Graphic novels are an excellent medium to motivate today’s youth to become independent learners and thinkers. This practical guide shows secondary school teachers how to incorporate graphic novels into content area instruction as a tool for meeting the needs of diverse learners and achieving the goals of the Common Core State Standards. The authors provide instructional guidelines with classroom examples that demonstrate how graphic novels can be used to expand content knowledge and litera...

Finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction: “Nicholas Carr has written a Silent Spring for the literary mind.”—Michael Agger, Slate“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the Net’s bounties, are we sacrificing our a...

An illuminating look at the surprising upside of ambiguity—and how, properly harnessed, it can inspire learning, creativity, even empathyLife today feels more overwhelming and chaotic than ever. Whether it’s a confounding work problem or a faltering relationship or an unclear medical diagnosis, we face constant uncertainty. And we’re continually bombarded with information, much of it contradictory.Managing ambiguity—in our jobs, our relationships, and daily...

Are you above average? Is your child an A student? Is your employee an introvert or an extrovert? Every day we are measured against the yardstick of averages, judged according to how closely we come to it or how far we deviate from it.The assumption that metrics comparing us to an average—like GPAs, personality test results, and performance review ratings—reveal something meaningful about our potential is so ingrained in our consciousness that we don’t even question it. Th...

An updated edition for the classic book on escaping the drudgery of overwork and finding excellence and happiness--by doing lessOverwork is the new normal. Rest is something to do when the important things are done—but they are never done. Looking at different forms of rest, from sleep to vacation, Silicon Valley futurist and business consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang dispels the myth that the harder we work, the better the outcome. He combines rigorous scientific r...

Student engagement happens as a result of a teacher’s careful planning and execution of specific strategies. This basic premise drives The Highly Engaged Classroom, a self-study text that provides in-depth understanding of how to generate high levels of student attention and engagement. Using the suggestions in this book, every teacher can create a classroom environment where engagement is the norm, not the exception.

A fascinating multi-disciplinary analysis of why curiosity makes the world go round.'A lovely, erudite exploration of what it is that makes us human' - Independent on Sunday'I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious' Albert Einstein.Everyone is born curious. But only some retain the habits of exploring, learning and discovering as they grow older. Which side of the 'curiosity divide' are yo...

What makes a great teacher great? Who are the professors students remember long after graduation? This book, the conclusion of a fifteen-year study of nearly one hundred college teachers in a wide variety of fields and universities, offers valuable answers for all educators.The short answer is—it’s not what teachers do, it’s what they understand. Lesson plans and lecture notes matter less than the special way teachers comprehend the subject and value human learning. Whether histori...

Business visionaries like Steve Jobs and Richard Branson are the stuff of legend. Yet we fumble in describing what they actually do. TEN STEPS AHEAD explains how it's not that some people can magically see opportunities - it's that the rest of us are blind to the ones all around us. We learn, for instance:How Richard Branson had the foresight to trademark Virgin Galactic in the early 1990s, when private spaceflight was science fiction;How Richard Feynman made breakthroughs in...

An entertaining tour of the science of humor and laughterHumor, like pornography, is famously difficult to define. We know it when we see it, but is there a way to figure out what we really find funny -- and why?In this fascinating investigation into the science of humor and laughter, cognitive neuroscientist Scott Weems uncovers what's happening in our heads when we giggle, guffaw, or double over with laughter. While we typically think of humor in terms of...

Prompt students to become the sophisticated readers, writers, and thinkers they need to be to achieve higher learning. The authors explore the important relationship between text, learner, and learning. With an array of methods and assignments to establish critical literacy in a discussion-based and reflective classroom, you’ll encourage students to find meaning and cultivate thinking from even the most challenging expository texts.

“Have you ever wondered why we wonder why? Mario Livio has, and he takes you on a fascinating quest to understand the origin and mechanisms of our curiosity. I thoroughly recommend it.” —Adam Riess, Nobel Prize Winner in PhysicsAstrophysicist and author Mario Livio investigates perhaps the most human of all our characteristics—curiosity—in this “lively, expert, and definitely not dumbed-down account” (Kirkus Reviews) as he explores our innate desir...