Research Based Educational Models
1. Instructional Strategies
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Classroom Instruction That Works by Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock
Close the Achievement Gap by Robin Fogarty and Brian Pete
Mastery Teaching by Madeline Hunter
Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson
How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms by Carol Ann Tomlinson
The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners by Carol Ann
Tomlinson
o The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World’s Teachers for Improving Education in the
Classroom by James W. Stigler & James Hiebert.
2. Classroom Management / Discipline
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Systematic Training for Effective Teaching (STET) by Don Dinkmeyer, et al
The First Days of School by Harry Wong
Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones
Motivating Students Who Don’t Care by Allen N. Mendler
Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World : Seven Building Blocks for
Developing Capable Young People by H. Stephen Glenn
o Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher by
Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering
3. Assessment
o Student-Involved Classroom Assessment (3rd Edition) by Richard Stiggins
o Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
4. Grading
o Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning by Thomas Guskey
5. Using Data to Inform Instruction
o Results: The Key to Continuous Improvement by Mike Schmoker
o Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher by Geoffrey E. Mills
6. Collaboration
o The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups by Robert J.
Garmston
7. Curriculum / Standards
o Deciding What to Teach and Test by Fenwick English
o The Leader’s Guide to Standards by Doug Reeves
8. School Improvement
o Whatever it Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t
Learn by Richard Dufour, et al
o Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t – Jim Collins
o Leaving No Child Behind: 50 Ways to Close the Achievement Gap by Carolyn J. Downey,
et al.
o Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented improvements in Teaching and
Learning by Mike Schmoker
o The Learning Leader: How to Focus School Improvement for Better Results by Douglas B.
Reeves
9. Reading Instruction
o The Teaching Reading Sourcebook by The Coalition for Reading Excellence
o Words Their Way, Third Edition by Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane R.
Templeton, Francine Johnston
o Phonics They Use by Patricia M. Cunningham
o The Teacher’s Guide to the Four Blocks by Patricia M. Cunningham
o Month-by-Month Phonics (various grades) by Patricia M. Cunningham
o When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do (6-12) by Kylene Beers
10. Writing Instruction
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Creating Writers Through Six Traits Writing Assessment and Instruction by Vicki Spandel
Creating Young Writers by Vicki Spandel
Step Up to Writing Manual by Maureen Auman
Why We Must Run with Scissors: Voice Lessons in Persuasive Writing by Barry Lane &
Gretchen Bernabei
o The Reviser’s Toolbox by Barry Lane
Classroom Instruction That Works by Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock
Product Description:
What works in education? How do we know? How can teachers find out? How can
educational research find its way into the classroom? How can we apply it to help our
individual students? Questions like these arise in most schools, and busy educators often don't
have time to find the answers. Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock
have examined decades of research findings to distill the results into nine broad teaching
strategies that have positive effects on student learning:
* Identifying similarities and differences.
* Summarizing and note taking.
* Reinforcing effort and providing recognition.
* Homework and practice.
* Nonlinguistic representations.
* Cooperative learning.
* Setting objectives and providing feedback.
* Generating and testing hypotheses.
* Questions, cues, and advance organizers.
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This list is not new. But what is surprising is finding out what a big difference it makes, for
example, when students learn how to take good notes, work in groups, and use graphic
organizers. The authors provide statistical effect sizes and show how these translate into
percentile gains for students, for each strategy. And each chapter presents extended classroom
examples of teachers and students in action; models of successful instruction; and many
"frames," rubrics, organizers, and charts to help teachers plan and implement the strategies.
Close the Achievement Gap by Brian M. Pete & Robin Fogarty
Simple Strategies That Work
Strategies that work to close the achievement gap are simple, straight-forward and successoriented. From higher order thinking, to routinely re-teaching, to unpacking the language of
the tests, these are ideas that integrate into the daily routines of the k-12 classroom.
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Mastery Teaching by Madeline Hunter
Product Description:
"Mastery teaching produces mastery learning." Master the essentials of effective instruction
for every student. Increase students' learning and retention with the expert teachings of this
gifted educator. * Increase motivation * Make material meaningful * Teach so students
remember * Teach for transfer A useful resource for the beginning teacher or the experienced
veteran.
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Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson
Extend the benefits of differentiated teaching to virtually any kind of school situation and
student population using the guidelines and strategies from this book.
