Among the many challenges confronting the liberal arts today is a fundamental disconnect between the curricula that many institutions offer and the training that many students need. Discipline-specific models of teaching and learning can underprepare students for the kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration that employers now expect. Although aware of these expectations and the need for change, many small colleges and universities have struggled to translate interdisciplinarity into programs and curricula that better serve today’s students. Written by faculty engaged in the design and delivery of interdisciplinary courses, programs, and experiential learning opportunities in the small college setting, The Synergistic Classroom addresses the many ways faculty can leverage their institutions' small size and openness to pedagogical experimentation to overcome the challenges of limited institutional resources and enrollment concerns and better prepare students for life and work in the twenty-first century. Taken together, the contributions in this volume invite reflection on a variety of important issues that attend the work of small college faculty committed to expanding student learning across disciplinary boundaries.

The Synergetic Classroom: Joyful Teaching and Gentle Discipline. Excellent synthesis of several well-developed models of classroom management, and holds throughout to a core tenet that good teaching and good classroom management are two sides of the same coin.

TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO READ WITH PRECISION AND INSIGHT The world we are preparing our students to succeed in is one bound together by words and phrases. Our students learn their literature, history, math, science, or art via a firm foundation of strong reading skills. When we teach students to read with precision, rigor, and insight, we are truly handing over the key to the kingdom. Of all the subjects we teach reading is first among equals. Grounded in advice from effective classrooms nationwide, enhanced with more than 40 video clips, Reading Reconsidered takes you into the trenches with actionable guidance from real-life educators and instructional champions. The authors address the anxiety-inducing world of Common Core State Standards, distilling from those standards four key ideas that help hone teaching practices both generally and in preparation for assessments. This 'Core of the Core' comprises the first half of the book and instructs educators on how to teach students to: read harder texts, 'closely read' texts rigorously and intentionally, read nonfiction more effectively, and write more effectively in direct response to texts. The second half of Reading Reconsidered reinforces these principles, coupling them with the 'fundamentals' of reading instruction—a host of techniques and subject specific tools to reconsider how teachers approach such essential topics as vocabulary, interactive reading, and student autonomy. Reading Reconsidered breaks an overly broad issue into clear, easy-to-implement approaches. Filled with practical tools, including: 44 video clips of exemplar teachers demonstrating the techniques and principles in their classrooms (note: for online access of this content, please visit my.teachlikeachampion.com) Recommended book lists Downloadable tips and templates on key topics like reading nonfiction, vocabulary instruction, and literary terms and definitions. Reading Reconsidered provides the framework necessary for teachers to ensure that students forge futures as lifelong readers.

Who’s in? Who’s out? Who decides? What are we going to do about inclusive education? What kind of world do we want our children to live in? How might education help us to achieve that vision for our children? In Who’s In? Who’s Out? What to Do about Inclusive Education, a group of respected international scholars come together to think about education at a momentous time in global history, where the world has fractured, people are displaced and we search for new research, education programmes and political leadership to restore social cohesion and rebuild school systems that may claim to be an apprenticeship in democracy. This book highlights the challenges inclusive education researchers take on in working to dismantle barriers involving access, presence, participation and success in education. Contributors include: Elga Andriana, Michael Apple, Ann Cheryl Armstrong, Marnie Best, Roseanna Bourke, Jenni Carter, Kathy Cologon, Tim Corcoran, Deborah Crossing, Simona D’Alessio, Rosemary Ann du Plessis, David Evans, Lani Florian, Cameron Forrest, Christine Grima-Farrell, Bjørn F. Hamre, Leechin Heng, Amitya Kumara, Bindi MacGill, Laisiasa Merumeru, John Munro, Patricia O’Brien, John O’Neill, Sulochini Pather, Deborah Price, Merelesita Qeleni, Kathleen Quinlivan, Puti Ayu Setiani, Peta Skujins, Roger Slee, John Stanwick, and Peter Walker.

The book provides a rich, informative picture of the current state of student engagement evaluation, while also highlighting challenges and opportunities for future advances. A particular strength of this publication is its emphasis on the importance of taking evidence-based decisions, and showing how the South African Survey of Student Engagement (SASSE) can provide the evidence for well-informed changes in policy and practice in order to enhance student success." - Prof Magda Fourie-Malherbe, Stellenbosch University

This is the first book to connect the concepts of active learning and deep learning, and to delineate theory and practice through collaboration between scholars in higher education from three countries (Japan, the United States, and Sweden) as well as different subject areas (education, psychology, learning science, teacher training, dentistry, and business).It is only since the beginning of the twenty-first century that active learning has become key to the shift from teaching to learning in Japanese higher education. However, “active learning” in Japan, as in many other countries, is just an umbrella term for teaching methods that promote students’ active participation, such as group work, discussions, presentations, and so on.What is needed for students is not just active learning but deep active learning. Deep learning focuses on content and quality of learning whereas active learning, especially in Japan, focuses on methods of learning. Deep active learning is placed at the intersection of active learning and deep learning, referring to learning that engages students with the world as an object of learning while interacting with others, and helps the students connect what they are learning with their previous knowledge and experiences as well as their future lives.What curricula, pedagogies, assessments and learning environments facilitate such deep active learning? This book attempts to respond to that question by linking theory with practice.