Is your classroom culture conducive to the expectations of the Common Core? Teaching content is not enough; students need a classroom structure and atmosphere that will help them learn key academic skills. This practical book will show you how to transform your classroom culture, raise the level of rigor, encourage higher-level questioning and critical thinking, and promote academic discussions. You will also find out how to adjust your classroom management techniques so that students learn to regulate themselves while completing these higher-level tasks. Special Features in Each Chapter: Key Idea—a summary of the essential idea that will be addressed in the chapter Practical strategies—a variety of easy-to-implement ideas that you can try right away Connections to the Common Core State Standards—how the skills taught in this book will help students meet the standards Reflection Questions—thoughtful questions that will help teachers apply their learning to their own classrooms. These questions can be answered independently or used in book study groups. Extend Your Knowledge—creative ideas for extending your knowledge beyond the ideas in this book

The ideal? Newly minted high school graduates all across the nation, each one a complex text genius, a writer and analytic thinker beyond compare. All on to glorious colleges and careers, thanks to the Common Core. The reality? The 1.3 million students who fail to graduate from high school each year and the hundreds of thousands more who either gave up or lost interest long ago . . . The reality is why Common Core CPR is needed. Urgently. Because if we continue to insist that all students meet expectations that are well beyond their abilities and mindsets, these kids will only decline faster. We must be brave enough-and trained enough-to cast aside what we know harms students and apply with renewed vigor the teaching methods we know work. Releah Lent and Barry Gilmore rise to the challenge, and there are no two authors better equipped to do so. They embrace what is best about the standards-their emphasis on active, authentic learning-and then explicitly show teachers how to connect these ideal outcomes to practical classroom strategies, detailing the day-to-day teaching that can coax reluctant learners into engagement and achievement. You'll learn how to: Consider choice and relevance in every assignment Plan and spot opportunities for success Scaffold students' comprehension of complex fiction and nonfiction texts Model close reading through thoughtful questioning Teach students to use evidence in reading, writing, speaking, and reflection . . . And so much more It's not the big sweeping formulas for achievement that will win the day; it's the incremental growth that teachers need to make happen: that one book, that one writing assignment, to help a student turn a corner. "If we can get that one transformational moment to occur, and follow it up by designing more opportunities for success, that's the ideal," say Lent and Gilmore.

Written to address all grade levels, this K-12 classroom resource provides teachers with strategies to support their culturally and linguistically diverse students. This highly readable book by Dr. Sharroky Hollie explores the pedagogy of culturally responsive teaching, and includes tips, techniques, and activities that are easy to implement in today's classrooms. Both novice and seasoned educators will benefit from the helpful strategies described in this resource to improve the following five key areas: classroom management, academic literacy, academic vocabulary, academic language, and learning environment. Grounded in the latest research, this second edition includes an updated reference section and resources for further reading.

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

The achievement of students of color continues to be disproportionately low at all levels of education. More than ever, Geneva Gay's foundational book on culturally responsive teaching is essential reading in addressing the needs of today's diverse student population. Combining insights from multicultural education theory and research with real-life classroom stories, Gay demonstrates that all students will perform better on multiple measures of achievement when teaching is filtered through their own cultural experiences. This bestselling text has been extensively revised to include expanded coverage of student ethnic groups: African and Latino Americans as well as Asian and Native Americans as well as new material on culturally diverse communication, addressing common myths about language diversity and the effects of "English Plus" instruction.

Is your classroom culture conducive to the expectations of the Common Core? Teaching content is not enough; students need a classroom structure and atmosphere that will help them learn key academic skills. This practical book will show you how to transform your classroom culture, raise the level of rigor, encourage higher-level questioning and critical thinking, and promote academic discussions. You will also find out how to adjust your classroom management techniques so that students learn to regulate themselves while completing these higher-level tasks. Special Features in Each Chapter: Key Idea—a summary of the essential idea that will be addressed in the chapter Practical strategies—a variety of easy-to-implement ideas that you can try right away Connections to the Common Core State Standards—how the skills taught in this book will help students meet the standards Reflection Questions—thoughtful questions that will help teachers apply their learning to their own classrooms. These questions can be answered independently or used in book study groups. Extend Your Knowledge—creative ideas for extending your knowledge beyond the ideas in this book

