Teachers already know that a career in education involves continual growth'and this book, copublished with Kappa Delta Pi, presents a model for delivery of a lifetime of preservice and inservice training. You'll find practical advice on how administrators and teachers can work collaboratively to create and maintain a model of reflection, renewal, and growth that promotes efficacy as a teacher, particularly through reflective practice. And unlike any other book, you'll follow the entire lifecycle of a teacher, from preservice through retirement, making it an indispensable resource for educators at every phase of their career.

Literature on adult life stages and career development is synthesized and placed within the perspective of a career cycle model for teachers as adult learners. The teacher career cycle is viewed as a progression affected by personal and environmental factors. The stages a teacher's career proceeds through (e.g., preservice, entry, growing, stable, exit) are described as not necessarily linear, but frequently cyclical. Scenarios are given of the cyclical development of four teachers, each of whom is required by circumstances to change or reverse directions to develop professionally. Implications for inservice education include: (1) Traditional inservice activities that emphasize improved teaching skills are appropriate at certain points in a teachers' career, particularly during skill-building periods; (2) The concept of staff development and professional growth should be broadened to include concern for personal needs and problems of teachers; (3) Organizational policies should provide support for teachers at various stages of the teacher career cycle; and (4) Approaches to staff development and professional growth should emphasize personalized, individualized support systems. (JD)

This book introduces a comprehensive RTP Model that reframes research to practice knowledge and inclusive education philosophy to promote the sustained use of research to promote and enhance meaningful education for all students.

The working and career lives of teachers have changed radically over the last two decades. Reforms have turned education into a commodity and pupils into ‘consumers’. Yet not since 1992 has there been a comprehensive overview of research findings on teachers’ working lives. This anthology plugs the gap by collecting various scholarly contributions and perspectives on teachers’ career trajectories and work lives. The material includes an introduction to previous research within the field, presents a range of contemporary research and offers suggestions as to what lies ahead. Among the contributors are leading educational academics who describe a variety of national contexts, illustrating how problems and challenges relating to the teaching profession manifest themselves and are tackled in different countries. The anthology also shows just how many aspects of teachers’ career trajectories and work lives transcend national boundaries. Common international themes include stronger ties between education and the economy, and a growing importance placed on how students’ skills relate to the perceived needs of the labour market. There is also a greater degree of political interference in curriculum goals and processes, and an expanding obsession with evaluation. In many countries, a whole generation of teachers are reaching retirement age, ‘changing the guard’ with a crop of new young recruits who are ever harder to attract. At a time when there is an increasing focus on issues such as teacher recruitment, retention and professional development, this anthology offers insight and inspiration to teacher educators and educational policy makers as well as to current and prospective teachers. It also aims at encouraging research into the field of teachers’ working lives.

Jim Knight introduces an all-new instructional coaching cycle for ensuring teachers and, in turn, their students improve in clear, measurable ways.

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.