This page provides access to professional learning resources regarding pedagogy including formative assessment and differentiation.
Good to Great to Innovate by
"Through extensive research and practical examples, this outstanding book puts forward a compelling case for structured, collaborative inquiry processes to achieve success for ALL students." --Janelle Wills, Director Marzano Institute Australia How can schools best prepare students for the highly competitive job market and global economy? This compelling book presents a transformative approach to college and career readiness within the public education system, based on data and best practices contributed by outstanding schools on five continents. Written for education leaders at all levels, this resource shows how to Design an innovative Pathways approach to career readiness that empowers students as informed decision-makers Integrate career training into curriculum through a network of local community partners Develop an approach to life-skill preparation, K-12+, that is inclusive of all. Learn how educators--and entire school systems--can consistently support career development, helping students find rewarding paths forward.
Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn by
On publication in 2009 John Hattie's Visible Learning presented the biggest ever collection of research into what actually work in schools to improve children's learning. Not what was fashionable, not what political and educational vested interests wanted to champion, but what actually produced the best results in terms of improving learning and educational outcomes. It became an instant bestseller and was described by the TES as revealing education's 'holy grail'. Now in this latest book, John Hattie has joined forces with cognitive psychologist Greg Yates to build on the original data and legacy of the Visible Learning project, showing how it's underlying ideas and the cutting edge of cognitive science can form a powerful and complimentary framework for shaping learning in the classroom and beyond. Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn explains the major principles and strategies of learning, outlining why it can be so hard sometimes, and yet easy on other occasions. Aimed at teachers and students, it is written in an accessible and engaging style and can be read cover to cover, or used on a chapter-by-chapter basis for essay writing or staff development. The book is structured in three parts - 'learning within classrooms', 'learning foundations', which explains the cognitive building blocks of knowledge acquisition and 'know thyself' which explores, confidence and self-knowledge. It also features extensive interactive appendices containing study guide questions to encourage critical thinking, annotated bibliographic entries with recommendations for further reading, links to relevant websites and YouTube clips. Throughout, the authors draw upon the latest international research into how the learning process works and how to maximise impact on students, covering such topics as: teacher personality; expertise and teacher-student relationships; how knowledge is stored and the impact of cognitive load; thinking fast and thinking slow; the psychology of self-control; the role of conversation at school and at home; invisible gorillas and the IKEA effect; digital native theory; myths and fallacies about how people learn. This fascinating book is aimed at any student, teacher or parent requiring an up-to-date commentary on how research into human learning processes can inform our teaching and what goes on in our schools. It takes a broad sweep through findings stemming mainly from social and cognitive psychology and presents them in a useable format for students and teachers at all levels, from preschool to tertiary training institutes.
Revising Knowledge by
Do your students know how to effectively revise their knowledge?Academic standards call for increased rigor, but simply raising complexity is not enough. Students must also be able to deliberately revise their own knowledge. They need to know how to use visual tools, written work, and academic notebooks to make revisions that help to deepen their understanding of the content. Revising Knowledge: Classroom Techniques to Help Students Examine Their Deeper Understanding explores explicit techniques for mastering a crucial strategy of instructional practice: teaching students to revise their knowledge. It includes:* Explicit steps for implementation* Recommendations for monitoring if students are able to revise their knowledge* Adaptations for students who struggle, have special needs, or excel in learning* Examples and nonexamples from classroom practice* Common mistakes and ways to avoid them. The Essentials for Achieving Rigor series of instructional guides helps educators become highly skilled at implementing, monitoring, and adapting instruction. Put it to practical use immediately, adopting day-to-day examples as models for application in your own classroom.
Processing New Information by
Can your students encode critical information into their long-term memories?Academic standards call for increased rigor, but simply raising complexity is not enough. Students must also know how to retrieve critical information and comprehend key features of the content. Teachers must strategically impart the skills students need to authentically engage with content so they can effectively process the learning and store it for future use.Processing New Information: Classroom Techniques to Help Students Engage With Content, explores explicit techniques for mastering a crucial strategy of instructional practice: processing new information. It includes:* Explicit steps for implementation* Recommendations for monitoring if students are able to process new information* Adaptations for students who struggle, have special needs, or excel in learning* Examples and nonexamples from classroom practice* Common mistakes and ways to avoid themThe Essentials for Achieving Rigor series of instructional guides helps educators become highly skilled at implementing, monitoring, and adapting instruction. Put it to practical use immediately, adopting day-to-day examples as models for application in your own classroom.
Unstoppable Learning by
Every day, teachers and administrators tirelessly work to fulfill their most significant duty: to ensure students learn. In Unstoppable Learning, authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey uncover systems thinking as the key to improving teaching and learning schoolwide. Systems thinking--which involves distinguishing patterns and relationships and thinking through short- and long-term consequences--is critical to creating clear learning targets, preparing and delivering effective lessons, and successfully assessing instruction. To be systems thinkers, educators must understand the big picture of education and the intricate relationships that affect teaching and learning. They must recognize that every classroom has a network of relationships among schools, families, and communities that impact the classroom.
