The Game of School
The Game of School

Author: Robert L. Fried

Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Published: 2005-04-13

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

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Students play it, teachers perpetuate it, parents condone it, principals endorse it, and governments legislate it. The "game of school" is that familiar scenario where students' natural curiosity and desire to learn are replaced with a frantic rush (or a compliant shrug) to do the work, please the teacher, and get the grades. This game is easy to master, but exerts a high price. Can we afford to pay the price in wasted time and idle minds? In this compelling book, Robert L. Fried shows how we can change the rules of the game, reclaim and refocus the learning experience, and ultimately bring joy back into the classroom. The Game of School is filled with interviews and stories of teachers and students who are struggling to put the game of school behind them and engage in authentic learning. We experience the excitement of the first day of first grade; listen to urban teens discuss Shakespeare's Othello; and meet a college student who is beginning to question her long disengagement with learning. We are introduced to seven types of learners—from "go-getters" to "pluggers" to "rebels"—and find out how the game shapes their relationship to schooling and life. The Game of School offers workable solutions that take into account the reality of a culture consumed with testing, accountability, and the race for college. Fried redefines our common ideas of discipline, curriculum, instruction, grading, motivation, and family involvement in ways that enhance true learning and diminish the game's stranglehold on our curiosity and will. He argues that classrooms are more easily "managed" in a climate of mutual respect, and students are eager for "instruction" when it is challenging and engaging. His "Joy and Misery Index" serves to remind teachers of what really matters most in the classroom. Thoughtful and inspiring, The Game of School offers suggestions and ideas for teachers, parents, and students who want to free themselves from the ever-tightening grip of a game in which even winners end up losing.

The Passion-Driven Classroom
The Passion-Driven Classroom

Author: Angela Maiers

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-07

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 1315394723

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Turn your classroom into a thriving community of learners! In The Passion-Driven Classroom, bestselling authors Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold show you how to spark and sustain your students’ energy, excitement, and love of learning. This updated edition offers a new framework for changing your mindset and implementing a passion-driven classroom, where passion meets practice every day as students learn new skills and explore their talents. You’ll come away with specific examples of how to set up your classroom, how to manage it, and how to assign passion projects where students take the lead. With this book, you’ll be able to move away from prescription-driven learning toward Passion-Driven Learning, so you can make a real difference in the lives of your students.

Grading for Equity
Grading for Equity

Author: Joe Feldman

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2023-08-31

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1071876589

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Raise standards and improve learning for all students through equitable grading Grading–one of the most important responsibilities of teachers with major implications for students’ academic and life trajectories–is ironically also among the most enigmatic and frequently avoided topics in education. Although most teachers sense that common grading practices are often ineffective, there is limited understanding of how those practices can undermine effective teaching and harm students, particularly those historically underserved. It is long past due to implement grading practices that are more accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational, and which improve student learning, empower teachers, and transform classrooms as a result. In this newly updated edition of the best-selling Grading for Equity, Joe Feldman provides a valuable resource for anyone invested in grading and its impact on students’ education, mental health, and future opportunities. Offering a research-based alternative to the status quo, this practitioner-friendly guide provides Extensive revisions that reflect how the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement shifted traditional grading systems New data from both academic research and classrooms that demonstrate the benefits of equitable grading for all students Clear approaches to implement equitable grading practices Updated information on several equitable grading practices, including proficiency scales A new concluding chapter that explores implementing equitable grading system-wide With a down-to-earth style driven by the author’s own curiosity as a teacher, principal, district administrator, and university instructor, this book will invite and challenge you to think about how more equitable grading, when implemented effectively, creates a more rigorous, humane, and positive school experience for all.

The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education
The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 908790312X

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"A series of well argued but surprisingly entertaining articles go far to set the very foundations ofthe field of digital game based learning. This book is absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in games and learning and will be for years to come." - James Paul Gee, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies, Arizona State University

Teachers at Their Best
Teachers at Their Best

Author: Rich Waters

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-04-03

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 147584266X

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The purpose of this book is to change the conversation about teacher induction, preparation, and development and how we create effective teachers. Our national discussion about how to create effective teachers needs to move away from how higher education can do a better job preparing our teachers and move toward how our local schools can do a better job inducting, preparing, and developing our teachers over a full career. There are two interconnected and irrefutable reasons for this. First, school culture supersedes all rational strategies for teacher development, and, second, teachers learn to teach in the schools where they work, not in higher education or any of the alternative routes which the ineffectiveness of higher education teacher preparation have caused to emerge. With the affirmation of these postulates, this book clarifies that teachers are at their best when they are working together in collaborative cultures where teacher thinking and decision-making lead schools in continuous improvement and change. Elaborating on the importance of these best conditions for optimal teacher development, this book will insist that it is the entirety of a school culture that produces effective teachers, and schools with authentic learning communities produce the cultures that produce effective teachers.

