Effective and practical coaching strategies for new educators plus valuable online coaching tools Many teachers are only observed one or two times per year on average—and, even among those who are observed, scarcely any are given feedback as to how they could improve. The bottom line is clear: teachers do not need to be evaluated so much as they need to be developed and coached. In Get Better Faster: A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo shares instructive tools of how school leaders can effectively guide new teachers to success. Over the course of the book, he breaks down the most critical actions leaders and teachers must take to achieve exemplary results. Designed for coaches as well as beginning teachers, Get Better Faster is an integral coaching tool for any school leader eager to help their teachers succeed. Get Better Faster focuses on what's practical and actionable which makes the book's approach to coaching so effective. By practicing the concrete actions and micro-skills listed in Get Better Faster, teachers will markedly improve their ability to lead a class, producing a steady chain reaction of future teaching success. Though focused heavily on the first 90 days of teacher development, it's possible to implement this work at any time. Junior and experienced teachers alike can benefit from the guidance of Get Better Faster while at the same time closing existing instructional gaps. Featuring valuable and practical online training tools available at http://www.wiley.com/go/getbetterfaster, Get Better Faster provides agendas, presentation slides, a coach's guide, handouts, planning templates, and 35 video clips of real teachers at work to help other educators apply the lessons learned in their own classrooms. Get Better Faster will teach you: The core principles of coaching: Go Granular; Plan, Practice, Follow Up, Repeat; Make Feedback More Frequent Top action steps to launch a teacher’s development in an easy-to-read scope and sequence guide It also walks you through the four phases of skill building: Phase 1 (Pre-Teaching): Dress Rehearsal Phase 2: Instant Immersion Phase 3: Getting into Gear Phase 4: The Power of Discourse Perfect for new educators and those who supervise them, Get Better Faster will also earn a place in the libraries of veteran teachers and school administrators seeking a one-stop coaching resource.

When our students enter middle and high school, the saying goes that they stop learning to read and start reading to learn. Then why is literacy still a struggle for so many of our students? The reality is that elementary school isn’t designed to prepare students for Othello and Song of Solomon: so what do we do? Love and Literacy steps into the classrooms of extraordinary teachers who have guided students to the highest levels of literacy. There is magic in their teaching, but that magic is replicable. It starts with a simple premise: kids fall in love with texts when they understand them, and that understanding comes from the right knowledge and/or the right strategy at the right time. Love and Literacy dissects the moves of successful teachers and schools and leaves you with the tools to make these your own: Research-based best practices in facilitating discourse, building curriculum, guiding student comprehension and analysis, creating a class culture where literacy thrives, and more Video clips of middle and high school teachers implementing these practices An online, print-ready Reading and Writing Handbook that places every tool at your fingertips to implement effectively Discussion questions for your own professional learning or book study group Great reading is more than just liking books: it’s having the knowledge, skill, and desire to experience any text in all its fullness. Love and Literacy guides you to create environments where students can build the will and wherewithal to truly fall in love with literacy.

Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (Managing Director of Uncommon Schools) shows leaders how they can raise their schools to greatness by following a core set of principles. These seven principles, or "levers," allow for consistent, transformational, and replicable growth. With intentional focus on these areas, leaders will leverage much more learning from the same amount of time investment. Fundamentally, each of these seven levers answers the core questions of school leadership: What should an effective leader do, and how and when should they do it. Aimed at all levels of school leadership, the book is for any principal, superintendent, or educator who wants to be a transformational leader. The book includes 30 video clips of top-tier leaders in action. These videos bring great schools to you, and support a deeper understanding of both the components of success and how it looks as a whole. There are also many helpful rubrics, extensive professional development tools, calendars, and templates. Explores the core principles of effective leadership Author's charter school, North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey, received the highest possible award given by the U.S. Department of Education; the National Blue Ribbon Print version includes an instructive DVD with 30 video clips to show how it looks in real life. E-book customers: please note that details on how to access the content from the DVD may be found in the e-book Table of Contents. Please see the section: "How to Access DVD Contents" Bambrick-Santoyo has trained more than 1,800 school leaders nationwide in his work at Uncommon Schools and is a recognized expert on transforming schools to achieve extraordinary results.

This book is for educators who believe that schools need to be improved and are hopeful that real change can be achieved. The authors argue that if educators want to create more equitable, socially just, and learner-focused schools, then they need a more robust, transformational theory of school change—an UnCommon Theory. After describing the limits of current school improvement initiatives, the authors explain what is needed to actually engage in deeper school reinvention work. They take a deep dive into the most difficult work that school leaders do: questioning, rethinking, and reinventing the fundamental assumptions upon which our schools are built. The result is a practical book that provides readers with the knowledge and tools needed to do more than just tinker at the edges of school improvement. “This book will serve as a trusty coaching guide. The writing is clear and powerful.” —From the Foreword by Joseph P. McDonald, New York University “Educators contemplating or already on the journey of re-imagining their schools will find comfort and guidance to forge ahead.” —Carl Glickman, The University of Georgia “Can help each of us become the advocates for change that results in a better future for every student in every school.” —Douglas Fisher, San Diego State University “Will support educators to think differently about what it means to not only improve schools, but to move toward sustainable change.” —Kari Thierer, School Reform Initiative

A book that brings the habits of reading to life Great readers are not made by genetics or destiny but by the habits they build—habits that are intentionally built by their teachers. The early formal years of education are the key to reversing the reading gap and setting up children for success. But K-4 education seems to widen the gap between stronger and weaker readers, not close it. Today, the Common Core further increases the pressure to reach high levels of rigor. What can be done? This book includes the strategies, systems, and lessons from the top classrooms that bring the habits of reading to life, creating countless quality opportunities for students to take one of the most complex skills we as people can know and to perform it fluently and easily. Offers clear teaching strategies for teaching reading to all students, no matter what level Includes more than 40 video examples from real classrooms Written by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, bestselling author of Driven by Data and Leverage Leadership Great Habits, Great Readers puts the focus on: learning habits, reading habits, guided reading, and independent reading. NOTE: Content DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download after purchase

Rules for developing talent with disciplined, deliberate, intelligent practice We live in a competition loving culture. We love the performance, the big win, the ticking seconds of the clock as the game comes down to the wire. We watch games and cheer, sometimes to the point of obsession, but if we really wanted to see greatness—wanted to cheer for it, see it happen, understand what made it happen—we'd spend our time watching, obsessing on, and maybe even cheering the practices instead. This book puts practice on the front burner of all who seek to instill talent and achievement in others as well as in themselves. This is a journey to understand that practice, not games, makes champions. In this book, the authors engage the dream of better, both in fields and endeavors where participants know they should practice and also in those where many do not yet recognize the transformative power of practice. And it’s not just whether you practice. How you practice may be a true competitive advantage. Deliberately engineered and designed practice can revolutionize our most important endeavors. The clear set of rules presented in Practice Perfect will make us better in virtually every performance of life. The “how-to” rules of practice cover such topics as rethinking practice, modeling excellent practice, using feedback, creating a culture of practice, making new skills stick, and hiring for practice. Discover new ways to think about practice. Learn how to design successful practice. Apply practice across a wide range of realms, both personal and professional The authors include specific activities to jump-start practice Doug Lemov is the best-selling author of Teach Like a Champion A hands-on resource to practice, the rules within will help to create positive outliers and world-changing reservoirs of talent.

In the USA, minorities such as blacks, Latinos and gays demand a school curriculum that recognizes their identity. Others insist education should instil a common American identity. The author indicates the underlying issues and shows how schools can promote both national and cultural identities.