This book is an experienced analysis of the failures of American schools to provide learning for a majority of its students including those known as the forgotten halfand the reasons for those failures. It explores who is being educated, and what is known about learning in terms of prerequisites, brain differences and cultures. The book describes the failed initiatives of more money, class size reduction, school choice, magnet schools, vouchers, and merit pay for teachers. Charter schools dont cut it for a majority of our children. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race To the Top (RTT) are expensive, unmitigated disasters. The American schools have mostly missed the promise of change and technology and are now engaged in massive fallacious testing, resulting in little benefit to the nation and significant harm to the children. Outrageously priced Higher Education has little to offer to improve the national education malaise, and lumbers on in its dismal, disorderly state. However, American schools in their INNOCENCE are a product of and restricted by their governmental, economic, civic, and ecologic environment. As described in the closure of the book, The Future, the major structural changes needed to re-create our national learning system have overrun national planning and thinking capacity. Fortunately, there are promising patterns of change in progress.
Responsive Classroom practices have helped thousands of special area teachers for more than 30 years. Here you'll find practical suggestions, charts, planners, and examples from experienced special area teachers who use Responsive Classroom practices every day. You'll learn how to: Open and close each period in calm, orderly waysSet students up for success by modeling and practicing skills and routinesUse positive teacher languageEngage students more deeplyRefocus and recharge students with quick, fun, movement breaksRespond to misbehavior to get students back to learning
Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.
(Applause Acting Series). Over 75 monologues for women from the contemporary stage, written by these and other major dramatists: David Mamet * Brian Friel * Steve Tesich * Harold Pinter * Alan Ayckbourn * Timberlake Wertenbaker * Neil Simon * John Patrick Shanley * Jane Anderson * Elizabeth Swados * Ariel Dorfman * Craig Lucas.
One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. Hailed as one of the best books of 2015 by NPR. Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice. Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and action will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.
Help students meet today’s literacy demands with this new book from Terry Roberts and Laura Billings. The authors show how a seminar approach can lead students deeper into a text and improve their speaking, listening, and writing skills, as recommended by the Common Core State Standards. Roberts and Billings provide easy-to-follow information on implementing Paideia Seminars, in which students discuss a text and ask open-ended questions about it. When teachers use this lesson format, students are exposed to a wide range of increasingly complex texts. They also learn how to collaborate, talk about, and reflect on what they’re reading, to make meaning independently and together. Seminars can be done in English class and across the curriculum, using social studies documents or math problems as the texts under discussion. Teaching Critical Thinking also offers an array of practical resources: teacher lesson plans student samples a list of possible ideas and values for discussion a guide to asking good questions during a seminar six full seminar plans (including the texts), covering literature, social studies, and science topics
Integrating musical activities in the elementary school classroom can assist in effectively teaching and engaging students in Language Arts, Science, Math, and Social Studies, while also boosting mental, emotional and social development. However, many elementary education majors fear they lack the needed musical skills to use music successfully. Future elementary school teachers need usable, practical musical strategies to easily infuse into their curriculum. Written for both current and future teachers with little or no previous experience in music, Using Music to Enhance Student Learning, Second Edition offers strategies that are not heavily dependent on musical skills. While many textbooks are devoted to teaching music theory skills, this textbook is dedicated to pedagogy – the actual teaching of music – particularly in those schools without a separate music class in their curriculum. The ultimate goal is for future teachers to provide their elementary school classes with engaging learning experiences. These learning experiences are clearly presented to enable children to acquire knowledge in all subject areas within a joyful, creative environment rich with music activities. New to the second edition are the animated listening maps, more audio tracks, a new guitar unit, expanded coverage in the recorder unit, a connection with visual art and music, expanded activities in American history and math, and updated research and statistics. SPECIAL FEATURES Animated "Listening Maps" help listeners focus on music selections through clear visual representations of sound. Group Activities reinforce the social aspects of music-making, as well as the benefits of collaborative teaching and learning. A thorough integration of music in the curriculum establishes that music is essential in a child’s development, and that the incorporation of music will enhance all other subjects/activities in the classroom. Learning Aids include "Tantalizing Tidbits of Research," which provide the justifications for why these activities are important, as well as "Teaching Tips," and "Thinking It Through" activities. The Using Music Package Streamed listening selections from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary Periods Get America Singing... Again! Volume 1 (developed in association with the Music Educators National Conference, now NAFME, and other music organizations) with 43 songs that represent America’s varied music heritage of folk, traditional, and patriotic themes Appendices include a songbook with Hispanic folksongs, a recorder music songbook and a guitar unit Companion website hosts various teaching and learning resources ISBN 978-0-367-11067-3 Using Music, Second Edition set includes: ISBN 978-0-415-70936-1 Using Music, Second Edition textbook Get America Singing... Again! Volume 1 songbook ISBN 978-0-429-02487-0 Using Music, Second Edition eBook is the textbok only. The songbook is only available with the print textbook and is not sold separately.
