Education in the 21st century is shifting focus from accessing and sharing information to designing active and collaborative learning environments which foster student engagement and critical thinking skills. Active learning features a hands-on, activity-based teaching approach during which students synthesize information and take joy in new discovery. The Handbook of Research on Learner-Centered Pedagogy in Teacher Education and Professional Development presents a comprehensive look into the methodologies and strategies necessary to establish classroom climates in which students feel free to question their preconceptions and express opinions. Featuring chapters from international researchers, this book is ideal for administrators, teachers, policy makers, and students of education.
Teacher-Centered Professional Development is a hands-on guide to collaborative skill building for educators. It introduces the Teacher's Choice Framework, a model that empowers teachers by helping them choose and initiate professional growth activities according to their schedules, strengths, and needs. The book describes a wide variety of professional development strategies, including mentoring, journal writing, peer-to-peer coaching, and seminars. For each strategy, the author provides: * A brief history of the research base * A step-by-step guide to implementing the strategy * Sample handouts and assessment forms * Examples from the field of the strategy in practice With this book, teachers at all levels can quickly learn how to set up development teams, conduct action research, and engage in other activities to further their skills. In addition, the Teacher's Choice Framework helps educators prioritize their needs and choose the strategies that best suit those needs. Teacher-Centered Professional Development offers both a perfect introduction to staff development options and a commonsense method for choosing among them.
The widely used STEM education book, updated Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide covers teaching and learning issues unique to teaching in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. Secondary and postsecondary instructors in STEM areas need to master specific skills, such as teaching problem-solving, which are not regularly addressed in other teaching and learning books. This book fills the gap, addressing, topics like learning objectives, course design, choosing a text, effective instruction, active learning, teaching with technology, and assessment—all from a STEM perspective. You’ll also gain the knowledge to implement learner-centered instruction, which has been shown to improve learning outcomes across disciplines. For this edition, chapters have been updated to reflect recent cognitive science and empirical educational research findings that inform STEM pedagogy. You’ll also find a new section on actively engaging students in synchronous and asynchronous online courses, and content has been substantially revised to reflect recent developments in instructional technology and online course development and delivery. Plan and deliver lessons that actively engage students—in person or online Assess students’ progress and help ensure retention of all concepts learned Help students develop skills in problem-solving, self-directed learning, critical thinking, teamwork, and communication Meet the learning needs of STEM students with diverse backgrounds and identities The strategies presented in Teaching and Learning STEM don’t require revolutionary time-intensive changes in your teaching, but rather a gradual integration of traditional and new methods. The result will be a marked improvement in your teaching and your students’ learning.
A much-needed book and professional growth series for new teachers intended to prevent burnout and increase teacher retention. This book together with the Find Your Center Signature Series will: 1) Wake up the mind, body, and heart so they can connect to each other and allow for wise action to come through; 2) Replace anxiety and overwhelm with present moment awareness and embodied calmness through powerful centering practices; 3) Elevate student learning with a responsive, heart-centered teacher guiding the way; 4) Create safe spaces for students by instilling boundaries that come from a place of care and compassion rather than the illusion of control; and 5) Explore how the body can become a powerful form of intervention to de-escalate conflict. Crying every day should not be a rite of passage for new teachers. Feeling centered and empowered can be, though. To learn more about the Find Your Center Signature Series, visit http://www.BreathefromtheHeart.com
A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection
Facilitate dynamic classroom discussions that motivate students and deepen their understanding! "There are two reasons why this book is so important now. The first is the vitality of the subject: true classroom dialogue may be our only hope for helping students become thoughtful citizens. The second is that the authors practice what they preach. They assume from the first page that teachers are thoughtful professionals capable of making the subtle decisions discussed. The result is a book that should lie open on the desk of any teacher who is truly interested in teaching students to think." -Terry Roberts, Director National Paideia Center "I loved the case stories of classroom discussions that illustrated the authors′ points." -Kimberly C. Smith, Advanced Math Teacher/Math Department Chair Welborn Middle School, High Point, NC "Practical and beneficial to teaching and learning in today′s world." -Sylvia Jackson, Principal Adolfo Camarillo High School, CA Engage and enlighten students by skillfully guiding them through thought-provoking classroom discussions using these straightforward strategies. Aligned with the principles of Paideia and Socratic seminars, and packed with real-life examples, this teacher-friendly resource highlights the fundamentals of planning for text-based discourse, the four key factors that shape the teacher′s decision-making during discussions, and tips for problem-solving and fine-tuning facilitation skills.