Carol Ann Tomlinson takes you to the next level of differentiated curriculum and instruction
with new insights, including
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5 student needs that are at the heart of responsive teaching
5 teacher responses that engage more students in learning and promote achievement
6 classroom elements that lay the groundwork for a differentiated classroom
5 characteristics of curriculum and instruction that genuinely help all students learn
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Detailed scenarios and activities make it easier to develop new classroom routines and
teaching practices that reinforce differentiation. Plus, a toolbox of surveys, checklists, and
examples helps you implement differentiated approaches in your classroom right away.
How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms by Carol Ann
Tomlinson
Product Description:
In this 2nd edition of a book that has provided inspiration to countless teachers, Carol Ann
Tomlinson offers three new chapters, extended examples and information in every chapter,
and field-tested strategies that teachers can use in today's increasingly diverse classrooms.
Tomlinson shows how to use students' readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles to
address student diversity.
In addition, the author shows teachers how to differentiate, or structure, lessons at every grade
level and content area to provide "scaffolds"--as well as high-speed elevators--for
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The content of lessons
The processes used in learning, and
The products of learning.
Teachers can draw on the book's practical examples as they begin to differentiate instruction
in their own classrooms. Strategies include curriculum compacting, "sidebar" investigations,
entry points, graphic organizers, contracts, and portfolios. As Tomlinson says, "Differentiation
challenges us to draw on our best knowledge of teaching and learning. It suggests that there is
room for both equity and excellence in our classrooms.
The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners by Carol
Ann Tomlinson
Product Description:
It's an age-old challenge: How can teachers divide their time, resources, and efforts to
effectively instruct students of diverse backgrounds and interests, as well as skill and readiness
levels? The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners offers a
powerful, practical solution.
Drawing on nearly three decades of experience, author Carol Ann Tomlinson describes a way
of thinking about teaching and learning that will change all aspects of how you approach
students and your classroom. She looks to the latest research on learning, education, and
change for the theoretical basis of differentiated instruction and why it's so important to
today's children. Yet she offers much more than theory, filling the pages with real-life
examples of teachers and students using-and benefiting from-differentiated instruction.
At the core of the book, three chapters describe actual lessons, units, and classrooms with
differentiated instruction in action. Tomlinson looks at elementary and secondary classrooms
in nearly all subject areas to show how real teachers turn the challenge of differentiation into a
reality. Her insightful analysis of how, what, and why teachers differentiate lays the
groundwork for you to bring differentiation to your own classroom.
Tomlinson's commonsense, classroom-tested advice speaks to experienced and novice
teachers as well as educational leaders who want to foster differentiation in their schools.
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Using a "think versus sink approach," Tomlinson guides all readers through small changes,
then even larger ones, until differentiation becomes a way of life that enriches both teachers
and students.
The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World’s Teachers for Improving Education in the
Classroom by James W. Stigler & James Hiebert.
Amazon.com
In a time when educators and politicians in the United States are fumbling for a fix--from
vouchers to smaller class sizes--for ailing public schools, it's refreshing to read the more
sophisticated take on what can be done to improve American education found in The Teaching
Gap, a straightforward analysis of approaches towards teaching around the world. James W.
Stigler, a UCLA psychology professor, and James Hiebert, an education professor at the
University of Delaware, argue that America's culture of teaching needs to be changed before
we see any real change in student achievement--and they're not simply talking about higher
pay and more respect.
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The bulk of The Teaching Gap examines the cultural differences among teaching methods,
with detailed accounts of video observations of eighth-grade math teachers that were part of
the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS (which Stigler directed).
American teachers in the videos tend to emphasize terms and procedures, thinking of math as
a set of tedious skills. They try to interest students with praise and real-life problems. In
contrast, Japanese teachers are more likely to emphasize ideas, expecting the concepts alone to
stir students' natural curiosity. They weave together lessons that have a distinct beginning,
middle, and end. Teachers in the other countries are more likely to share lessons on what
works in the classroom and receive more sophisticated training, the authors found. Only seven
out of 41 nations scored lower than the U.S. in TIMSS, placing American eighth-graders with
those from Cyprus, Portugal, South Africa, Kuwait, Iran, and Colombia. Without falling into
teacher-bashing mode, Stigler and Hiebert insist that reform efforts need to originate with
teachers, not university researchers. They call for overhauling the teaching profession with
stricter requirements, better peer review, and more demanding academic standards, as well as
improved interaction between teachers. Their detailed examination of the study's video
observations gets to the heart of the matter and should be worthwhile reading for educators,
policymakers, and anyone interested in the condition of today's education system. --Jodi
Mailander Farrell
Systematic Training for Effective Teaching (STET) by Don Dinkmeyer, et al
This book helped me to eliminate time wasted on disruptive behaviors in my classroom,
making me MUCH more effective as a teacher. It enabled me to spend more time teaching and
less time fighting with children. A MUST for any teacher!
