This book offers a highly revealing and troubling view of today's high school students and the ways they pursue high grades and success. Denise Pope, veteran teacher and curriculum expert, follows five motivated and successful students through a school year, closely shadowing them and engaging them in lengthy reflections on their school experiences. What emerges is a double-sided picture of school success. On the one hand, these students work hard in school, participate in extracurricular activities, serve their communities, earn awards and honours, and appear to uphold school values. But on the other hand, they feel that in order to get ahead they must compromise their values and manipulate the system by scheming, lying, and cheating. In short, they "do school", that is, they are not really engaged with learning nor can they commit to such values as integrity and community. The words and actions of these five students - two boys and three girls from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds - underscore the frustrations of being caught in a "grade trap" that pins future success to high grades and test scores. Their stories raise critical questions that are too important for parents, educators, and community leaders to ignore. Are schools cultivating an environment that promotes intellectual curiosity, cooperation, and integrity? Or are they fostering anxiety, deception, and hostility? Do today's schools inadvertently impede the very values they claim to embrace? Is the "success" that current assessment practices measure the kind of success we want for our children?
Easy Strategies for Teaching Science Vocabulary Collected by a Study Group of 4th and 5th Grade SMFC Teachers Why is vocabulary instruction a key to students’ success in science? There are three important reasons: • When we teach science vocabulary, we are really teaching important concepts. Words like erosion, electromagnetism, and respiration require much more than simple definitions; they incorporate complex ideas about how the world works. • Success on the fifth grade STAR test in science requires that students have an understanding of science content vocabulary. • Research shows that knowledge of vocabulary is one of the most significant predictors of reading comprehension and success in school in general. Why this handbook? Because developing students’ understanding of vocabulary in science is so important, we have put together this booklet of trategies that are proven to be effective. The use of a few strategies consistently will have the most impact on student learning.
Talking and Learning in Groups, like the rest of the Leverhulme skills series attempts to identify in general terms the competencies and strategies which are needed for this aspect of class management and to guide teachers in discovering what works for them. The modular text gives evidence of the success of cooperative learning and discusses its various forms. It them gives specific guidance on how to do it.
This book is a must have for any classroom teacher, support specialist, administrator, and curriculum specialist.
In an era of standardized testing and out-of-control pacing guides, this book reestablishes the goal of student success within the classroom. Lots of great ideas.
