Empowering Excellence inspires a revolution in teaching and assessment practices. These methods of teaching and grading represent a major step ahead in how teachers assess and interact with students. Empowering Excellence presents 12 significant “shifts” that encourage motivation, build confidence, and measure what students know and are able to do based on the Common Core State Standards or equivalent standards in a highly supportive, student-centered environment.Teachers, administ...

In the early 21st Century, a new vision for classroom practice emerged that looks very different from the teaching that existed previously. This new teaching is a synthesis of effective curriculum, big ideas, nurturing relationships, differentiated instruction, appropriate assessment, teaching to standards, use of technology, and solid understanding of the content being taught.Six core principles emerge from the new educational theory that have the power to define and organize this...

Go beyond traditional paper-and-pencil tests!The Common Core State Standards clearly define the skills students need for success in college and the 21st century workplace. The question is, how can you measure student mastery of skills like creativity, problem solving, and use of technology? Laura Greenstein demonstrates how teachers can teach and assess 21st century skills using authentic learning experiences and rigorous, varied assessment strategies. Bas...

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 ...

Explore three defining challenges that school teams face when gathering, interpreting, and utilizing school data. Complete with survey questions for efficient data collection, group work structures, strategies, and tools—along with essential definitions and descriptions of data types—this compelling guide will help you confront data obstacles and turn struggling committees into powerful communities of learners.

A cutting-edge model for 21st century curriculum and instructionHow can you spot a thinking child? Look at the eyes: they’ll light up, signaling that transformative moment when your student has finally grasped that big idea behind critical academic content. If experiences like this are all too rare in your school, then you need a curriculum and instruction model that’s more inquiry-driven and idea-centered. Now.H. Lynn Erickson and Lois Lanning dem...

Powerful strategies that will transform the way you teach and the way your students learn.Advancing Differentiation will lead you through the process of creating a thriving, student-centered, 21st-century classroom. Since its initial publication, the book’s materials have undergone rigorous testing and refinement in classrooms all over the world to deliver the best and most effective differentiation strategies. The strategies in this book will help you:

Far too often, our students attain only a superficial level of knowledge that fails to prepare them for deeper challenges in school and beyond. In Teaching for Deeper Learning, renowned educators and best-selling authors Jay McTighe and Harvey F. Silver propose a solution: teaching students to make meaning for themselves.Contending that the ability to "earn" understanding will equip students to thrive in school, at work, and in life, the authors highlight seven higher-orde...

Rick Wormeli's new book is sure to inspire readers to take radical responsibility for challenging conventional methods and rules that surround students in schools. Topics include professional issues, motivating and connecting with students, differentiation, literacy, teaching techniques, assessment, grading, and more. One of Rick's many fans shared: "Rick Wormeli has the singular power to motivate me and make me want to better myself. Thank you."

MUST READ FOR MANAGERS: Thinking well is important in all aspects of life, but tackling it explicitly is often overlooked in work-world training programs. Never have thinking skills been more important than now, in the 3rd Millennium, when companies worldwide competE for a competitive edge. Nowhere do you get more bang for your buck than in staff training that boosts people's abilities in the areas of analysis, reasoning, decision making, problem solving, creativity, and planning. Also se...

This 3rd edition of the award winning Adaptive Schools Sourcebook provides both a theoretical and practical guide for groups and teams to develop and focus their collaborative energies to improve teaching practices and enhance student-learning outcomes.In five sections: Becoming Adaptive, Collaboration Matters, Meetings are Teachers’ Work, Resources for Inquiry, and Conflict, Change and Community, the authors draw on decades of personal experiences in schools and research ...