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The First Days of School by Harry Wong
1. The three characteristics of an effective teacher are:
 has good classroom management skills
 teaches for mastery
 has positive expectations for student success.
2. Stand at the door and greet the students.
3. Start each class with an assignment - immediately. Do not take roll when class begins.
4. Dress in a professional manner to model success and expect achievement.
5. The three most important things that must be taught the first week of school are
discipline, procedures and routines.
6. The greater the time students work together and the greater the responsibility students
take for their work, the greater the learning.
7. Academic Learning time (ALT): The greater the time students spend working
successfully on task, the greater the student's achievement.
8. The greater the structure of a lesson and the more precise the directions on task
procedures, the lower the error rate and the higher the achievement rate.
9. To increase assignment completion, state your assignments as a set of criteria or
objectives.
10. If a student masters a criterion, give the student enrichment work. If the student does
not master a criterion, give the student remediation and corrective help.
11. Intersperse questions throughout a lesson. Ask a question after 10 sentences rather
than after 50 sentences and you increase the retention rate by 40 percent.
12. Wait Time: Wait five or more seconds after asking a question.
13. Determine the learning style of your students. Student achievement is greater when
the teaching style matches the learning style.
14. The four stages of teaching: Fantasy, Survival, Mastery, and Impact.
15. You may be the only stable adult your students will ever see in their lifetime. You may
be their only hope and dream for a brighter tomorrow.
16. It is the teacher who makes the difference in what happens in the classroom.
17. By far the most important factor to school learning is the ability of the teacher. The
more capable the teacher, the more successful the student.
18. There is an existing body of knowledge about teaching that must be known by the
teacher. Power comes to those with the knowledge.
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Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones
When Dr. Jones began his research in classroom management in 1969, the term "classroom
management" had not yet been coined. "Classroom discipline" as a field of study did not exist.
Teachers were told in their methods courses that, "You will figure it out once you are in the
classroom."
The beginning of Dr. Jones' research in classroom management is described in the first chapter
of Tools for Teaching. Two teachers at a special school for "emotionally and educationally
handicapped" adolescents had orderly and productive classrooms, whereas their colleagues
had highly disruptive classrooms. These two highly effective teachers, dubbed "naturals,"
were able to achieve this result without raising their voices or working themselves to death.
How did they do it?
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Answering that question marked the beginning of a decade and a half of classroom research
and collaboration with teachers. Dr. Jones was in the classroom 3-5 days a week during that
period, and, as Yogi Bera said, "You can see a lot by looking." Mini-experiments were carried
out constantly based on observations and after school brain-storming sessions with teachers.
Formal research was used to validate basic procedures, but the independent variables of these
studies only hint at the richness of classroom practice that was being explored. This richness is
more accurately conveyed in Tools for Teaching
Motivating Students Who Don’t Care by Allen N. Mendler
Product Description:
You can use the proven classroom strategies in Motivating Students Who Don't Care to
reawaken motivation in students who aren't prepared, don't care, and won't work. If your
ongoing challenge today is finding ways to reconnect with the natural learner that exists in
each of us so that your students are reawakened with excitement and enthusiasm, this is the
Researched-Based Resource that will provide you with a solution.
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Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World : Seven Building Blocks for
Developing Capable Young People by H. Stephen Glenn
Bestselling authors H. Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen have helped hundreds of thousands of
parents raise capable, independent children with Raising Self-Reliant Children in a SelfIndulgent World. On its tenth anniversary, this parenting classic returns with fresh, up-to-date
information to offer you inspiring and workable ideas for developing a trusting relationship
with children, as well as the skills to implement the necessary discipline to help your child
become a responsible adult.
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Those who think in terms of leniency versus strictness will be surprised. This book goes
beyond these issues to teach children to be responsible and self-reliant—not through outerdirected concerns, such as fear and intimidation, but through inner-directed behavior, such as
feeling accountable for one's commitments. Inside, you'll discover how to instill characterbuilding values and traits in your child that last a lifetime.
Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher
by Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering
It’s a fact that effectively managed classrooms can make a huge difference on students’
achievement gains--maybe as much as 20 percentile points. What hasn’t been clear is what
teachers actually DO to create effectively managed classrooms. Now, here’s a book that draws
from more than 100 studies of classroom management to explain the four most important
general components of effective classroom management and their impact on student
engagement and achievement.
Marzano describes the action steps you need to take to establish rules and procedures, use
effective disciplinary interventions, build positive student-teacher relationships, and develop a
sound mental set to get you through the most difficult situations. Real classroom stories
illustrate how to get every class off to a good start, involve students in classroom management,
and develop effective schoolwide management policies.
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Student-Involved Classroom Assessment (3rd Edition) by Richard Stiggins
SPECIAL FEATURES
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Emphasizes what teachers need to know to manage day-to-day classroom assessment
effectively and efficiently.
Focuses on student well-being in assessment contexts, placing emphasis on student
self-assessment.
Offers practical guidelines on how to construct all types of assessments.
Provides a unique explanation of how to match achievement targets to assessment
methods.
Emphasizes time- and energy-savings ideas for teachers.
Clearly relates the concepts in the book to traditional notions of validity and
reliability.
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Understanding by Design by Wiggins & McTighe
Product Description:
What is understanding and how does it differ from knowing? What do we want students to
understand and be able to do? What enduring knowledge is worth understanding? How will
we know that students truly understand and can apply knowledge in a meaningful way? How
can we design our courses and units to emphasize understanding and "uncoverage" rather than
"coverage"? Understanding by Design explores these questions and provides practical
solutions for the teacher-designer.
The book opens by analyzing the logic of backward design as an alternative to coverage and
activity-oriented plans. Though backward from habit, this approach brings more focus and
coherence to instruction.
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Authors Wiggins and McTighe propose a multifaceted approach, with the six "facets" of
understanding. The facets combine with backward design to provide a powerful, practical
framework for designing curriculum, assessment, and instruction.
Beyond its theories, Understanding by Design offers practical design tools, including criteria
for selecting "big ideas" worthy of deep understanding, strategies for framing units of study
around essential questions, a continuum of assessment methods for determining the degree to
which students understand, and the WHERE framework, which enhances student engagement
and "rethinking." The book concludes with a unit design template and standards to support
quality control at the local level.
Understanding by Design will help educators enhance their understanding of understanding,
so that the curriculum and assessments they design truly focus on enhancing the understanding
of their students.
Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning by Thomas
Guskey
Product Description:
Teachers, parents, students, administrators, and community members all agree that we need
better grading and reporting systems. Often, these systems are inadequate because they are
part of a tradition that can go unexamined and unquestioned for years. Here is the first serious
look at the issue, written to provide all those involved — especially teachers — with a
coherent and thoughtful framework.
Guskey and Bailey offer four pillars of successful grading and reporting systems:
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Communication is the primary goal of grading and reporting
Grading and reporting are integral parts of the instructional process
Good reporting is based on good evidence
Creating change in grading and reporting requires creating a multi-faceted reporting
system
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Written to help readers develop a deeper and more reflective understanding of the various
aspects of the subject, Thomas Guskey and Jane Bailey’s work brings organization and clarity
to a murky and disagreement-filled topic.
Here is a practical and essential guide for teachers, administrators or anyone concerned with
understanding and implementing best practices in grading and reporting systems.
Results: The Key to Continuous Improvement by Mike Schmoker
Product Description:
How do you know if your school is improving? Do you know what really works in reading
programs . . . in writing . . . in math . . . in science? How do we measure what works? What
about teaching to the test--or to the vast array of standards being mandated? How do we
effectively use cooperative learning--and direct instruction--and alternative assessment? How
do we sustain school reform? How do we get results--and measure them in terms of student
achievement? In this expanded 2nd edition, Mike Schmoker answers these and other questions
by focusing on student learning. By (1) setting goals, (2) working collaboratively, and (3)
keeping track of student-achievement data from many sources, teachers and administrators can
surpass the community's expectations and facilitate great improvements in student learning.
Through hundreds of up-to-date examples from real schools and districts, Schmoker shows
how to achieve--and celebrate--both short- and long-term success. Here's one example:
Bessemer Elementary school in Pueblo, Colorado, has an 80-percent minority population.
