Author and former middle level school leader Frank Buck spends his professional life helping fellow educators manage themselves and their work in ways that maximize performance and benefit students. Buck shares three practical ideas to organize the new school year.
For co-authors Todd Whitaker, Jeff Zoul and Jimmy Casas, a “connected educator” is a teacher or school leader who not only brings what they know to the conversation but encourages and values the sharing of everyone’s expertise through online learning networks.
Helping students build intrinsic motivation is at the center of Larry Ferlazzo’s Building a Community of Self-Motivated Learners, says reviewer Joanne Bell. The book “is peppered with tons of helpful websites, references and technology ideas that I can’t wait to use.”
After years of trying to cope with the flow of struggling readers coming into their school, teachers at Ericsson Middle banded together to create a academic coaching program that provides reading and writing support for students across the literacy spectrum.
In The Invent to Learn Guide to Fun Josh Burker situates the Constructivist theories of active learning within the playful exploration and creation of the Maker’s Movement while also providing detailed guides for intriguing projects, says reviewer Kevin Hodgson.
Iconic images from popular culture can raise consciousness about issues, many of them tied to health and gender awareness, writes media literacy consultant Frank W. Baker. He offers memorable examples and ties this phenomenon to teaching visual literacy.
Relationships are built when children know that caring adults are on their side. If teachers team up with parents and families, they can help create success for even the most difficult students. Amber Chandler shares the strategies that work in her MS classroom.
Author and literacy consultant Regie Routman is a passionate cook who loves to make fresh fruit tarts. Here she draws connections between learning to bake and learning to teach, using her Optimal Learning Model as a framework. Fruit tart recipe included!
Many students don’t expect math to make sense and learn to disengage their reasoning and even distrust it. Teacher-experts Cathy Humphreys & Ruth Parker highlight an 8-step “Number Talks” process that can promote deeper discussions about how numbers work.
Whitaker, Zoul and Casas show how to fit digital connections into an already busy life, along the way packing their new book with digital resources to make PLNs a source of professional growth and friendship. Digital immigrant Laura Von Staden highly recommends it.