For the first time, this volume provides a definitive collection of Gloria Ladson-Billings’ groundbreaking concept of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP). After repeatedly confronting deficit perspectives that asked, “What’s wrong with ‘those’ kids?”, Ladson-Billings decided to ask a different question, one that fundamentally shifted the way we think about teaching and learning. Noting that “those kids” usually meant Black students, she posed a new question: “What is right with Black students and what happens in classrooms where teachers, parents, and students get it right?” This compilation of Ladson-Billings’ published work on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy examines the theory, how it works in specific subject areas, and its role in teacher education. The final section looks toward the future, including what it means to re-mix CRP with youth culture such as hip hop. This one-of-a-kind collection can be used as an introduction to CRP and as a summary of the idea as it evolved over time, helping a new generation to see the possibilities that exist in teaching and learning for all students. Featured Essays: Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant PedagogyBut That’s Just Good Teaching: The Case for Culturally Relevant PedagogyLiberatory Consequences of LiteracyIt Doesn’t Add Up: African American Students and Mathematics AchievementCrafting a Culturally Relevant Social Studies ApproachFighting for Our Lives: Preparing Teachers to Teach African American StudentsWhat’s the Matter With the Team? Diversity in Teacher EducationIt’s Not the Culture of Poverty, It’s the Poverty of Culture: The Problem With Teacher EducationCulturally Relevant Teaching 2.0, a.k.a. the Remix Beyond Beats, Rhymes, and Beyoncé: Hip-Hop Education and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

The social organization of teaching and learning, particularly in classrooms, has not yet been recognized as a foundational element of education. However, social constructionist views of human development, cognition, and schooling, as well as the increasing challenges of cultural and linguistic diversity, make it a vital concern for teachers, researchers, and policymakers. This book introduces the concept of educational social organization, assembles the pertinent theory and evidence, and suggests future directions for training and policy. }The four goals of school reform--academic excellence, fairness, inclusion and harmony--can be achieved simultaneously, by transforming the final common pathway of all school reform--instructional activity. Teaching Transformed is a new vision for classrooms, based on consensus research findings and unified practice prescriptions, explained and justified by new developments in sociocultural theory, and clarified by an explicit five-phase developmental guide for achieving that transformation. Teaching Transformed is both visionary and practical, both theoretical and data-driven, and determined to create effective education for all students. Professional educators, parents, and any reader concerned with saving our schools will find this book necessary to understand our current plight, and to envision a realistic means of transformation.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) describe a new vision for science learning and teaching that is catalyzing improvements in science classrooms across the United States. Achieving this new vision will require time, resources, and ongoing commitment from state, district, and school leaders, as well as classroom teachers. Successful implementation of the NGSS will ensure that all K-12 students have high-quality opportunities to learn science. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards provides guidance to district and school leaders and teachers charged with developing a plan and implementing the NGSS as they change their curriculum, instruction, professional learning, policies, and assessment to align with the new standards. For each of these elements, this report lays out recommendations for action around key issues and cautions about potential pitfalls. Coordinating changes in these aspects of the education system is challenging. As a foundation for that process, Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards identifies some overarching principles that should guide the planning and implementation process. The new standards present a vision of science and engineering learning designed to bring these subjects alive for all students, emphasizing the satisfaction of pursuing compelling questions and the joy of discovery and invention. Achieving this vision in all science classrooms will be a major undertaking and will require changes to many aspects of science education. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards will be a valuable resource for states, districts, and schools charged with planning and implementing changes, to help them achieve the goal of teaching science for the 21st century.

Half the students in U.S. schools are experiencing or have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. Much has been written about these students from a therapeutic perspective, especially regarding how to provide them with adequate counseling supports and services. Conversely, little has been written about teaching this population and doing so from a strengths-based perspective. Using real-world examples as well as research-based principles, this book shows how to * Identify inherent assets that students bring to the classroom. * Connect to students’ experiences through instructional planning and delivery. * Foster students’ strengths through the use of predictable routines and structured paired and small-group learning experiences. * Develop family and community partnerships. Experts Debbie Zacarian, Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz, and Judie Haynes outline a comprehensive, collaborative approach to teaching that focuses on students’ strengths and resiliency. Teaching to Strengths encourages educators to embrace teaching and schoolwide practices that support and enhance the academic and socio-emotional development of students living with trauma, violence, and chronic stress.