Inspiring Creativity and Innovation in K-12 by
Inspiring Creativity and Innovation in K-12 by Douglas Reeves presents creativity as integral to educational success. Although the concept of creativity may spur undivided praise among educators, not everyone will be enthusiastic about the work it takes to pursue creativity and innovation. Reeves at once evaluates the four challenges that K-12 administrators and teachers will face in prioritizing creativity and gives useful advice to combat these challenges. As he says, students, teachers, and policymakers need to understand the challenges that creativity poses to effectively bring it into districts, schools, and classrooms.
Engaging in Cognitively Complex Tasks by
Can your students analyze their own understanding of content?Academic standards call for increased rigor, but simply raising complexity is not enough. Students must also know how to investigate, experiment, solve problems, and deepen their understanding of the content. They need to be able to apply their learning to authentic, reality-based situations.Engaging in Cognitively Complex Tasks: Classroom Strategies to Help Students Generate & Test Hypotheses Across Disciplines explores explicit techniques for mastering a crucial strategy of instructional practice: teaching students to generate and test hypotheses. It includes:* Explicit steps for implementation* Recommendations for monitoring if students are able to generate and test hypotheses* Adaptations for students who struggle, have special needs, or excel in learning* Examples and nonexamples from classroom practice* Common mistakes and ways to avoid themThe Essentials for Achieving Rigor series of instructional guides helps educators become highly skilled at implementing, monitoring, and adapting instruction. Put it to practical use immediately, adopting day-to-day examples as models for application in your own classroom.
Literacy Is Not Enough by
How to upgrade literacy instruction for digital learners. Educating students to traditional literacy standards is no longer enough. If students are to thrive in their academic and 21st-century careers, then independent and creative thinking hold the highest currency. The authors explain in detail how to add these new components of literacy: Solution Fluency + Information Fluency + Creativity Fluency + Collaboration Fluency. Students must master a completely different set of skills to succeed in a culture of technology-driven automation, abundance, and access to global labor markets. The authors present an effective framework for integrating comprehensive literacy or fluency into the traditional curriculum.
Making Every Lesson Count by
Packed with practical strategies and case studies, Making Every Lesson Count bridges the gap between research findings and classroom practice. The authors examine the evidence behind what makes great teaching, and how to implement this in the classroom to make a difference to learning. Using case studies from a number of schools, the authors demonstrate how an ethos of excellence and growth can be built through high--quality classroom practice. Combining robust evidence from a range of fields with the practical wisdom of experienced, effective classroom teachers, the book is a must--read for trainee teachers, experienced teachers wishing to enhance their practice and school leaders looking for an evidence--based alternative to restrictive Ofsted--driven definitions of great teaching.
Uniting Academic and Behavior Interventions by
The students most at risk of not acquiring the academic skills, dispositions, and knowledge necessary for long-term success are those who experience both academic struggles and behavior problems. Whether behavior influences academic performance or vice versa is an ongoing discussion that many experts have weighed in on with varying conclusions. In Uniting Academic and Behavior Interventions: Solving the Skill or Will Dilemma, authors Austin Buffum, Mike Mattos, Chris Weber, and Tom Hierck delve into the fray. They highlight teachers' responsibility to educate all students and the need for united and simultaneous academic intervention and behavior intervention for students at risk. They show how collaborative teams of teachers and school personnel can use a research-based framework--RTI at Work(tm)--to implement intervention that combines three proven complimentary models: professional learning communities (PLCs), response to intervention (RTI), and schoolwide positive behavior supports (SWPBS). They offer K-12 administrators and teacher teams tools and processes to instruct and provide academic and behavioral intervention simultaneously within a three-tiered structure. They present a process they developed, the RTI at Work Pro-Solve Intervention Targeting Process, for determining, targeting, and observing academic and behavior interventions.