Between 1997 and 1998, the number of students performing at or above standard in reading
rose from 12 to 64 percent; in writing, they went from 2 to 48 percent. Weekly, standardsfocused, team meetings made the difference. As Schmoker says, "We cannot afford to
overlook the rich opportunity that schools have to make a difference."
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Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher by Geoffrey E. Mills
FROM THE PUBLISHER
An outstanding step-by-step guide and companion website that will guide beginning and
experienced action researchers. Includes a chapter on online action research resources
including all key web addresses and screen captures. Provides a comprehensive coverage of
qualitative data collection techniques applied to teacher research. Includes chapter vignettes
and a chapter-length case study to illustrate the action research process. Includes chapter
question, “For Further Thought” to engage student sin conversations about action research
issues. For Pre-service and in-service teachers, teachers working on an advanced degree, and
state-level licensing groups.
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Deciding What to Teach and Test by Fenwick English
Product Description:
This seminal text on developing, aligning, and auditing curriculum has now been reissued to
achieve even greater impact. Since the early 1990s, Deciding What to Teach and Test has
been a key component in curriculum alignment and professional development programs across
the country.
It is a powerful, up-to-date tool to help teachers become more involved in curriculum planning
and practice. The Millennium Edition provides an updated perspective on improving student
achievement with a new preface, foreword, and listing of recent research.
"First published in 1992 and now released as the millennium edition, this book is 'for school
administrators and teachers who want fast, accurate, and easy-to-use answers' to curriculum
questions. It would also be an excellent text for teacher education students just beginning to
study curriculum."
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The Leader’s Guide to Standards by Doug Reeves
Product Description:
In today's school environment educational leaders are mandated to use academic standards to
measure the progress of their school's teachers and students. Despite the wealth of material
that addresses the topic of academic standards there is little written for those who must lead
the effort to put in place an effective standards system. The Leader's Guide to Standards is a
landmark book— written by Douglas Reeves, an expert in academic standards, performance
assessment, and accountability— that shows school principals, assistant principals, teachers,
and district-level administrators how to build a comprehensive accountability system for
standards-based reform that focuses on leadership skills. Reeves offers practical
recommendations for assessing and nurturing teacher performance, setting up balanced
assessment and accountability policies, and making the case for standards to the public. In
addition, the book addresses the vital role that policymakers from the local school board to
state and national leaders play in the successful implementation of educational standards.
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Whatever it Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids
Don’t Learn by Richard Dufour, et al
Lawrence W. Lezotte, National Consultant and Commentator Effective Schools Products
"Whatever it Takes provides the stories, the vision and hope for all schools dedicated to the
'learning for all' mission.
Product Description:
Whatever it Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don't
Learn examines the question, "What happens when, despite our best efforts in the classroom, a
student does not learn?"
A PLC will create a school-wide system of interventions that provides all students with
additional time and support when they experience difficulty in their learning.
The authors describe the systems of interventions, including Adlai E. Stevenson High School's
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"Pyramid of Interventions," created by a high school, a middle school, and two elementary
schools. The authors also discuss the logistical barriers these schools faced and their strategies
for overcoming them.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t – Jim
Collins
The Standards
Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that
made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great?
After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the
general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results
delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel,
General Electric, and Merck.
The Comparisons
The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of
comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different?
Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained
only good?
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Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study.
After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his
crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and
others don't.
The Findings
The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually
every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:
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Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership
required to achieve greatness.
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The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to
great requires transcending the curse of competence.
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A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of
entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology
Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.
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The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and
wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.
Leaving No Child Behind: 50 Ways to Close the Achievement by Carolyn J.
Downey, et al.
There is no mystery to developing high-performing schools. The major problem is how
educators, schooling critics, and many within the public think about them. The bottom line is
pretty simple: Don’t surprise the kids! Tests that surprise children translate into a
measurement for that which they were not taught and didn’t learn. A second corollary is don’t
surprise the teachers! Chances are that if teachers are surprised, students will also be
surprised.
This book is about how to unmask the variables and practices that account for low-performing
schools and turn them into high-performing schools. It’s about how to put an end to the selffulfilling and false prophesies that poverty or certain gender and race automatically translate
into low test performance. It is about opportunity. It is about equity. It is about fairness. It
begins with knowing where to start. Whatever defines performance and the norms regarding
low, middle, and high-performance, it isn’t just the curriculum!
