TRANSFORM YOUR CLASSROOM
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$55/book study (book is not included)
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Book studies are self-paced. Choose your due date by selecting the term in which you register with the university. *You can start/finish at any time*
Book Study Requirements: take 5 quizzes, watch 4 videos, write 10 blog posts, and of course, reading the book.
How did we conclude that the best way to prepare kids for the future is to cluster them into classrooms by age and grade, forcing them to learn the same things, at the same time and pace, seven hours a day, five days a week, for 12 years?
We trust the school system to prepare our kids for the future. We get excited when they get good grades or disappointed if they don’t. But we rarely stop to question whether school is teaching our children the right things in the right way.
Kids could get good at playing the game of school, but are they really learning?
Teacher-turned-edupreneur Ana Lorena Fábrega, known by her students as Ms. Fab, invites us to rethink education.
In The Learning Game, she reveals how traditional schooling has gone wrong and proposes a series of actionable strategies to help kids learn.
What if we guide kids to think for themselves?
Should we encourage kids to take risks and tackle projects of their own?
How do we help kids learn to love learning?
Answering these questions and many more, The Learning Game will arm you with practical tools to design a new approach to learning—one that leaves behind the game of school and prepares your kids for the game of life.
Think back to your most engaging experience as a student. What made it so exhilarating and memorable? What made it so effective?
Such questions about student engagement obsessed Weston Kieschnick from his earliest days as a teacher. Today, Kieschnick travels the globe to keynote and coach educators on the topics most relevant to student success. In the intervening decades, Kieschnick refined his teaching craft, observed the most captivating teachers, and studied the best speakers to reverse engineer a student engagement formula. The result is the ATLAS model—a simple, five-point roadmap for capturing student engagement in the first moments of class sustaining it all the way to the last.
The Educator's ATLAS holds both learner needs and teacher wisdom in equal importance. Central to this is a definition of student engagement that—once and for all—clarifies the teacher’s actionable role. Teachers will finish this book with a plan in hand and the full confidence that they are ready to be engagement pros. And as is always the case with Kieschnick’s books, readers will laugh and have a lot of fun along the way.
Kids These Days: A Game Plan For (Re)Connecting With Those We Teach, Lead, & Love
by Jody Carrington
The kids are the least of our worries. Seriously. If that sounds blasphemous in a book for concerned parents and educators (and anyone, really, who worries about "kids these days"), then I am so glad you're here. If you own a kid, work with a kid, or love a kid, you will find something inspiring in these pages. Dare I say game-changing. These words were born from the hundreds of stories of kids, their families, and their support systems I was lucky to meet as I worked across Canada and the USA. Regardless of who I met or where I met them, the message was always the same: our kids are okay ONLY if those of us holding them are okay. During the developmental years, schools-and educators-are the most significant connection point to most every child on this continent. But are the educators okay I believe that most of the great educators want to make a difference. Many tell me, however, that they are finding it more and more difficult "these days" to love what they do. I think it's time we did a better job of looking after them. First. Plain and simple. This book is for the educators: our teachers, bus drivers, administrators, educational assistants, librarians, administrative assistants, and custodians. And anyone who leads, loves, and supports them.
Like most teachers, you want to use your life to make an impact - not only in the classroom, but in your family, community, and the world.
And yet it feels impossible to have that focus when you’re exhausted and overwhelmed. How can you make a difference when you’re distracted by never-ending paperwork, meetings, errands, and housework? How can you give the best of yourself when you’re bogged down with mundane tasks and unfulfilling obligations?
You’ll never have enough time to do everything. But there is a way to free up time, attention, and energy for the things that really matter: the activities that truly impact student learning; the practices that make you a more effective educator; and the routines that make your home and personal life more fulfilling.
Throughout this book, you’ll learn how to disrupt the status quo by challenging school and cultural norms. You’ll also discover how to create healthy boundaries, overcome feelings of self-doubt, release yourself from perfectionism, and decide what work/life balance looks like for you.
Fewer Things, Better will help you challenge the correlation between hours worked and effectiveness. It’s not about how much you’re working; it’s what you’re focusing on.
As you listen, you’ll gain clarity on what’s most important in every aspect of your life and work so you can allocate time to your biggest priorities. You’ll deepen the courage it takes to live with intentionality, so you can do more of what you love and let go of habits and expectations which aren’t serving you well.
It’s time to release yourself from the feeling of never having done enough.
It’s time to stop giving in to the pressure to be constantly busy.
It’s time to do fewer things, so what remains can be done even better.
