Teaching English language arts at grades K-5 is both a science and an art. Educators must teach literacy skills and content with best practices, while also keeping focus on each student’s individual needs. They are challenged to monitor students working independently while also conducting small group instruction. And they must focus on providing differentiated support with a rather complicated text. With increased attention to rigor, requirements, and personalized instruction, it can be a ...

Help students appreciate texts and write about them with conviction.Responding to a comprehension question is a surprisingly complex task. It draws on multiple skills: students must be able to read and analyze a text passage; consider what aspect of the text the question addresses; and then quickly and concisely write about their ideas, citing evidence to support them. Hence the prominence of constructed-response questions in standardized testing.In this re...

Storybook characters and situations are perfect for launching discussions of social emotional learning—why not let them help?In picture books, well-loved characters deal with many of the same problems students face in their own lives. What better resource could there be for encouraging students to think about their actions and responses? Using classroom texts to start SEL conversations— during an interactive read- aloud or an extension of shared close- reading less...

What does rigor, a word that frequently pops up in conversations about education, really mean? More specifically, what does it mean for literacy instruction, and how does it relate to challenging standards-based assessments? In this informative and practical guide, literacy expert Nancy Boyles uses the framework from Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) to answer these questions, offering experience-based advice along with specific examples of K–8 assessment items.Boyl...

Just as successful athletes must identify personal strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and engage in focused practice to meet their goals, so must teachers. Crafted around a detailed compendium of over 270 ready-to-use reflection strategies and organized under 41 elements of effective teaching, this book combines a model of instruction with goal setting, focused practice, focused feedback, and observations and discussions to improve your instructional practices.

This book shows how schools can--and must--develop expertise in "learning variation" (understanding how different kinds of minds learn) and apply this knowledge to classroom instruction in order to address the chronic learning challenges and achievement gap faced by millions of students. Barringer shows how using what we know about learning variation with a focus on discovering learning strengths, not just deficits, can help schools create plans for success for those stud...

Join Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher as they outline a clear-cut, realistic, and rewarding approach to formative assessment. They explain how four discrete steps work in tandem to create a seamless, comprehensive formative assessment system—one that has no beginning and no end. This ongoing approach enhances an active give-and-take relationship between teachers and students to promote learning.Where am I going?Step 1: Feed-up ensures that students understand the purpose of an...

"Students of all ages and stages of development can profit from the clarity that Thinking Maps provide."—Bena Kallick, Co-DirectorInstitute for Habits of Mind, Westport, CT"This is one of the rare books that links research and practice to show the true impact of a specific instructional approach on student learning. The research, experiences from the field, vignettes, and work samples are excellent."—Giselle O. Martin-Kniep, PresidentLe...

In Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind, noted educators Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick present a comprehensive guide to shaping schools around Habits of Mind. The habits are a repertoire of behaviors that help both students and teachers successfully navigate the various challenges and problems they encounter in the classroom and in everyday life. The Habits of Mind include* Persisting* Managing impulsivity* Listening with understanding and empathy

How parents and educators can teach kids to love reading in the digital ageEveryone agrees that reading is important, but kids today tend to lose interest in reading before adolescence. In Raising Kids Who Read, bestselling author and psychology professor Daniel T. Willingham explains this phenomenon and provides practical solutions for engendering a love of reading that lasts into adulthood. Like Willingham's much-lauded previous work, Why Don't Stude...

Carol Ann Tomlinson and Tonya R. Moon take an in-depth look at assessment and show how differentiation can improve the process in all grade levels and subject areas. After discussing differentiation in general, the authors focus on how differentiation applies to various forms of assessment--pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment--and to grading and report cards. Readers learn how differentiation can--Capture student interest and increase motivation--...

What it really means to "read closely."What could Fern Arable, Jay Gatsby, and Winston Churchill possibly have in common? They all need masterful teachers to help students revel in their complexity. And Nancy Frey and Doug Fisher are just the two mentors to help you make that happen.Call it close reading, call it deep reading, call it analytic reading—call it what you like. The point is, it’s a level of understanding that students ...