The hilarious, colorful #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon that every kid wants! Gift a copy to someone you love today. Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Blue crayon needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. Black crayon wants to be used for more than just outlining. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun. What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best? With giggle-inducing text from Drew Daywalt and bold and bright illustrations from Oliver Jeffers, The Day the Crayons Quit is the perfect gift for new parents, baby showers, back-to-school, or any time of year! Perfect for fans of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Sciezka and Lane Smith. Praise for The Day the Crayons Quit: Amazon’s 2013 Best Picture Book of the Year A Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2013 Goodreads’ 2013 Best Picture Book of the Year Winner of the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award * “Hilarious . . . Move over, Click, Clack, Moo; we’ve got a new contender for the most successful picture-book strike.” –BCCB, starred review “Jeffers . . . elevates crayon drawing to remarkable heights.” –Booklist “Fresh and funny.” –The Wall Street Journal "This book will have children asking to have it read again and again.” –Library Media Connection * “This colorful title should make for an uproarious storytime.” –School Library Journal, starred review * “These memorable personalities will leave readers glancing apprehensively at their own crayon boxes.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review “Utterly original.” –San Francisco Chronicle
In this touching memoir of his boyhood on a farm in the Ozark foothills, Harry Middleton joins the front rank of nature writers alongside Edward Hoagland and Annie Dillard. It is the year1965, a year rife with change in the world and in the life of a boy whose tragic loss of innocence leads him to the healing landscape of the Ozarks. Haunted by indescribable longing, twelve year old Harry is turned over to two enigmatic guardians, men as old as the hills they farm and as elusive and beautiful as the trout they fish for with religious devotion. Seeking strength and purpose from life, Harry learns from his uncle, grandfather, and their crazy Sioux neighbor, Elias Wonder, that the pulse of life beats from within the deep constancy of the earth, and from one’s devotion to it. Amidst the rhythm of an ancient cadence, Harry discovers his home: a farm, a mountain stream, and the eye of a trout rising.
What would you do to get the truth? Emma has spent her life steeped in secrets. She’s suffocating on lies and drowning in the depths of her secretive double-life. When the Guild splits, and Emma is separated from her only friends, she finds Obedience and Diligence stifling. After years of learning to hide in plain sight and obey without question, Emma has reached her limit. Diligence takes us on a roller-coaster of Emma’s angsty search for answers. From fistfights to fishnets, a new school brings challenges Emma has never faced. And if her regular teen life was not difficult enough, the appearance of the CIA complicates everything further. They tempt her with what she has always wanted: a family who loves her and accepts her the way she is. All she has to do to get it is betray Leader. Now, the secrets belong to Emma. If Leader won’t give her the truth she deserves, she will find out for herself. No matter the cost. When faced with the truth, will Emma finally find a way to get free, or will she once again succumb to Leader’s demand for Diligence? Buy Diligence today to delve deeper into Emma’s life in the mysterious and dangerous cult, The Guild
