Are we bold enough to recognize our own excellence in our schools and communities? This question drives Intentional Excellence, an audacious attempt at developing a Pedagogy of Excellence in Latina/o schools and communities as a result of observations, insights, and lessons learned from work with schools and communities across the United States. Louie F. Rodríguez argues that while there is no shortage of excellence in some of the schools and communities that struggle the most, there is a pedagogical void, or an Excellence Paradox, that has disallowed excellence from being used as a potential tool to transform the culture of education. This book offers an additive framework for committed stakeholders and outlines six key observations including the contagious nature of excellence, excellence as a responsibility, the political viability of excellence, the additive possibilities of excellence, the role of excellence as a curricular and pedagogical tool, and the role of excellence in working toward equity and social justice in education. Rodríguez discusses a series of case studies that have used Excellence Campaigns to organize, define, and recognize their own excellence. The book also discusses the possibilities of excellence beyond education and proposes a new role in education to make excellence happen: Excellence Engineers. The book concludes with a theory of action that is necessary for excellence to thrive in the twenty-first century. Our children and communities deserve to see themselves as «models of excellence» and this book proposes a pedagogy to help get us there.

"Charles Elbot and David Fulton get it! They get how dominant a force a school′s culture is in assisting—or thwarting—the development of learning and character and how extraordinarily difficult it is to make changes. Unlike most of us, they also get how possible it is to build a desirable school culture. This tidy little volume is the authors′ first step in sharing their inventive ′lesson plans′ from their successful work as school culture builders. When we take these lessons learned to heart, we too will get it!" —Roland Barth, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education Harvard University Transform your school by shaping a culture based on shared values, beliefs, and behaviors. Based on lessons learned from the authors′ work in improving school culture for more than sixty schools across the country, this inspiring guide for school leaders helps create an "intentional school culture" that fosters excellence, builds character, and improves student achievement. The book provides tools, case studies, strategies, and implementation plans for building a strong school culture and offers guidelines for teacher trainings, principal workshops, staff meetings, and district-level use. The authors demonstrate how to: Support students′ independent and interdependent thinking and behavior Foster ethical decision making Collaborate with students, parents, and teachers Evaluate and monitor a plan to enhance the existing school culture The authors illustrate how deliberately shaping a school culture cultivates faculty trust, sets the groundwork for raising test scores, and is a critical ingredient in building a successful school.

A master class in achieving and sustaining excellence, even in the most challenging of times—from the host of The Learning Leader Show and author of Welcome to Management Millions of business professionals aspire to become effective leaders. But for hardworking, growth-oriented top performers who are always looking to improve and for rigorous thinkers who are never quite satisfied with the status quo, the true goal is the lifelong pursuit of excellence. Leadership advisor Ryan Hawk has interviewed hundreds of the most productive achievers in the world on his acclaimed podcast, The Learning Leader Show, to discover the best practices for pursuing and sustaining excellence. He found a pattern of uncommon behaviors that set these stellar individuals apart. By following their examples, you will learn how to: Commit to yourself and the process―and build purpose, focus, and discipline Develop resilience to face new challenges―and find inspiration for the long haul Seek guidance―and lead others to new heights Meet the moment―and make the most of every opportunity to excel Create a trusted group of advisors―and become a lifelong learner Packed with specific actions to take, experiments to run, and tools to analyze what works best for you, this uncompromisingly practical guide will inspire, challenge, support, and empower you to become your very best. Put mindsets into action and turn behaviors into habits with The Pursuit of Excellence.

This book promotes collaborative ways of knowing and group accountability in learning processes to counteract the damaging effects of neoliberal individualism prevalent in educational systems today. These neoliberalist hierarchies imposed through traditional, autocratic knowledge systems have driven much of the United States’ educational policies and reforms, including STEM, high stakes testing, individual-based accountability, hierarchical grading systems, and ability grouping tracks. The net effect of such policies and reforms is an education system that perpetuates social inequalities linked with race, class, gender, and sexuality. Instead, the author suggests that accountability pushes past individualism in education by highlighting democratic methods to produce a collective good as opposed to a narrow personal success. In this democratic model, participants contribute to the common goal of elevating the entire group. Drawing from a well of creative praxes, reflexivity, and spiritual engagement, contributors incorporate collective dreaming to envision alternate realities of learning and schooling and summon the spirit into action for change.

This book discusses barriers as obstacles to overcome, and how they strengthen teachers in their pursuit of excellence. It explains how not to make excuses but instead, make a plan for life, and work to make it a reality. The author, a longtime teacher, presenter, and school leader, shares personal and professional stories and strategies that will make your own leadership both intentional and impactful, in the inaugural book in this revolutionary new leadership series.

Teaching models that focus on blended and virtual learning have become important during the past year and have become integral for the continuance of learning. The i²Flex classroom model, a variation of blended learning, allows non-interactive teaching activities to take place without teachers’ direct involvement, freeing up time for more meaningful teacher-student and student-student interactions. There is evidence that i²Flex leads to increased student engagement and motivation as well as better exploitation of teachers’ and classroom time leading to the development of higher order cognitive skills as well as study skills for students' future needs related to citizenship, college, and careers. The Handbook of Research on K-12 Blended and Virtual Learning Through the i²Flex Classroom Model focuses not only on how to design, deliver, and evaluate courses, but also on how to assess teacher performance in a blended i2Flex way at the K12 level. The book will discuss the implementation of the i²Flex (isquareFlex), a non-traditional learning methodology, which integrates internet-based delivery of content and instruction with faculty-guided, student-independent learning in combination with face-to-face classroom instruction aiming at developing higher order cognitive skills within a flexible learning design framework. While highlighting new methods for improving the classroom and learning experience in addition to preparing students for higher education and careers, this publication is an essential reference source for pre-service and in-service teachers, researchers, administrators, educational technology developers, and students interested in how the i2Flex model was implemented in classrooms and the effects of this learning model.

Break down the barriers that keep professional learning from sticking! Real professional learning takes place when there is a permanent change in practice. This book outlines what it means to intentionally interrupt the status quo in order to overcome barriers to learning that impede permanent change. The authors explain the psychological processes involved in learning and which biases get in the way of making professional learning stick. Staff developers will find tools and strategies for: * Moving professional learning beyond activities to deepen conceptual change* Enabling new learning by building three key capacities: a learning focus, collaborative inquiry, and instructional leadership* Embedding and sustaining a true learning culture in schools.