The Perfect Blend
The Perfect Blend

Author: Michele Eaton

Publisher: International Society for Technology in Education

Published: 2020-06-20

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1564848434

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Learn how to redesign lessons with technology to individualize and personalize instruction, transforming what learning looks like for your students. Many blended learning initiatives start from the top down and are designed for specific populations or make drastic changes to a school’s learning structure. But any K-12 classroom teacher can find ways to leverage blended learning, regardless of the constructs of their learning environment. All they need is a willingness to rethink their role — moving from content deliverer to architect of learning. In The Perfect Blend, you’ll learn how to create a “homemade recipe” for effective blended learning for your students. Rather than focusing on finding and implementing a specific established model, author Michele Eaton shows teachers how to embrace the flexibility of blended learning to take an active role as a designer of learning and, in the process, help students become advocates for their education. This book: • Provides an accessible resource for teachers beginning to use technology, as well as master blended teachers who are looking for new ideas or strategies. • Includes templates and planning tools that can be used as is or modified to fit the needs of your students. • Focuses on understanding and reflecting on your role as a designer of learning experiences, and creating and using digital content in the classroom. You’ll gain practical skills, strategies and lesson ideas for various types of blended learning thanks to examples from real classrooms and educators. Along the way, you’ll discover how to build on the skills you already have to support blended learning.

Killing ideas softly?
Killing ideas softly?

Author: Ronald A. Beghetto

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2013-06-01

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1623963664

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Creativity is a hot topic in education. As such, there is no shortage of insights or suggestions for how teachers might incorporate creativity into their curriculum. Wading through these suggestions can, however, be quite daunting. This is because many of these suggestions imply that teachers need to somehow radically change their approach to teaching, adopt a new curriculum, or add-on to their existing curriculum. Consequently, many teachers feel that such changes are not feasible and may even come at the cost of supporting students’ academic learning. This book provides an alternative. Teachers need not adopt a new curriculum, radically change what they are already doing, or attempt to add more to their already overflowing plate of curricular responsibilities. Rather, teaching for and with creativity is often more about doing what one is already doing, only slightly better. The aim of this book is to help teachers understand how they can make slight changes to their own teaching, which can substantially support the development of students’ creative potential and result in a more creative approach to teaching. The insights and practical suggestions presented in this book represent some of the newest and most promising work being done in the field of creativity studies. This book is unique in that it presents teachers with concrete ideas for how to simultaneously support creativity and learning. A particularly novel feature of this book is that it offers a blend of theoretical insights and vivid classroom examples to illustrate the kinds of opportunities and challenges that teachers face when they attempt to teach for and with creativity. As such, this book will provide teachers, scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in classroom creativity with new directions for future research and educational practice.

This Book Is Not Required
This Book Is Not Required

Author: Inge Bell

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1483321150

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This Fifth Edition of the underground classic This Book Is Not Required: An Emotional and Intellectual Survival Manual for Students, by Inge Bell, Bernard McCrane, John Gunderson, and Teri Anderson, breaks new ground in participatory education, offering insight and inspiration to help undergraduates make the most of their college years. This edition continues to teach about the college experience as a whole—looking at the personal, social, intellectual, technological, and spiritual demands and opportunities—while incorporating new material highly relevant to today’s students. The material is presented in a personable and straightforward manner, maintaining Dr. Inge Bell’s illuminating writing style throughout, and inviting students to take responsibility for, and make the most of, their educational experiences.

Learning to Play
Learning to Play

Author: Myint Swe Khine

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9781433112355

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Over the past two decades, much attention has been given to the new media culture of video games, due to their unique features and pervasive nature among young people. This book critically examines the role of video games in education, arguing that they encourage strategic thinking, planning, communicating, negotiation skills, multi-tasking and group decision-making. It is also observed that video games promote higher levels of attention and concentration among players. The book contains multiple perspectives and presents thought-provoking ideas, innovative approaches, systemic exploration, exemplary and promising efforts, and future-oriented scenarios. The book draws together distinguished researchers, educational and curriculum planners, game creators, educational and social psychologists, and instructional designers to explore how video games can transform the future of education.

Making Thinking Visible
Making Thinking Visible

Author: Ron Ritchhart

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-03-25

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1118015010

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A proven program for enhancing students' thinking and comprehension abilities Visible Thinking is a research-based approach to teaching thinking, begun at Harvard's Project Zero, that develops students' thinking dispositions, while at the same time deepening their understanding of the topics they study. Rather than a set of fixed lessons, Visible Thinking is a varied collection of practices, including thinking routines?small sets of questions or a short sequence of steps?as well as the documentation of student thinking. Using this process thinking becomes visible as the students' different viewpoints are expressed, documented, discussed and reflected upon. Helps direct student thinking and structure classroom discussion Can be applied with students at all grade levels and in all content areas Includes easy-to-implement classroom strategies The book also comes with a DVD of video clips featuring Visible Thinking in practice in different classrooms.