emotional. What teachers say, the values we express, the materials and activities we choose, and the skills we prioritize all influence how students think, see themselves, and interact with content and with others. If you teach kids rather than standards, and if you want all kids to get what they need to thrive, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Dominique Smith offer a solution: a comprehensive, five-part model of SEL that's easy to integrate into everyday content instruction, no matter what subject or grade level you teach. You'll learn the hows and whys ofBuilding students' sense of identity and confidence in their ability to learn, overcome challenge, and influence the world around them.Helping students identify, describe, and regulate their emotional responses.Promoting the cognitive regulation skills critical to decision making and problem solving.Fostering students' social skills, including teamwork and sharing, and their ability to establish and repair relationships. Equipping students to becoming informed and involved citizens.Along with a toolbox of strategies for addressing 33 essential competencies, you'll find real-life examples highlighting the many opportunities for social and emotional learning within the K-12 academic curriculum. Children's social and emotional development is too important to be an add-on or an afterthought, too important to be left to chance. Use this books integrated SEL approach to help your students build essential skills that will serve them in the classroom and throughout their lives.

What is assessment literacy? It's a handful of fundamental understandings about the testing concepts and procedures that influence educational decisions. And it just might be the most cost-effective means of real school improvement. With characteristic humor and aplomb, assessment expert W. James Popham strips away the psychometrician-speak and condenses the complexities of educational testing to six practical and action-oriented understandings about validity, reliability, fairness, score reporting, formative assessment, and affective assessment. This book is for busy educators at the classroom and leadership levels who wantTests that are worth the valuable time they take to administer.Tests that accurately measure what student have learned. Tests that fairly reflect teacher and school effectiveness.Tests that provide the instructionally useful data that will help students learn faster and better. Assessment Literacy for Educators in a Hurry is the fastest route to acquiring the measurement moxie necessary to understand and advocate for better assessment practices and build a case for stopping ineffective and harmful ones. In just a few hours' time, you can pick up the knowledge you need to do a whole lot of good--for your students, yourself, and our schools.

In this revised and updated 4th edition, Discipline with Dignity provides in-depth guidance for implementing a proven approach to classroom management that can help students make better choices and teachers be more effective. Emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and self-control, the authors offer specific strategies and techniques for building strong relationships with disruptive students and countering the toxic social circumstances that affect many of them, including dysfunctional families, gangs, and poverty. Educators at all levels can learn, The difference between formal and informal discipline systems and when to use each. The role of values, rules, and consequences. How to address the underlying causes of discipline problems that occur both in and out of school. What teachers can do to defuse or prevent classroom disruptions and disrespectful behavior without removing students from the classroom. Why traditional approaches such as threats, punishments, and rewards are ineffective-and what to do instead. How to use relevance, teacher enthusiasm, choice, and other elements of curriculum and instruction to motivate students. How to reduce both teacher and student stress that can trigger power struggles. With dozens of specific examples of student-teacher interactions, Discipline with Dignity illustrates what you can do-and not do-to make the classroom a place where students learn and teachers maintain control in a nonconfrontational way. The goal is success for all, in schools that thrive. Book jacket.

In this 2nd edition of Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, Mike Schmoker extends and updates the case that our schools could be on the cusp of swift, unparalleled improvements. But we are stymied by a systemwide failure to simplify and prioritize; we have yet to focus our limited time and energy on the most essential, widely acknowledged, evidence-based practices that could have more impact than all other initiatives combined. They are: simple, coherent curricula; straightforward, traditional literacy practices; and lessons built around just a few hugely effective elements of good teaching. As Schmoker demonstrates, the case for these practices--and the need for them--has grown prodigiously. In every chapter, you'll find late-breaking discoveries and practical advice on how to simplify the implementation of new state standards in the subject areas; on the hidden pitfalls of our most popular, but unproven instructional fads and programs; and on simple, versatile strategies for building curriculum, planning lessons, and integrating literacy into every discipline. All of these strategies and findings are supported with exciting new evidence from actual schools. Their success confirms, as Michael Fullan writes, that a focus on the best "high-leverage practices" won't only improve student performance; they will produce "stunningly powerful consequences" in our schools.

With new standards emphasizing higher-order thinking skills, students will have to demonstrate their ability to do far more than simply remember facts and procedures. But what's the best way for teachers to ensure that students have such skills? In this highly accessible guide, author Susan M. Brookhart shows how to do just that, by providing specific guidelines for designing targeted questions and tasks that align with standards and assess students' ability to think at higher levels. Aided by dozens of examples across grade levels and subject areas, readers will learn how to * Take a student perspective and view assessment questions and tasks as problems to solve.* Design multiple-choice questions that require higher-order thinking.* Understand the difference between open and closed questions and how to use open questions effectively.* Vary and control the features of performance assessment tasks, including cognitive level and difficulty, to target different thinking skills.* Manage the assessment of higher-order thinking within the larger context of teaching and learning. Brookhart also provides an idea bank that teachers can use to jump-start their own thinking as they create assessments. Timely and practical, How to Design Questions and Tasks to Assess Student Thinking is essential reading for 21st century teachers who want their students to excel in the classroom and beyond.

