Hopeful, hilarious musings and serious advice for new teachers from the formerly anonymous blogger behind Love, Teach. Every teacher will tell you the first years are the hardest, and even the most confident of the pack sometimes ask themselves, Am I cut out for this? Kelly Treleaven, the teacher and once-anonymous blogger behind Love, Teach, wants you to know that you're not alone, and that yes, she has cried under her desk, too. Treleaven's blog has become a sensation in the education world, known for its heartfelt, high-spirited dispatches straight from the trenches and its practical advice. In Treleaven's debut book, she gives rookie teachers the advice she wishes she'd had when she started out in a large district in Houston. From logistical questions like how to prep and organize a classroom, to deeper issues like how to build relationships with students, navigate administration, and avoid burnout, Love, Teach is an essential book for anyone working in education today or considering the profession. With raw feeling, humor, and a razor-sharp perspective, Love, Teach supports teachers in their fight for a better future, and helps them celebrate the victories, large and small.

Throw out gradebooks and meet the assessment system of the future! Mark Barnes’s formula for feedback, titled SE2R (Summarize, Explain, Redirect, Resubmit), has delivered stunning results to the forward-thinking schools that have tried it. The method in this book will loosen and then break your classroom’s dependence on the “A-through-F” grading system that does little more than silence student voices. Delving into what really motivates students, the book covers: How GPA is a classic example of “the tail wagging the dog” Utilizing mobile devices and social networks to maximize the benefits of SE2R Addressing and overcoming bureaucratic resistance to change

A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection

Dave Stuart Jr.’s work is centered on a simple belief: all students and teachers can flourish. These 6 Things is all about streamlining your practice so that you’re teaching smarter, not harder, and kids are learning, doing, and flourishing in ELA and content-area classrooms. In this essential resource, teachers will receive: Proven, classroom-tested advice delivered in an approachable, teacher-to-teacher style that builds confidence Practical strategies for streamlining instruction in order to focus on key beliefs and literacy-building activities Solutions and suggestions for the most common teacher and student “hang-ups” Numerous recommendations for deeper reading on key topics

Intended for educators of various levels and disciplines who want to understand the Internet tools and learn how to use them effectively in the classroom, this work offers advice on how teachers and students can use the Web to learn more, create more, and communicate better.

José Vilson writes about race, class, and education through stories from the classroom and researched essays. His rise from rookie math teacher to prominent teacher leader takes a twist when he takes on education reform through his now-blocked eponymous blog, TheJoseVilson.com. He calls for the reclaiming of the education profession while seeking social justice. José Vilson is a middle school math educator for in the Inwood/Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. He writes for Edutopia, GOOD, and TransformED / Future of Teaching, and his work has appeared in Education Week, CNN.com, Huffington Post, and El Diario / La Prensa.

Reading fluency has been identified as a key component of proficient reading. Research has consistently demonstrated significant and substantial correlations between reading fluency and overall reading achievement. Despite the great potential for fluency to have a significant outcome on students’ reading achievement, it continues to be not well understood by teachers, school administrators and policy makers. The chapters in this volume examine reading fluency from a variety of perspectives. The initial chapter sketches the history of fluency as a literacy instruction component. Following chapters examine recent studies and approaches to reading fluency, followed by chapters that explore actual fluency instruction models and the impact of fluency instruction. Assessment of reading fluency is critical for monitoring progress and identifying students in need of intervention. Two articles on assessment, one focused on word recognition and the other on prosody, expand our understanding of fluency measurement. Finally, a study from Turkey explores the relationship of various reading competencies, including fluency, in an integrated model of reading. Our hope for this volume is that it may spark a renewed interest in research into reading fluency and fluency instruction and move toward making fluency instruction an even more integral part of all literacy instruction.