Teaching, Learning & Assessment: Steps Towards Creative Practice
Part 1 : Becoming an Effective Teacher in the Digital Economy ; 1. Models of Learning and Best Practice Pedagogy ; 2. Creating an Effective Teaching, Learning and Assessment Environment ; 3. The Key Purposes, Principles, Types and Strategies of Assessment ; Part 2: Teaching in a Constructivist Classroom ; 5. DIRECT TEACHER INSTRUCTION IN A CONSTRUCTIVIST ; 6. Whole-Class Explanation as an Effective Teaching Strategy ; 7. Questioning as an Effective Teaching Strategy ; 8. Assessment as an Effective Teaching Strategy in Direct Teacher Instruction ; Part 3: Teaching Strategies to Maximise Student Engagement ; 9. Cooperative Learning in the Primary Classroom ; 10. Rich Tasks and Deep Learning ; 11. Using Authentic Assessment for Rich Tasks and Deep Learning ; 12. Relationships Between Authentic Assessment and Quality Teaching Models ; 13. Assessment Record Keeping and Reporting ; 14. Assessment as the Feedback Loop in an Effective Integrated Pedagogy ; Part 4: Active Learning and Critical Thinking in Inclusive Classrooms in the Digital Age ; 15. The Use of Graphic Organisers to Enhance Critical Thinking ; 16. Embedding ICT and Social Media Technologies in Curriculum ; 17. How to Become the Teacher You Want to Be in the Digital World
Embedded Formative Assessment by
If we are to maintain our status as one of the world's leading economies and secure our economic futures, and if we want our students to thrive in the impossibly complex, unpredictable world of the 21st century, we must concentrate on increasing educational achievement by increasing the quality of the teachers in our schools. Dylan Wiliam faces this challenge head-on by making a case for the important role of formative assessment in increasing teacher quality and student learning. While there are many possible ways in which we could seek to develop the practice of serving teachers, attention to minute-by-minute and day-to-day formative assessment is likely to have the biggest impact on student outcomes. Wiliam's view of formative assessment differs from the popular view in that he regards formative assessment as a process rather than a tool.
Wiliam outlines what formative assessment is, and what it is not, and presents the five key strategies of formative assessment:
1. Clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success
2. Engineering effective classroom discussions, activities, and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning
3. Providing feedback that moves learning forward
4. Activating learners as instructional resources for one another
5. Activating learners as owners of their own learning
The book presents a summary of the research evidence that shows the impact of each strategy and offers a number of practical techniques that teachers have used to incorporate the strategy into their regular classroom practice.
How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading by
What is a rubric? A rubric is a coherent set of criteria for student work that describes levels of performance quality. Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, rubrics are commonly misunderstood and misused. The good news is that when rubrics are created and used correctly, they are strong tools that support and enhance classroom instruction and student learning. In this comprehensive guide, author Susan M. Brookhart identifies two essential components of effective rubrics: (1) criteria that relate to the learning (not the "tasks") that students are being asked to demonstrate and (2) clear descriptions of performance across a continuum of quality. She outlines the difference between various kinds of rubrics (for example, general versus task-specific, and analytic versus holistic), explains when using each type of rubric is appropriate, and highlights examples from all grade levels and assorted content areas. In addition, Brookhart addresses * Common misconceptions about rubrics; * Important differences between rubrics and other assessment tools such as checklists and rating scales, and when such alternatives can be useful; and * How to use rubrics for formative assessment and grading, including standards-based grading and report card grades. Intended for educators who are already familiar with rubrics as well as those who are not, this book is a complete resource for writing effective rubrics and for choosing wisely from among the many rubrics that are available on the Internet and from other sources. And it makes the case that rubrics, when used appropriately, can improve outcomes by helping teachers teach and helping students learn.
It's about Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Elementary School by
In It's About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Elementary School, contributors from the front lines of education offer grades K-8 school administrators practical advice for adjusting their school schedules to create intervention and enrichment time. Editors Austin Buffum and Mike Mattos present a team of writers who outline how their schools provided students with better access to strong core instruction and individualized support. The examples span from traditional to virtual schools, private to public schools, and early education to the middle grades.
It's about Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Secondary School by
It's About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Secondary School includes solid advice and dramatic success stories from grades 6-12 school administrators, many of whom are working on the front lines of education. These educators describe how they refashioned their schools' schedules to create intervention and enrichment time without sacrificing core instruction. The team of writers gathered here by Mike Mattos and Austin Buffum come from a diverse group of schools--traditional, virtual, alternative, private, public, and international. As they learned, the secret to providing support in all three tiers of the RTI pyramid of intervention--not just one or two-- lies in creative and flexible scheduling.
Game Plan by
Game Plan: A Playbook for Developing Winning PLCs at Work(tm) by Héctor García, Katherine McCluskey, and Shelley Taylor asserts that educators and schoolwide and districtwide leaders can learn a lot from championship-level sports teams. Like a sports team, a school leadership team must develop a uniform game plan to foster a collaborative community of learners, develop a shared focus, and meet growth goals. It takes more than enthusiasm and a few talented individuals to build strong collaborative relationships and be consistently successful. In order to explore change and new concepts of leadership, assemble commitment to professional learning community (PLC) principles, and concretely employ these principles in a PLC culture, educators need to examine their process.
Optimize Your School by
Lead the change that you want to see in your school! Is your school or district heading in the right direction? A trusted advisor to numerous districts, author Lee Jenkins shows how to successfully transform your school culture - for the long-term. Discover how to: Evolve your leadership style to guide, empower and serve Apply the principles of continuous strategic improvement as an antidote to win/lose approaches to school accountability Spearhead change across classrooms, departments and organizations - with valuable insights for leaders of individual schools and school districts Develop a healthy, positive culture of achievement by deeply engaging your students in their own progress and success