Kids walk into schools full of wonder and questions. How you, as an educator, respond to students' natural curiosity can help further their own exploration and shape the way they learn today and in the future. The traditional system of education requires students to hold their questions and compliantly stick to the scheduled curriculum. But our job as educators is to provide new and better opportunities for our students. It's time to recognize that compliance doesn't foster innovation, encourage critical thinking, or inspire creativity--and those are the skills our students need to succeed. In The Innovator's Mindset, George Couros encourages teachers and administrators to empower their learners to wonder, to explore--and to become forward-thinking leaders. If we want innovative students, we need innovative educators. In other words, innovation begins with you. Ultimately, innovation is not about a skill set: it's about a mindset. The Innovator's Mindset is for you if: You are a superintendent, district administrator, or principal who wants to empower your staff to create a culture of innovation You are a school leader - at any level - and want to help students and educators become their personal best. You are a teacher who wants to create relevant learning experiences and help students develop the skills they need to be successful. You'll be inspired to: Connect with other innovative educators Support teachers and leaders as learners Tap into the strength of your learning community Create ongoing opportunities for innovation Seek more effective methods for measuring progress And, most importantly, embrace change and use it to do something amazing.
This book shows principals and staff developers how to improve teaching through high-impact in-services lasting only ten minutes. Written by popular education consultants, Todd Whitaker and Annette Breaux, this important book offers 40 teacher-tested, mini-workshops that can improve teaching in every classroom. Covers a range of topics, from behavior challenges and parent engagement to motivating students and making lessons meaningful. Offers school leaders a proven plan to help every teacher improve on a weekly basis by conducting simple 10-minute in-service workshops. Each of the 40 mini-training sessions includes tips on how to introduce the topic, sample scripts to follow, and implementation activities to ensure lasting learning. Whitaker and Breaux are bestselling education authors with a proven track record improving teacher effectiveness. This handy resource contains a simple and effective method for improving teacher effectiveness school wide.
From Kim Bearden, cofounder of Ron Clark Academy and author of the bestselling book Crash Course: The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me, comes a powerful guide for improving communication and building better relationships. Whether you are a teacher, administrator, parent, or business professional, chances are, you struggle at times to find the right words. Talk to Me gives you those words. In this instructional and inspirational handbook, you’ll learn how to choose words that inspire, encourage, and move people to action. Kim Bearden’s honest reflections and six effective communication principles will empower you to . . .develop rapport gain respect support others engage listeners develop insight increase productivityIn a world desperate for kindness and understanding,Talk to Me equips you to use your words to show others that you care.
Be Relentless!!!
Hamish Brewer (aka the Tattooed Skateboarding Principal) grew up in a home disrupted by poverty, addiction, and family dysfunction. He understands the feelings of fear, lostness, and desperation that overwhelm too many children today—because that was his life. That experience is what drives him to work relentlessly to empower people living in the toughest areas to envision and create a better future for themselves.
Disrupt the norm. That is the challenge Hamish, a Nationally Distinguished Principal, calls educators, students, families, and communities to accept. And as he authentically shares his life experiences and adventures in this book, you, too, will be inspired to . . .
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Believe that something bigger and better is possible.
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Pursue your best, whatever it takes.
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Transform your school.
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Become the educator you always dreamed of being.
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Leave a legacy that pushes others to achieve their best!
Relentless is more than a motto. It's a mission of total passion and purpose. And it's the only way to win at work and at life.
New York Times bestselling author and educator Ron Clark challenges parents, teachers, and communities everywhere embrace a difference in the classroom and uplift, educate, and empower our children.
Read this book to find out why so many across the country have embraced these powerful rules.
· Set the electric tone on day one
· Teach your children how to study—don’t expect it to come naturally
· Don’t constantly stress about test scores
· Not every child deserves a cookie
· Lift up your teachers. No, really, lift them up!
· If kids like you all the time, you’re doing something wrong
· Don’t be a penny parent
Be different. Be bold. Join in.
Eradicate Average! CULTURIZE Your School. Average schools don't inspire greatness--and greatness is what our world needs if we are going to produce world-changing learners. In Culturize, author and education leader Jimmy Casas shares insights into what it takes to cultivate a community of learners who embody the innately human traits our world desperately needs, such as kindness, honesty, and compassion. His stories reveal how these "soft skills" can be honed while meeting and exceeding academic standards of twenty-first-century learning.
You'll learn...
How to create an environment where all learners are challenged and inspired to be their best.
How to ensure your learners feel cared for and empowered.
What to do when students disengage or drop out of school.
How to reach those who seem unreachable.
What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers across America
by Ted Dintersmith
An inspiring account of teachers in ordinary circumstances doing extraordinary things, showing us how to transform education
What School Could Be offers an inspiring vision of what our teachers and students can accomplish if trusted with the challenge of developing the skills and ways of thinking needed to thrive in a world of dizzying technological change.
