Empowering Students To Transform Schools

In school reform, students are rarely consulted. This book presents a step-by-step process for involving students in transforming schools and empowering them to make real decisions that affect their education.

All children deserve the opportunity to practice freedom of thought, voice, and movement in school. Giving students the opportunity to practice freedom--to teach them how to be autonomous, responsible, cooperative and critically literate--should be done in communities and schools across the country, and this book shows how. The key ability of the human brain that cannot be digitized or mechanized is its ability to interpret—that is, to cope with the intentions of another, to understand what was said and what was meant. Humans have the ability to work together as a team toward a common goal (i.e. cooperate), to be altruistic and make sacrifices to help others, to build trust, and to feel empathy or sympathy—and robots do not. Developing and using these interpretive and cooperative skills is essential to having a nation of thoughtful citizens who are capable of seeing themselves as solutions to the problems and issues we face. Empowered Students: Educating Flexible Minds for a Flexible Future is a theory-to-practice story of how students at a segregated and failing New York City high school were released from years of oppressive schooling practices and learned how to practice freedom, told through the voices and the people who built it: the school leaders, teachers and students.

Create environments where students ask questions, not just answer them! When students become questioners, learning improves for all. Yet, even though research has repeatedly shown that student questioning increases ownership of learning and narrows opportunity gaps, studies show that students ask less than five percent of the questions in classrooms today. How do you turn this teacher-centric dynamic around? In this book by bestselling author and education expert Jackie Walsh, the author shifts the focus to student-centric learning and how to develop student questioning strategies, including self-questions, academic questions, exploratory questions, and dialogic questions. Other highlights include: - Vignettes of quality questioning in action in various grade-level and content-area classrooms - Examples of how to use questioning to harness the power of formative assessment and create a culture of inquiry - Student questioning models for distance learning

Are you preparing a new generation of innovators? Activate your students’ creativity and problem-solving potential with breakthrough learning projects. Across all grades and content areas, student-driven, collaborative projects will teach students how to generate innovative ideas and then put them into action. You’ll take learning to new heights and help students master core content.

We want students to master academic standards, and we want them to be confident, adaptive, and socially responsible. Above all, we want them to find meaning and satisfaction in their lives. Achieving these goals requires a concerted focus on the social-emotional skills that empower students in and beyond the classroom. In Teaching to Empower, Debbie Zacarian and Michael Silverstone explore what an empowered student looks like in our increasingly diverse contemporary schools and prompt educators to examine their own relationship to empowerment. The book's evidence-based strategies and authentic examples show you how to foster an inclusive culture of agency, self-confidence, and collaboration that will give each of your students—regardless of race, culture, language, socioeconomic status, abilities, sexuality, or gender—the opportunity, responsibility, and tools to become an active learner, thoughtful community member, and engaged global citizen. Whether you're a preservice teacher, a classroom novice, or a veteran, you'll find the practical guidance you'll need to * Create inclusive and empowering physical learning spaces. * Set up self-directed learning and promote positive interdependence. * Promote student self-reflection. * Teach the skills of collaboration. * Foster the self-advocacy that fuels deeper, more autonomous learning. * Partner more effectively with families and the community to support student empowerment.

Next-level teachers are anything but average. They're willing to use any and every strategy to reach students, increase motivation, and improve student outcomes. A next-level teacher never settles for the status quo. Instead, they ignite students' passion for learning, and that enthusiasm spreads through the whole school. What's more, next-level teachers can create school environments so exciting and electric that not only the students but even other teachers and administrators are inspired to greatness. Whether he's creating unique content-retention strategies, collaborating with streetwear brands, or bringing out-of-the-box guest speakers into the classroom, award-winning teacher Jonathan Alsheimer never says no to an opportunity to incorporate innovative tools in his teaching. With unstoppable enthusiasm, in Next-Level Teaching Alsheimer demonstrates how educators can: generate productive excitement in students using nonacademic strategies; transform student enthusiasm into engagement; create powerful relationships with students and colleagues; seek out every chance to be a positive, motivating influence; and become valued assets not only in the classroom but throughout the school. With dedication, creativity, and a vision of what's possible, any educator can be that teacher for their students. Are you ready to level up?

From EL Education comes a proven approach to student assessment Leaders of Their Own Learning offers a new way of thinking about assessment based on the celebrated work of EL Education schools across the country. Student-Engaged Assessment is not a single practice but an approach to teaching and learning that equips and compels students to understand goals for their learning and growth, track their progress toward those goals, and take responsibility for reaching them. This requires a set of interrelated strategies and structures and a whole-school culture in which students are given the respect and responsibility to be meaningfully engaged in their own learning. Includes everything teachers and school leaders need to implement a successful Student-Engaged Assessment system in their schools Outlines the practices that will engage students in making academic progress, improve achievement, and involve families and communities in the life of the school Describes each of the book's eight key practices, gives advice on how to begin, and explains what teachers and school leaders need to put into practice in their own classrooms Ron Berger is Chief Program Officer for EL Education and a former public school teacher Leaders of Their Own Learning shows educators how to ignite the capacity of students to take responsibility for their own learning, meet Common Core and state standards, and reach higher levels of achievement. DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download after purchase.

Argues that teachers and schools should create hybrid third spaces--neither classroom nor home--in which underserved students can merge their personal worlds with those of math and science.

A practical guide to deeper instruction—a framework for challenging, engaging, and empowering students of all ages For schools to meet ambitious new standards and prepare all students for college, careers, and life, research has shown unequivocally that nothing is more important that the quality of daily instruction. Learning That Lasts presents a new vision for classroom instruction that sharpens and deepens the quality of lessons in all subject areas. It is the opposite of a 'teacher-proof' solution. Instead, it is predicated on a model of instruction that honors teachers as creative and expert planners of learning experiences for their students and who wish to continuously grow in their instructional and content knowledge. It is not a theoretical vision. It is a model of instruction refined in some of the nation's most successful public schools—schools that are beating the odds to create remarkable achievement—sited primarily in urban and rural low-income communities. Using case studies and examples of powerful learning at all grade levels and in all disciplines, Learning That Lasts is a guide to creating classrooms that promote deeper understanding, higher order thinking, and student independence. Through text and companion videos, readers will enter inspiring classrooms where students go beyond basics to become innovators, collaborators, and creators. Learning That Lasts embraces a three-dimensional view of student achievement that includes mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high-quality work. It is a guide for teachers who wish to make learning more meaningful, memorable, and connected to life, and inspire students to do more than they think possible.

The authors provide a collaborative action research process to help all stakeholders transform both their school climate and student learning. Includes success stories, strategies, and implementation activities.