It is acknowledged that today’s teachers are tasked with educating increasingly diverse students as well as with addressing their academic and social-emotional needs. The Stars in the Schoolhouse: Teaching Practices and Approaches that Make a Difference offers a visionary look at teaching skills and practices that focus on the classroom, technology, and specific content areas that are often ignored in educational conversations. Emphasis is placed on research-based strategies, practices, and theories that can be readily translated into classroom practice, whilst examining cutting-edge teaching practices that make a difference in improving general educator and/or student performance across the grade spans. This high-quality teaching resource will be of interest to regular and special educators, school administrators, guidance counselors, graduate education professors, and university students.

This unique new book enters into the middle and high school teaching methods market with an intimate, first-person approach, and an emphasis on reflective teaching. Reader, biography, teaching philosophy, and portfolio activities make this a practical book rich in applications. Teaching is portrayed as a process of ongoing learning, growth and development—and a strong emphasis is placed on multiculturalism and diversity. While most books tend to take a more traditional, skills-based approach, Contexts of Teaching presents teaching methods from a constructivist, inquiry perspective consistent with current educational trends. Chapter topics include Knowing Middle and High School Students, Rethinking Classroom Management, considering Curriculum, planning instruction, Selecting Instructional Materials, Teaching with Technology, Implementing Instruction: Strategies and Methods, Assessing Student Learning, Understanding the Role of Community, Making a Difference in Today's Classrooms, and Reflecting for Professional Renewal. For teachers of middle and high school students.

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

'Maximizing Mental Health Services: Evidence-Based Practices that Promote Emotional Well-Being' examines best therapeutic practices for patients, therapists, graduate professors, family members and all who struggle to find the most effective treatment modalities for those dealing with mental health challenges. Mental health issues are rising at an alarming rate, while positive therapeutic outcomes have not kept pace and remain low for many conditions, making an investigation of evidence-based treatment options critically important to the helping profession. While certain types of therapy bring success to specific clients, these modalities cannot be easily applied to all client profiles. Understanding the strengths of each modality and how to match them to the respective needs of the client will be emphasized. Furthermore, the impact of counselors’ own traits on the client-therapist relationship is an important and often overlooked topic that will be explored. Therapy practices have changed over the past decade to include non-traditional options; therefore, the authors investigate the ways in which these practices have either helped or hindered patient success. Lastly, the book offers readers information on resources for further information on the evidence-based practices presented within.

From Cradle to Classroom: A Guide to Special Education for Young Children is a book written for regular and special education teachers, school administrators, school psychologists, related educational personnel, day care providers, parents, graduate students, and policy makers who work on behalf of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to ensure they are ready for formal education when they reach age 5. It reflects a keen understanding that early interventions are most effective in reducing the potential for special education or other support services later in a child’s development. Research shows the benefits of investing in early intervention and high-quality preschool as a way to mitigate educational gaps in learning and to improve the development of children across all domains (Executive Office of the President of the United States, 2015; Lynch & Vaghul, 2015; Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Throughout the book, readers will find strategies to help atypical children navigate the world as they move from infancy to toddlerhood, and to preschool and beyond. The chapters dig deep and offer expansive understandings of the components necessary to ensure young children, especially those with exceptionalities, become successful students.

What role does student engagement play in educational achievement on the post-secondary campus? And, what factors affect each student’s ability and motivation to engage with the full college experience, both in and outside of the classroom? It is now widely acknowledged that post-secondary institutions must not only focus on facilitating the transition from high school to college, but that they must also make a concerted effort to listen to the needs and experiences of their students in order to achieve maximal involvement within the college environment. Students need to be captivated by at least one element of their college experience - whether that be in the classroom, dorm, or extracurricular activities - in order to form a bond with their institution and feel motivated and attached enough to put in the hard work until graduation. Campuses that capture their students’ interests and passions, provide spaces for them to develop as individuals, and opportunities to form meaningful professional and personal relationships have a far greater chance of both retaining their students to graduation and helping them develop as whole human beings who will contribute. This book studies the many facets of student engagement as it attempts to define student engagement, differentiating it from involvement, and covers seminal theories of college student engagement. The contributions to this volume discuss the powerful role that relationships play in helping students identify their interests and talents, and other examples of best practice when it comes to creating engaging classroom experiences, such as collaborative projects with peers, study abroad, and learning that is situated in real-life problems that are of importance to the student.

The Soul of the Schoolhouse: Cultivating Student Engagement’s primary focus is to help readers understand the many, diverse factors that make up engaged learning and students’ motivation to learn. The authors acknowledge the importance of cognitive aspects of education and the techniques that skilled educators use to enhance the learning process; such information is contained in chapters on motivation and models of thinking about how to engage those in our schools. This tome also reflects the essential and interrelated nature of emotional, social, spiritual, and relational elements of engagement in the learning process. As such, chapters of this book cover such topics as educational leadership for engaged learning, school-community connections, co-curricular activities, models of curriculum design, and school law and policies that bolster student learning, as well.