Teaching and learning in grades 4-8

Literacy Learning Still Begins with Story

Katie Egan Cunningham stresses the importance of caring for our students’ stories even as we explore fiction and story-making with them. Reviewer Mary Langer Thompson highly recommends the book for its practical focus mixed with a philosophy beautifully expressed.

Manage Change from Goals to Actions

Jeff Benson’s 10 Steps to Manage Change in Schools offers an efficient blueprint for leadership teams, forcing participants to think critically about the rationale for change and its likely impacts. Sustainable improvement will justify the time commitment.

Idea Starters for the Genius Hour Classroom

Genius Hour gives students the opportunity to be autonomous in their learning. Sometimes, though, they need a little start-up help. Experts Gallit Zvi and Denise Krebs share lots of starter ideas for students and classrooms and urge readers to add their own.

Learn How to Write an Education Book

“The Educator’s Guide to Writing a Book” makes the process of creating a book-length manuscript less daunting, more doable, and much less mysterious, says reviewer Susan Schwartz, who recommends it to anyone who has the urge to share what they’ve learned.

How Feedback Can Be More Kid-Friendly

Rubrics are important tools, says author and veteran MS educator Elyse Scott, but teachers need a more whole-student approach to formative assessment and feedback — one that attends “to that most basic need of young adolescents: one-on-one communication.”

Differentiation to Engage All Learners

Differentiation in Middle & High School: Strategies to Engage All Learners is designed to be used! No matter one’s level of experience with differentiation, this book offers classroom-tested strategies that can be easily implemented to engage all students.