Are you ready to plan your best lessons ever? With so many demands and so much content available for teachers, we need to put a higher value on an often-overlooked skill: planning learning experiences that will both engage and inspire our students, by design, over time. Planning Powerful Instruction is your go-to guide for transforming student outcomes through stellar instructional planning. Its seven-step framework—the EMPOWER model—gives you techniques proven to help students develop true insight and understanding. You’ll have at your fingertips: the real reasons why students engage—and what you must do to ensure they do a framework to help you create, plan, and teach the most effective units and lessons in any subject area more than 50 actionable strategies to incorporate right away suggestions for tailoring units for a wide range of learners downloadable, ready-to-go tools for planning and teaching Whether you are a classroom teacher, an instructional leader, or a pre-service teacher, Planning Powerful Instruction will forever change the way you think about how you teach and the unique value you bring to your learners.

This collection will help you teach music basics whether you have a music degree or no formal music training. Students will practice their listening skills, identify musical notation and terms, recognize instruments, and more! Reinforce lessons from other subjects with cross-curricular elements, or adapt the activities to include new material. Mix and match whole-class, group, and individual activities to give your students a variety of ways to learn music basics.

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.

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.

Discover new, practical methods for teaching literacy skills in your early childhood classroom. Has teaching early literacy skills become a stumbling block to getting your preschool students kindergarten ready? Break out of the tired “letter of the week” routine and learn how to transform your lessons with fun and effective techniques. Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers will equip teachers to infuse every aspect of their teaching with exciting hands-on literacy teaching methods that engage students and help them build authentic connections with books, so that 100% of their students will have a strong literacy foundation and will be fully prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Respected author Vanessa Levin, veteran early childhood educator and author of the “Pre-K Pages” blog, breaks down the research and translates it into realistic, actionable steps you can take to improve your teaching. Features specific examples of teaching techniques and activities that engage students in hands-on, experiential learning during circle time, centers, and small groups. Offers a simple, four-step system for teaching literacy skills, based on the foundational principles of early literacy teaching Demonstrates how to build your confidence in your ability to get 100% of your students ready for kindergarten, long before the end of the school year Understand the problems with traditional literacy teaching and identify gaps in your current teaching practice with this valuable resource.

Describes five practices for productive mathematics discussions, including anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and connecting.

Despite the prevalence of students with disabilities in the general education classroom, few teachers receive training on how to meet these students’ needs or how to navigate Despite the prevalence of students with disabilities in the general education classroom, few teachers receive training on how to meet these students’ needs or how to navigate the legally mandated processes enumerated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). What is their role? What are their responsibilities? What are the roles and rights of parents? And what must all teachers do to ensure that students with disabilities and other special needs receive the quality education they’re entitled to? In this practical reference, David F. Bateman—bestselling author of A Principal’s Guide to Special Education—and special education administrator Jenifer L. Cline clarify what general education teachers need to know about special education law and processes and provide a guide to instructional best practices for the inclusive classroom. Topics covered include The pre-referral, referral, and evaluation processes Individualized education programs (IEPs) and the parties involved Accommodations for students who do not quality for special education, including those covered by Section 504 Transition from preK to K–12 and from high school to postschool life Classroom management and student behavior Educational frameworks, instructional strategies, and service delivery options Assessment, grades, graduation, and diplomas The breadth of coverage in this book, along with its practical examples, action steps, and appendixes covering key terms and definitions will provide the foundation all K–12 teachers need to successfully instruct and support students receiving special education services. It’s an indispensable resource for every general education classroom. the legally mandated processes enumerated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). What is their role? What are their responsibilities? What are the roles and rights of parents? And what must all teachers do to ensure that students with disabilities and other special needs receive the quality education they’re entitled to? In this practical reference, David F. Bateman—bestselling author of A Principal’s Guide to Special Education—and special education administrator Jenifer L. Cline clarify what general education teachers need to know about special education law and processes and provide a guide to instructional best practices for the inclusive classroom. Topics covered include The pre-referral, referral, and evaluation processes Individualized education programs (IEPs) and the parties involved Accommodations for students who do not quality for special education, including those covered by Section 504 Transition from preK to K–12 and from high school to postschool life Classroom management and student behavior Educational frameworks, instructional strategies, and service delivery options Assessment, grades, graduation, and diplomas The breadth of coverage in this book, along with its practical examples, action steps, and appendixes covering key terms and definitions will provide the foundation all K–12 teachers need to successfully instruct and support students receiving special education services. It’s an indispensable resource for every general education classroom.

When the school bell rings and it's back to class, teachers will be well prepared with this planner in hand. It includes a student roster, seating charts, emergency contacts, behavior records, and tips for good communication with parents.

A Deeper Sense of Literacy is the first book to suggest that media literacy is both a content area and an approach to teaching that can be integrated into any subject area. It combines theory and practical application in a way that addresses the most important questions related to media literacy in education today: what is it, why is it important, how can you teach it across a wide range of curriculum areas and grade levels, and does it work? Rather than focusing on how to teach media literacy, Scheibe and Rogow focus on actually using media literacy to teach lessons across the content areas.

This book offers practical guidance on such topics as roles and responsibilities, school environment and culture, classroom organization and management, collaboration with other professionals, and individual professional development.