Memory is inextricable from learning; there's little sense in teaching students something new if they can't recall it later. Ensuring that the knowledge teachers impart is appropriately stored in the brain and easily retrieved when necessary is a vital component of instruction. In How to Teach So Students Remember, author Marilee Sprenger provides you with a proven, research-based, easy-to-follow framework for doing just that. This second edition of Sprenger's celebrated book, updated to include recent research and developments in the fields of memory and teaching, offers seven concrete, actionable steps to help students use what they've learned when they need it. Step by step, you will discover how to, Actively engage your students with new learning; Teach students to reflect on new knowledge in a meaningful way; Train students to recode new concepts in their own words to clarify understanding; Use feedback to ensure that relevant information is binding to necessary neural pathways; Incorporate multiple rehearsal strategies to secure new knowledge in both working and long-term memory; Design lesson reviews that help students retain information beyond the test; and Align instruction, review, and assessment to help students more easily retrieve information. The practical strategies and suggestions in this book, carefully followed and appropriately differentiated, will revolutionize the way you teach and immeasurably improve student achievement. Remember: By consciously crafting lessons for maximum "stickiness," we can equip all students to remember what's important when it matters. Book jacket.

In today's schools, students and teachers feel unprecedented--even alarming--levels of stress. How can we create calmer classrooms in which students concentrate better and feel more positive about themselves and others? Author Thomas Armstrong offers a compelling answer in the form of mindfulness, a secular practice he defines as the intentional focus of one's attention on the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. In Mindfulness in the Classroom, Armstrong - Explains how mindfulness affects the structure and function of the brain. - Provides an overview of mindfulness as both a personal practice and a classroom methodology that aligns with such educational models as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). - Shares and explains the extensive research that shows the positive effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom. - Describes how to adapt mindfulness for different grade levels, integrate it into regular school subjects, and implement it schoolwide. - Offers guidelines for teaching mindfulness responsibly, without religious overtones. Dozens of observations from teachers, students, researchers, and practitioners provide striking evidence of the power of mindfulness and offer hope to anyone who wants to make classrooms more productive places of learning.

How can educators leverage neuroscience research about how the human brain learns? How can we use this information to improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment so our students achieve deep learning and understanding in all subject areas? Upgrade Your Teaching: Understanding by Design Meets Neuroscience answers these questions by merging insights from neuroscience with Understanding by Design® (UbD®), the framework used by thousands of educators to craft units of instruction and authentic assessments that emphasize understanding rather than recall. Readers will learn* How the brain processes incoming information and determines what is (or is not) retained as long-term memory;* How brain science reveals factors that influence student motivation and willingness to put forth effort;* How to fully engage all students through relevance and achievable challenge;* How key components of UbD, including backward design, essential questions, and transfer tasks, are supported by research in neuroscience;* Why specific kinds of teaching and assessment strategies are effective in helping students gain the knowledge, skills, and deep understanding they need to succeed in school and beyond; and* How to create a brain-friendly classroom climate that supports lasting learning.Authors Jay McTighe and Judy Willis translate research findings into practical information for everyday use in schools, at all grade levels and in all subject areas. With their guidance, educators at all levels can learn how to design and implement units that empower teachers and students alike to capitalize on the brain's tremendous capacity for learning.

We all want our students to feel safe, collaborate well with others, feel ownership for their learning, and be joyfully engaged in their work. Nevertheless, many teachers end up using language patterns that undermine these goals. Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? * We want students to take responsibility for their learning, yet we use language that implies teacher ownership.* We want to build positive relationships with students, yet we use sarcasm when we get frustrated.* We want students to think learning is fun, yet we sometimes make comments that suggest the opposite.* We want students to exhibit good behavior because it's the right thing to do, yet we rely on threats and bribes, which implies students don't naturally want to be good. What teachers say to students-when they praise or discipline, give directions or ask questions, and introduce concepts or share stories-affects student learning and behavior. A slight change in intonation can also dramatically change how language feels for students. In What We Say and How We Say It Matter, Mike Anderson digs into the nuances of language in the classroom. This book's many examples will help teachers examine their language habits and intentionally improve their classroom practice so their language matches and supports their goals.