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Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented improvements in Teaching and
Learning by Mike Schmoker
Book Description
According to author Mike Schmoker, there is a yawning gap between the most well-known
essential practices and the reality of most classrooms. This gap persists despite the hard, often
heroic work done by many teachers and administrators. Schmoker believes that teachers and
administrators may know what the best practices are, but they aren’t using them or reinforcing
them consistently. He asserts that our schools are protected by a buffer—a protective barrier
that prevents scrutiny of instruction by outsiders. The buffer exists within the school as well.
Teachers often know only what is going on in their classrooms—and they may be completely
in the dark about what other teachers in the school are doing. Even principals, says Schmoker,
don’t have a clear view of the daily practices of teaching and learning in their schools.
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Schmoker suggests that we need to get beyond this buffer to confront the truth about what is
happening in classrooms, and to allow teachers to learn from each other and to be supervised
properly. He outlines a plan that focuses on the importance of consistent curriculum, authentic
literacy education, and professional learning communities for teachers.
What will students get out of this new approach? Learning for life. Schmoker argues
passionately that students become learners for life when they have more opportunities to
engage in strategic reading, writing with explicit guidance, and argument and discussion.
The Learning Leader: How to Focus School Improvement for Better Results by
Douglas B. Reeves
The Learning Leader: How To Focus School Improvement For Better Results by Douglas B.
Reeves (Director of the Center for Performance Assessment, an international organization
dedicated to improving student achievement and educational equity) is an 121-page
compendium of tactics and strategies appropriate for teaching and guiding students to achieve
their best efforts in the classroom regardless of the curriculum or subject being studied.
Addressing important issues such as the dimensions of leadership, the dilemmas of grading,
transformation between learning and leading, improving a school through leadership, and so
much more, The Learning Leader acts as a complete mapping of the struggles often faced by
educators in new schools, positions of combined administrative and "on the line" teaching.
Critically important reading, especially for those new to teaching, The Learning Leader is very
strongly recommended for student teachers seeking their teaching certificates, as well as
recently repositioned teachers searching for an adaptive reference for effectively guiding of
their students to improved scholastic results.
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The Teaching Reading Sourcebook by The Coalition for Reading Excellence
This book is an outstanding resource for all teachers of reading. It addresses a wide range of
aspects of reading instruction, including phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, and
comprehension, to name just a few. For each area, the book includes several key sections:
WHAT is ...?; WHY is ... important?; and HOW do you teach ...?
The layout is simple to follow, and it is packed with excellent activities. It is truly amazing
how much information is included in this one book. Most importantly, the content of the book
is soundly based in current research that is presented in a very accessible way. The activities
are well-designed and realistic, and all the necessary information is included to be able to
implement the activity in your classroom. Every teacher should have a copy of this book!
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Words Their Way, Third Edition by Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane R.
Templeton, Francine Johnston
The publisher, Prentice-Hall Career & Technology
Written by teachers who are noted authorities in the field of spelling and word study, this
comprehensive text/sourcebook explores word recognition and spelling skills K-12 -- with a
K-8 emphasis. Based on extensive observations and experiences in real classrooms for more
than 15 years, it combines discussions of theory and practical assessment tools and techniques
with over 250 ready-to-use word study, spelling, vocabulary, and phonics activities presented
in a developmental sequence from Preliterate through the Derivational Constancy stage. It
shows students how to work with picture and word sorting, how to use word banks at the
beginning levels, and how to incorporate word study into reading and writing.
Product Description:
With more than 15 years of extensive observations and experiences in real classrooms, the
authors bring keen insight to this activity-based book. They advocate basing student learning
on the appropriate developmental level. This philosophy is supported with more than 250
ready-to-use word study, spelling, vocabulary, and phonics activities presented in
developmental sequence, from the Emergent through the Derivational Relation stage. For
educators and school administrators.
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Phonics They Use by Patricia M. Cunningham
From the Back Cover
An invaluable resource for any teacher in search of new ideas! The new edition of this
bestseller is packed with new activities and strategies for teaching reading. It weaves together
the complex and varied strategic approaches needed to help students develop reading and
spelling skills. Written by well-known author Patricia Cunningham, Phonics They Use offers a
coherent collection of practical, hands-on activities that provide a framework for teaching
phonics.
The Fourth Edition continues to emphasize that what matters most is when students use
phonics for decoding a new word, for reading and spelling a new word, and for writing. Rather
than subscribe to a single theory, the book stresses a balanced reading program—
incorporating a variety of strategic approaches—tied to the individual needs of children.
