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Welcome to our Staff Development Site!
For Book Study Groups, scroll down below the calendar of events!
Book Study Groups
Some helpful reflection tools that your book study group might want to use:
Tumblr -- Tumblr is like a scrapbook because it allows you to post quotes, images, or your comments about the book. It's like a group or personal learning journal. (See this example-- http://bookquotes.tumblr.com/
Ning.com -- You can establish your own group on Ning.com and invite only members of your book group to join for a discussion.
Pbwiki.com -- You can create a wiki site like this one to store the notes from your book study online that all members can edit or comment upon.
Blogs -- Your book study group can create a blog for book discussion or School Center has a threaded discussion board.
Below is a list of books for book study.
If you want to add a book to the list below, feel free to do so. **To add a title, click "edit page" at the top of the page. Type your changes, and click "save" at the bottom of the screen.
Add your name next to the book you are studying if you are seeking collaborators.
Book List:
1st six weeks:
reviews from Amazon; many books available in library catalog.
Teach with Your Strengths: How Great Teachers Inspire Their Students Vicky Abney, Janet Espinosa, Maddie Robertson (5th)
"Liesveld and Miller use the Gallup research and interviews with teachers to define important characteristics of teacher strengths: creating flexible structure, showing emotion, and sharing control with students."
The Passionate Learner
"How do preschool children, full of natural inquisitiveness and a passion for learning, turn into apathetic or angry teens with a profound dislike of school? Why do so many kids "see school as the enemy of what's interesting, fun, and worthwhile. . . .Fried is inspirational and practical as he considers possible solutions to such educational problems. His ideas will encourage and guide both teachers and parents in the important work of creating learning environments in which students recapture their earlier joy in learning...."
The Passionate Teacher
"Fried explores the question, "Where do teachers hit the wall in their struggle to become or remain enthusiastic about their profession?" He offers strategies for getting out of the "game" and onto something better. To change the "game" teachers need to start seriously listening to their students and find out what is getting in the way of the kind of learning that they, like all of us, are naturally supposed to seek out and respond to. "
The Game of School
"In this compelling book, Robert L. Fried shows how we can change the rules of the game, reclaim and refocus the learning experience, and ultimately bring joy back into the classroom. The Game of School is filled with interviews and stories of teachers and students who are struggling to put the game of school behind them and engage in authentic learning."
Don't Bother Me, Mom, I'm Learning
"Prensky debunks the accepted wisdom that video games are harmful to children. Instead, he contends that games can teach a multitude of skills, including problem solving, language and cognitive skills, strategic thinking, multitasking, and parallel processing."
Teaching for Tomorrow Lynn Beasley, Noni Ham
"Teaching for Tomorrow concisely lays out the argument for preparing students for the 'real world'. It shows teachers how to engage students in thoughtful work, helping them to learn to collaborate, take responsibility for their own time and tasks, and become creative problem-solvers. Through role-playing scenarios, six changes that need to take place in terms of teaching, and a four-step process for student work, Ted McCain provides a challenge and a way for teachers to meet it successfully. "
How to Assess Authentic Learning
"Dr. Kay Burke supplies teachers with a wide range of alternative assessments that can be implemented easily and immediately into their classrooms, and takes readers step-by-step in building a conceptual understanding of this approach and demonstrates practical applications of assessment strategies. "
"Don Tapscott, author of The Digital Economy, turns his attention to the way young people--surrounded by high-tech toys and tools from birth--will likely affect the future. In Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation, Tapscott parlays some 300 interviews into predictions on how today's 2- to 22-year-olds might reshape society. "
"This book is about `collective space' - its promise and its potential. It tells us about ourselves, as human beings, and our capacity to operate collectively to address the very pressing, complex issues that face us all today at work, at home, and in our communities.
Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children's Learning by Peter Johnston
"For the past decade, Johnston and his colleagues have observed, interviewed, and reported on what makes an effective teacher. A key aspect of his research centers on the language teachers use in the classroom with their students. This thin, teacher-friendly volume is filled with excerpts from real classrooms and gives the reader a sense of eavesdropping on some of the best instruction in the country. Johnston turns the traditional idea of teacher as keeper-of-information on its head and invites the reader to consider the alternatives. Through a classroom community of social justice and democracy, children learn to question themselves and build agency as they emerge into the literate world."
Wikinomics
Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design
Failure is Not an Option
Courage to Teach
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
Whole Faculty Study Groups
Lead with Me
Awakening the Sleeping Giant
Teach with Your Strengths
add others
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