Innovation expert Ted Dintersmith took an unprecedented trip across America, visiting all fifty states in a single school year. He originally set out to raise awareness about the urgent need to reimagine education to prepare students for a world marked by innovation--but America's teachers one-upped him. All across the country, he met teachers in ordinary settings doing extraordinary things, creating innovative classrooms where children learn deeply and joyously as they gain purpose, agency, essential skillsets and mindsets, and real knowledge. Together, these new ways of teaching and learning offer a vision of what school could beâ€"and a model for transforming schools throughout the United States and beyond. Better yet, teachers and parents don't have to wait for the revolution to come from above. They can readily implement small changes that can make a big difference.
America's clock is ticking. Our archaic model of education trains our kids for a world that no longer exists, and accelerating advances in technology are eliminating millions of jobs. But the trailblazing of many American educators gives us reasons for hope.
Capturing bold ideas from teachers and classrooms across America, What School Could Be provides a realistic and profoundly optimistic roadmap for creating cultures of innovation and real learning in all our schools
In this book, Wade and Hope King show you how to draw on your authentic self--your past experiences, personality quirks, interests, hobbies, and strengths--to deliver your content creatively. If you are a high school teacher or a kindergarten teacher, the seven steps in The Wild Card will give you the knowledge and the confidence to bring creative teaching strategies into your classroom. You'll learn...
Why the deck is not stacked against you, no matter what kind of hand you've been dealt
Why you should never listen to the Joker
How to identify the "Ace up your sleeve" and use it to create classroom magic
How to apply the "Rules of Rigor" in order to fuse creativity with learning
Author and teacher, Matt Miller shows you how to choose and incorporate teaching practices that are: Different from what students see daily. Innovative, drawing on new ideas or modifying others' ideas. Tech-laden with the use of digital sites, tools and devices. Creative, tapping into students' original ideas as well as your own. Hands-on, encouraging students to make and try things on their own.
Packed with practical advice, specific recommendations for tools, and the encouragement you need to revolutionize your classes, Ditch That Textbook will inspire you to create relevant teaching that gets student buy-in so they'l enjoy learning.
Easy-to-implement classroom lessons from the world’s premier educational system.
Finland shocked the world when its fifteen-year-olds scored highest on the first Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a set of tests touted for evaluating critical-thinking skills in math, science, and reading. That was in 2001; but even today, this tiny Nordic nation continues to amaze. How does Finnish education―with short school days, light homework loads, and little standardized testing―produce students who match the PISA scores of high-powered, stressed-out kids in Asia?
When Timothy D. Walker started teaching fifth graders at a Helsinki public school, he began a search for the secrets behind the successes of Finland’s schools. Walker wrote about several of those discoveries, and his Atlantic articles on this subject became hot topics of conversation. Here, he gathers all he learned and reveals how any teacher can implement many of Finland's best practices.
Remarkably, Finland is prioritizing the joy of learning in its newest core curricula and Walker carefully highlights specific strategies that support joyful K-12 classrooms and integrate seamlessly with educational standards in the United States.
From incorporating brain breaks to offering a peaceful learning environment, this book pulls back the curtain on the joyful teaching practices of the world's most lauded school system. His message is simple but profound: these Finland-inspired strategies can be used in the U.S. and other countries. No educator―or parent of a school-aged child―will want to miss out on the message of joy and change conveyed in this book.
Book Study #3:
Teach Like a Pirate
by Dave Burgess
Based on Dave Burgess's popular "Teach Like a PIRATE" seminars, this book offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. You'll learn how to:
• Tap into and dramatically increase your passion as a teacher
• Develop outrageously engaging lessons that draw students in like a magnet
• Establish rapport and a sense of camaraderie in your classroom
• Transform your class into a life-changing experience for your students
This groundbreaking inspirational manifesto contains over 30 hooks specially designed to captivate your class and 170 brainstorming questions that will skyrocket your creativity. Once you learn the Teach Like a PIRATE system, you'll never look at your role as an educator the same again.
Book Study #2:
Learning Unleashed
by Evonne Espey Rogers
The industrial model of schooling has taken its toll on victims without remorse, programming curious young minds to become helpless, dependent, and compliant. With a credible and strong voice, Rogers tackles the “sacred school rituals” that are rarely questioned and widely accepted as normal. She transparently leads the reader through firmly-held and often faulty assumptions about schooling practices, while offering common sense solutions that challenge us to re-imagine how we do school in this country.
Book Study #1:
Grading Smarter Not Harder
by Myron Dueck
All the talk of closing the achievement gap in schools obscures a more fundamental issue: do the grades we assign to students truly reflect the extent of their learning? In this lively and eye-opening book, educator Myron Dueck reveals how many of the assessment policies that teachers adopt can actually prove detrimental to student motivation and achievement and shows how we can tailor policies to address what really matters: student understanding of content.