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Full chapter on developing phonological and phonemic awareness, including
activities designed to develop the concept of rhyme and teach blending and
segmenting as well as activities using children's names.
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Includes classroom-tested ways to develop fluency as well as a Fluency Development
Lesson that can be easily included in any teaching setting.
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Includes assessment devices which focus not just on what children know about
phonics but on what they actually use while reading and writing.
“It is one of the few phonics texts that achieves the goal of helping teachers to gain the basic
phonics knowledge they need to teach to children.” Jeanne Cobb, Eastern New Mexico
University
“For many, “phonics” will finally make sense after reading this book.” Mary Jane Eisenhauer,
Purdue North Central
The Teacher’s Guide to the Four Blocks by Patricia M. Cunningham
The Four-Blocks® Framework incorporates on a daily basis four different approaches to
teaching children to read - Guided Reading, Self-Selected Reading, Writing, and Working
with Words
The Four Blocks was designed for instruction in the primary grades. We believe that until
children have a strong, fluent third-grade reading and writing level, they need regular
instruction in the four major approaches. Once most of the children in a classroom are reading
at the third grade level or above, we would include work in all the blocks, but we would not
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give them equal time and we would not necessarily do all Four Blocks every day. We would
call this model, Big Blocks. We might do longer writing sessions or guided reading sessions
three days a week. As much as possible we integrate Guided Reading and focused writing with
each other and with the content areas of science and social studies. The possibility of this kind
of integrating is one reason we support self-contained intermediate classrooms.
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Month-by-Month Phonics (various grades) by Patricia M. Cunningham
In the words block, children learn to read and spell high-frequency words and learn the
patterns which allow them to decode and spell lots of words. The first ten minutes of this
block are usually given to reviewing the word wall words. Word wall is a display of high
frequency words above or below an alphabet. The words are written with thick black marker
on colored construction paper and are located by first letter only. The teacher adds 5 words a
week. Students practice new and old words daily by looking at them, saying them, clapping
or snapping the letters, writing the words on paper, and self-correcting the words with the
teacher. The remaining 20-25 minutes of words time is given to an activity which helps
children learn spelling patterns. A variety of activities are included in this block each day the
most popular of which is Making Words. Making Words is an active, hands-on, manipulative
activity in which children learn how to look for patterns in words and how changing just one
letter or where to put a letter changes the whole word. The children are given the six to eight
letters that will form the final word. The teacher begins with two letter words, then builds to
three, four, and five letter words (example: it, in, pin, pit, rip, run, runt, punt, trip, turn, print,
turnip). They then sort the words according to a variety of patterns including beginning
sounds, rhymes and endings and use words sorted to read and spell words with similar
patterns. Word wall is practiced every day but the second activity varies. In addition to
Making Words, this second activity could be Rounding up the Rhymes, Guess the Covered
Word, Using Words you Know, Reading/Writing Rhymes or another activity through which
children learn how to use patterns to decode and spell hundreds of words.
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When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do (6-12) by Kylene Beers
Book Description
For Kylene Beers, the question of what to do when kids can't read surfaced abruptly in 1979
when she began teaching. That year, she discovered that some of the students in her seventhgrade language arts classes could pronounce all the words, but couldn't make any sense of the
text. Others couldn't even pronounce the words. And that was the year she met a boy named
George. George couldn't read. When George's parents asked her to explain what their son's
reading difficulties were and what she was going to do to help, Kylene, a secondary certified
English teacher with no background in reading, realized she had little to offer the parents, even
less to offer their son. That defining moment sent her on a twenty-three-year search for
answers to that original question: how do we help middle and high schoolers who can't read?
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The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups by
Robert J. Garmston
For a wealth of specific tools you can use immediately to develop collective understanding ...
make decisions ... respond to conflict ... and develop high performance groups, turn to this
authoritative guide.
Garmston and Wellman have written a book that belongs on the shelf of every administrator in
the country. They outline practical strategies for creating action-oriented/outcomes-based
collaborative groups in a school community. These strategies work in faculty meetings, parent
meetings, classrooms, district meetings. In short, this is an excellent book that clearly
delineates the best and proven practices from the fields of education, psychology, and business
management for developing, motivating, guiding, and maintaining collaborative groups across
the school community.