While leaders may desire or have been told that they must put certain structures into place in order to enhance their leadership capabilities, they may not know exactly what structures are needed, or the skills that are required for implementation. Authors Michael Fullan and Lyle Kirtman go beyond simply telling you what you need to put in place to enhance leadership-they detail the route to successful leadership. Coherent School Leadership will show you how to combine the components of Fullan's Coherence Framework (the Framework) with Kirtman's 7 Competencies for Highly Effective Leaders (The Competencies) to drive coherence-the shared depth of understanding about the nature of the work and how it impacts the results desired for student achievement-to change the culture in schools from reactive to proactive. Fullan and Kirtman, whose work is based in practice, will:¿ Show you how to use specific competencies to drive coherence¿ Provide examples that show how other leaders have successfully created coherence¿ Guide you through the day-to-day distractions/stresses so that you can stay on course¿ Show you how to use the Competencies in relation to the FrameworkTaking a world view of the forces that could destabilize education and the work of coherence, Coherent School Leadership will show how proven frameworks such as the Framework and the Competencies can help you cope with even the most complex scenarios.

Students become attentive, curious, and passionate about learning when they can see its relevance to their lives and when they're empow¬ered to use that learning to solve problems that matter. Regardless of the subject or grade level you teach, you can infuse your instruction with the meaning stu¬dents crave by implementing design thinking. Design thinking prompts students to consider: "I've learned it. Now what am I going to do with it?"In Designed to Learn, cognitive scientist and educator Lindsay Portnoy shares the amazing teaching and learning that take place in design thinking classrooms. To set the stage, she provides easy-to-implement strategies, class¬room examples, and clear tools to scaffold the processes of inquiry, discovery, design, and reflection. Because formative assessment is crucial to the process, Portnoy includes sample assessments that measure student learning and ensure that learners take the lead in their own learning. As the author guides you through the five elements of design thinking (under¬stand and empathize, identify and research, communicate to ideate, prototype and test, and iterate and reflect), you'll learn how to support students as they* Use the content you teach to solve a problem in their community or in the world around them.* Isolate a concern for their designed solution to address.* Communicate ideas and provide valid reasoning for potential solutions.* Prototype a solution and test it.* Revise their design for maximum impact and reflect on the process.Equipped with the strategies and supports in Designed to Learn, teachers will be able to ensure that learning in their classrooms is visible, student-centered, and measurable-by design.

"Design is the rendering of intent." What if education leaders approached their work with the perspective of a designer? This new perspective of seeing the world differently is desperately needed in schools and begins with school leadership. Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson, widely recognized experts on Design Thinking, educational leadership, and innovative strategies, call this new perspective design-inspired leadership--one of the most powerful ways to ignite positive change and address education challenges using the same design and innovation principles that have been so successful in private industry. Design Thinking for School Leaders explores the changing landscape of leadership and offers practical ways to reframe the role of school leader using Design Thinking, one step at a time. Leaders can shift from "accidental designers" to "design-inspired leaders," acting with greater intention and achieving greater impact. You'll learn how viewing the world through a more empathetic lens--a critical first step on the path to becoming a design-inspired leader--can raise your awareness of the uniqueness of your teachers and students and prompt you to question the ways in which they experience your school. Gallagher and Thordarson detail five specific roles to help you identify opportunities for positively impacting students, teachers, districts, parents, and the community: Opportunity Seeker. Shifts from problem solving to problem finding. Experience Architect. Designs and curates learning experiences. Rule Breaker. Challenges the way things are "always" done. Producer. Gets things done and creates rapid learning cycles for teams. Storyteller. Captures the hearts and minds of a community. Full of examples of Design Thinking in action in schools across the country, Design Thinking for School Leaders can help you guide your school to the forefront of the new design + education movement, one that will move traditional education into the modern world and drive the future of learning.

Drawing upon decades of research and myriad authentic classroom experiences, Kathleen M. Budge and William H. Parrett dispel harmful myths, explain the facts, and urge educators to act against the debilitating effects of poverty on their students. They share the powerful voices of teachers--many of whom grew up in poverty--to amplify the five classroom practices that permeate the culture of successful high-poverty schools: (1) caring relationships and advocacy, (2) high expectations and support, (3) commitment to equity, (4) professional accountability for learning, and (5) the courage and will to act. Readers will explore classroom-tested strategies and practices, plus online templates and exercises that can be used for personal reflection or ongoing collaboration with colleagues. Disrupting Poverty provides teachers, administrators, coaches, and others with the background information and the practical tools needed to help students break free from the cycle of poverty.

The world needs great individual educational changemakers capable of identifying problems and creating bold, scalable solutions. But the world also needs Dream Teams-groups of talented administrators, teachers, staff, students, and community members who are passionate about making things better for kids, believe that school-based change is the means to this end, and are willing to roll up their sleeves and work together to achieve it. This book is for Dream Teams in the making. In it, rising global education leaders Aaron Tait and Dave Faulkner share the models and methods of 10 brilliant leadership teams at urban, suburban, and rural schools in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Informed by these successes, the authors provide specific, sometimes audacious advice for navigating what they call the Change Leader Journey: how to move from Dream Team assembly and problem analysis all the way through to solution generation, piloting, promotion, and evaluation. Innovative educators come in all forms, and they require lots of options. Here, you'll find a collection of practical ideas and tools designed to fuel transformational leadership without sacrificing instructional excellence or anyone's sanity. Whether your team is a group of fearless rebels, more cautious types, or somewhere in between, Tait and Faulkner's flexible approach can help you figure out where you want your school to go, build a more collaborative and creative culture, and generate the solutions that best serve your students.