In this much needed resource, Maryellen Weimer-one of the nation's most highly regarded authorities on effective college teaching-offers a comprehensive work on the topic of learner-centered teaching in the college and university classroom. As the author explains, learner-centered teaching focuses attention on what the student is learning, how the student is learning, the conditions under which the student is learning, whether the student is retaining and applying the learning, and how current learning positions the student for future learning. To help educators accomplish the goals of learner-centered teaching, this important book presents the meaning, practice, and ramifications of the learner-centered approach, and how this approach transforms the college classroom environment. Learner-Centered Teaching shows how to tie teaching and curriculum to the process and objectives of learning rather than to the content delivery alone.
Students deserve great teachers and learning to become a great teacher is a lifelong journey. On Becoming a Teacher guides both the new and experienced teacher through the exhilarating process of learning to educate students in a way that makes a lasting impact on their lives. Dr. Kearney leads the reader through the process of understanding what lies at the foundation of great teaching, loading each essay with ready-for-classroom use applications and challenging ideas. This book is designed to encourage the reader to think deeply about all aspects of education, while instilling, or rekindling, the excitement, enthusiasm, and teaching excellence shared by all great teachers. Written in conversational essay form and supplemented with discussion and reflection questions, this brief book would make an ideal classroom text for student teaching and education seminars. Whether you aspire to teaching excellence at the elementary school, middle school, high school, or collegiate level, On Becoming a Teacher is a must read. Author Bio: Edmund M. Kearney, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at Lewis University. Dr. Kearney has won numerous teaching awards over the past 20 years, including being named the “Teacher of the Year” at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, the Lasallian Educator of the Year for teaching excellence at Lewis University, and the St. Miguel Febres Cordero Award winner for excellence in scholarship at Lewis University. Dr. Kearney’s specialty areas in psychology include cognition, special education, child and adolescent assessment, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Rethinking the Education Doctorate so that practitioner knowledge is at the center of programmatic concern in teacher education raises provocative education policy/practice considerations. Participants in the national Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) are doing just this. Their accounts of rethinking what counts as educational knowledge and their reconsideration of the roles of teacher educators, scholar-practitioners, students, policy makers, and others are illuminated in this book. Asserting the primacy of practitioner knowledge, the book generates a rich and complex terrain of issues and considerations that participating CPED institutions navigate as multiple technical, normative, and political questions at the crux of educator preparation, professional growth, and control of their field. And, it is this terrain that calls attention to the nature of practitioner knowledge and its inherent potential for redirecting, mediating, and generating education policy. Conversations within and across national and local levels orient away from technical means-ends “what works” questions alone, and open into normative and political questions about educational value and professional action. In documenting the largest, most coordinated effort to rethink the educational doctorate in a century of such efforts, this book will interest teacher educators and programs engaged in pre-service and graduate level teacher education, practicing K-16 teachers, and education policy/practice interest groups and individuals. Illustrating a policy development method that is neither top-down nor necessarily ‘grass roots’, it also invites the interest of other educational sectors. Additionally, as CPED implementation contexts value interdisciplinarity, multiple methodological perspectives, and interactions and deliberations across interests, the lived consequences and significances of doing so are mapped out and, as such, hold much potential for policy/practice intersections within manifold education settings, and beyond, to settings of all kinds invested in the primacy of practitioner knowledge. Thus, a core goal of this volume is to broach these considerations with a broad readership.
Teaching is a lifelong challenge, but the first few years in the classroom are typically a teacher's hardest. This expanded collection of writings and reflections offers practical guidance on how to navigate the school system, form rewarding relationships with colleagues, and connect in meaningful ways with students and families from all cultures and backgrounds.