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Creating Young Writers by Vicki Spandel
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Reviewers have said that Vicky Spandel's new text “will be a powerful resource for primary
teachers.” This long-awaited text offers a most comprehensive exploration of Spandel's
effective 6-trait approach to writing for K-3 teachers.
The perfect complement to its phenomenally successful parent text, Creating Writers, 3e, this
new text provides clear guidelines on helping young students draft, assess, and revise their
writing, as well as explicit criteria to show students precisely what they must do to succeed as
writers in virtually any situation, including state tests.
In practical and teacher-friendly terms, acclaimed author Vicki Spandel explains 6-trait
writing from the inside out, in terms teachers and their students can understand, and offers
hands-on links to writing process and to reading, showing that for beginning students, hearing
the traits in literature can be as important as expressing them through personally generated
text. Better than ever, the text is designed to give practicing and new teachers a more in depth
understanding of the writing process and how it connects to the six traits of writing. A gold
mine of activities and lesson ideas make this text ideal for use in the K-3 classroom or as part
of a study group.
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Filled with lesson ideas suitable for students K-3 that will help teachers understand
exactly how to teach writing to very beginning writers (Ch. 3 & 4).
Samples of actual student work, both text and art offers teachers a clear understanding
on how to recognize strengths and growth in student work (Ch. 2 & 5).
Specific examples of how to model writing for students which encourages teachers to
try modeling and to write with students as a teaching technique (Ch. 6).
Samples of simple student portfolios takes the mystery out of creating student
portfolios by showing that portfolios need not be complex or long to work (Ch. 5).
Step by step review of the publishing process offers teachers and students options for
"publishing" text at the classroom level (Ch. 5).
Recommended books for teaching key traits of writing at primary level reinforces the
link between reading and writing and gives even non-writers a way into the traits (Ch.
7).
Analysis of classroom versus large-scale assessment from a primary education
perspective strengthens teachers' understanding of what good assessment should look
like at various levels (Ch. 8).
Inside look at four classrooms that use process and trait-based writing in various ways
helps current or prospective teachers see how many individual forms trait-based
writing can take (Ch. 9).
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Creating Writers Through Six Traits Writing Assessment and Instruction by Vicki
Spandel
Written by the pioneer of 6-trait writing, this Fourth Edition brings everything up to date,
offering a comprehensive overview of the best education strategies and philosophies from the
worlds of writing assessment and instruction. It provides clear guidelines on helping students
draft, assess, and revise their writing, as well as explicit criteria to show students precisely
what they must do to succeed as writers in virtually any situation. Widely used at the state
level, school districts are incorporating the 6 traits into their state standards or assessments.
This is the only book on the market that effectively helps teachers of writing prepare their
students for success on state tests.
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New format and organization is designed to make the content clear and simple.
New and revised checklists for genre-specific writing instruction to separate key
elements in narrative writing, literary analysis, and persuasive writing.
New and creative ways to use 6-trait writing in classrooms are explored - including
adaptations for kinesthetic learners and second language learners.
Step Up to Writing Manual by Maureen Auman
With Step Up to Writing, you can:
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Teach your students to write clear and organized paragraphs, reports, and essays
Raise overall writing assessment scores
Create writing opportunities in which students experience success, and much more!
Organizing ideas and information, writing topic sentences and thesis statements, connecting
key ideas with supporting details, writing conclusions, thinking creatively, and other
components of effective writing are divided into manageable steps. Included in the Step Up to
Writing Manual are dozens of writing examples; reproducible activity sheets; scoring rubrics;
skill sequences for key strategies; topics for writing projects; and strategies, such as accordion
paragraphs, accordion essays, the quick-sketch narrative, the four-step summary, vocabulary
maps, and active reading and listening
Why We Must Run with Scissors: Voice Lessons in Persuasive Writing by Barry Lane &
Gretchen Bernabei
Amazon:
In real life most students are first rate persuaders, but when their persuasive writing hits the
page it often get laryngitis.
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This user friendly book of 82 two page voice lessons, shows teachers 3-12 how to help
students get their spoken voices down in print and then how to craft those fresh voices into
powerful pieces of persuasion.
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Indexed by 6 traits
The Reviser’s Toolbox by Barry Lane
Amazon:
Barry Lane’s Reviser’s Toolbox gives teachers classroom ready examples and lessons to share
revision concepts like leads, endings, snapshots, thoughtshots, exploded moments and scenes
with their students.
This book can sit write beside your lesson planner and help you all year long.
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