As professional learning communities become more widespread, educators have learned that they can't simply form grade-level or subject-area teams and call it a day. To profoundly affect teacher practice and student learning, PLCs need strong and knowledgeable leadership. In Facilitating Teacher Teams and Authentic PLCs, Daniel R. Venables draws on his extensive experience helping schools and districts implement effective PLCs to explore this crucial but often-overlooked need. Taking a two-pronged approach to PLC facilitation, Venables offers targeted guidance both for leading the people in teacher teams and for facilitating their work. This practical resource provides Strategies for facilitating interactions among colleagues in PLCs and building trust and buy-in. Field-tested, user-friendly protocols to focus and deepen team discussions around texts, data, teacher and student work, teacher dilemmas, and collaborative planning time. Tips for anticipating and addressing interpersonal conflicts and obstacles that commonly arise during use of protocols. Current and prospective PLC facilitators at every grade level will find this book an essential guide to navigating the challenging and rewarding endeavor of leading authentic PLCs. Build your skills, and help your team rise to the next level.

What's the secret to making schoolwide SEL work? Growing numbers of people recognize that social-emotional learning (SEL) is central to a well-rounded education and to success in life outside and beyond the school building. What's missing is the know-how and framework for weaving SEL into the fabric of the school.In this highly practical and eminently readable book, Thomas R. Hoerr shows teachers, administrators, and other school staff how to integrate the Formative Five success skills--empathy, integrity, self-control, embracing diversity, and grit--with school culture essentials by answering these questions:1. How can you ensure that your school or district is helping students develop their SEL skills across disciplines? Address your values, vision, mission.2. What effective programs and activities support student development of SEL skills at the classroom, school, and district levels? Consider your practices.3. How can you leverage personal relationships within the school and in the community to cultivate students' appreciation of how the differences among us make us stronger? Involve your people.4. How can you weave an SEL narrative into your school's culture? Live your narrative.5. What can you do to establish and nurture a welcoming school environment as you strive to enhance students' SEL skills? Embrace your place. Replete with real-life examples from the author's years as a school leader, relevant findings from the research, and helpful strategies for use at all levels and with all K?12 populations, Taking Social-Emotional Learning Schoolwide is the ultimate blueprint for making sure students and staff are equipped to thrive.

In this powerful new book, James Rickabaugh, former superintendent and current director of the Institute for Personalized Learning (IPL), presents the groundbreaking results of the Institute's half-decade of research, development, and practice: a simple but powerful model for personalizing students' learning experiences by building their levels of commitment, ownership, and independence. Tried and rigorously tested in urban, suburban, and rural districts--and in different academic and economic settings--the IPL model has been proven to enhance student engagement and achievement at all levels. Rickabaugh provides principals and other top-level leaders with* Step-by-step guidance for implementing the model;* A detailed overview of the research and work behind the model's development;* A complete introduction to the heart of the model--a comprehensive, multi-layered framework centered on the three core components of learner profiles, customized learning paths, and proficiency-based progress;* Tools and activities for assessing and adjusting the model to meet the specific needs of students and staff;* Strategies for increasing and reinforcing enthusiasm for the change process among everyone involved, from the classroom to the greater community; and* An abundance of real-life examples and reflections from students, teachers, principals, and superintendents whose schools have flourished in record time and with minimal additional funding or resources.Tapping the Power of Personalized Learning offers a blueprint that dramatically improves student outcomes and prepares today's learners to meet life's challenges in college and beyond.

Your Students, My Students, Our Students explores the hard truths of current special education practice and outlines five essential disruptions to the status quo. Authors Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Julie Kroener show you how to¿ Establish a school culture that champions equity and inclusion. ¿ Rethink the long-standing structure of least restrictive environment and the resulting service delivery. ¿ Leverage the strengths of all educators to provide appropriate support and challenge.¿ Collaborate on the delivery of instruction and intervention. ¿ Honor the aspirations of each student and plan accordingly.To realize authentic and equitable inclusion, we must relentlessly and collectively pursue change. This book-written not for "special educators" or "general educators" but for all educators-addresses the challenges, maps out the solutions, and provides tools and inspiration for the work ahead. Real-life examples of empowerment and success illustrate just what's possible when educators commit to the belief that every student belongs to all of us and all students deserve learning experiences that will equip them to live full and rewarding lives.