A wide range of activities put together by teachers to help teachers focus on specific skills, including listening, following directions, communication, problem-solving, interacting, using teamwork, practicing diversity, and so much more! The activities are fun and easy to understand. Sample questions provide a basis for discussion, and variations help teachers adjust skill levels.
Despite the growing number of books designed to radically reconsider the educational value of video games as powerful learning tools, there are very few practical guidelines conveniently available for prospective history and social studies teachers who actually want to use these teaching and learning tools in their classes. As the games and learning field continues to grow in importance, Gaming the Past provides social studies teachers and teacher educators help in implementing this unique and engaging new pedagogy. This book focuses on specific examples to help social studies educators effectively use computer simulation games to teach critical thinking and historical analysis. Chapters cover the core parts of conceiving, planning, designing, and implementing simulation based lessons. Additional topics covered include: Talking to colleagues, administrators, parents, and students about the theoretical and practical educational value of using historical simulation games. Selecting simulation games that are aligned to curricular goals Determining hardware and software requirements, purchasing software, and preparing a learning environment incorporating simulations Planning lessons and implementing instructional strategies Identifying and avoiding common pitfalls Developing activities and assessments for use with simulation games that facilitate the interpretation and creation of established and new media Also included are sample unit and lesson plans and worksheets as well as suggestions for further reading. The book ends with brief profiles of the majority of historical simulation games currently available from commercial vendors and freely on the Internet.
Presents a model for ensuring quality teaching that balances the necessity of research-based data with the equally vital need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of individual students.
Learn from the Engagement Masters Education is a battle for attention. Whether you are a teacher trying to reach a classroom full of students or a parent trying to prepare your child for the world to come, getting our audience to just listen can be a real challenge. When students have access to personalized entertainment sitting in their pockets, anything that doesn't jump out and grab their attention right away is easily drowned out. But there is a place where even today all those modern distractions melt away--Disneyland. When you're there, you're not only in a different world, you're in Walt Disney's world. Whether you are Peter Pan flying over London in Fantasyland or a rebel fighter struggling against the First Order in Galaxy's Edge, you are 100% engaged. Sights, sounds and even smells ensure that your brain is locked into the experience. If we can bring those techniques into our teaching, we can create engaging experiences for our students, grab their attention, and boost their learning. You'll improve your teaching and create a place students want to visit. In this book we'll learn from the world's greatest engagement masters--the Disney Imagineers. Through narrative visits to attractions throughout Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, you'll experience a visit to the park as we share memories and see how the Imagineers make it all work. We'll be guided by Imagineering icon Marty Sklar's Mickey's 10 Commandments of Theme Park Design as we turn our classrooms into the most engaging places on Earth!
The Updated Fourth Edition of the Award-Winning Book that Offers Beginning Educators Everything They Need in Order to Survive and Thrive! Designed for new educators, this award-winning book covers the basic strategies, activities, and tools teachers need to know in order to succeed in the classroom. Now it its fourth edition, The First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide contains new and updated material on essential topics including: classroom management (how to prevent or minimize disruptions), sustaining professional growth, differentiated instruction, nurturing a growth mindset, and much more. The fourth edition also offers downloadable forms and worksheets, and video instruction on key topics. In addition, this must-have guide: Offers ideas for dealing with homework and instructional concerns from parents and guardians Includes suggestions for helping new professionals maintain a successful work-life balance Contains guidelines to classroom technology and ideas for using digital tools to create engaging lessons Proposes proven strategies for forging positive, supportive relationships with students Presents recommendations for successfully managing the most common discipline problems This must-have guide is filled with the information and tips new teachers need in order to face classroom situations with confidence.
The best-selling First Year Teacher's Survival Kit gives new teachers a wide variety of tested strategies, activities, and tools for creating a positive and dynamic learning environment while meeting the challenges of each school day. Packed with valuable tips, the book helps new teachers with everything from becoming effective team players and connecting with students to handling behavior problems and working within diverse classrooms. The new edition is fully revised and updated to cover changes in the K-12 classroom over the past five years. Updates to the second edition include: • New ways teachers can meet the professional development requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act • Entirely new section on helping struggling readers, to address the declining literacy rate among today’s students • Expanded coverage of helpful technology solutions for the classroom • Expanded information on teaching English Language Learners • Greater coverage of the issues/challenges facing elementary teachers • More emphasis on how to reach and teach students of poverty • Updated study techniques that have proven successful with at-risk students • Tips on working effectively within a non-traditional school year schedule • The latest strategies for using graphic organizers • More emphasis on setting goals to help students to succeed • More information on intervening with students who are capable but choose not to work • Updated information on teachers’ rights and responsibilities regarding discipline issues • Fully revised Resources appendix including the latest educational Web sites and software
"A must for educators, counselors and trainers who enjoy and understand the benefits of adventure-based activities. This is a book of initiative activities and problem-solving elements that you can create and use to start your own portable experiential challenge program or enhance the program you already have. All of the ideas here are presented with a tight budget in mind. The purpose is to provide a way for human services providers to afford the benefits challenge programming can offer" -- Cover.
Textbooks are symbols of centuries-old education. They're often outdated as soon as they hit students' desks. Acting "by the textbook" implies compliance and a lack of creativity. It's time to ditch those textbooks--and those textbook assumptions about learning In Ditch That Textbook, teacher and blogger Matt Miller encourages educators to throw out meaningless, pedestrian teaching and learning practices. He empowers them to evolve and improve on old, standard, teaching methods. Ditch That Textbook is a support system, toolbox, and manifesto to help educators free their teaching and revolutionize their classrooms.
