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Creating Pathways for All Learners in the Middle Years

By Leyton Schnellert, Linda Watson, Nicole Widdess, and Faye Brownlie
Series: It's All About Thinking
Imprint: Portage & Main Press

Categories: Education, Professional Development, Elementary, Secondary
Paperback : 9781553795094, 229 pages, January 2015
Ebook (PDF) : 9781553795285, 332 pages, September 2011

Table of contents

Table of Contents

  • Foreword xi
  • Chapter 1 Teaching and Learning in the Middle Years: Diversity as Strength 1
    • Developing and Sharing Our Practice 2
    • Middle Years Philosophy and Practice 2
    • Identity Development in the Middle Years 8
    • Conclusion 10
  • Chapter 2 Pathways to Professional Learning: Inquiry, Collaboration, and Professional Reading 11
    • All Teachers, All Subjects 13
    • Working Together for All Learners 13
    • A Collaborative Model of Support 16
    • Collaborating to Teach Math to Combined Grades 18
    • Lesson Study: A Powerful Approach to Teacher Teams 21
    • Teacher Leaders as Facilitators and Co-Learners 24
    • Conclusion 26
  • Chapter 3 Responsive Teaching: Connecting Assessment, Planning, and Instruction 27
    • (In)formative Assessment: Getting Started 28
    • Using a Performance-Based Assessment to Guide
    • Your Teaching 32
    • Assessing Student Work 35
    • The Cycle of Assessing, Planning, Teaching, and Assessing 38
    • Planning to Use Formative Assessment Information 39
    • From Assessment to Instruction 41
    • Grouping Students for Optimal Learning 43
    • Differentiation 51
    • Conclusion 51
  • Chapter 4 Deep Learning: Integrating Content, Process, and Product 53
    • The Curriculum We Need 54
    • Including Students with Significant Learning Challenges 58
    • Using Diverse Texts and Big Ideas to Enhance Student Engagement 68
    • Information Circles Using Text Sets 75
    • Conclusion 79
  • Chapter 5 Creating Pathways by Integrating the Arts 81
    • Rationale for Integrating the Arts 82
    • Drama as a Pathway 84
    • Dance and Music as Pathways 91
    • Visual Arts as a Pathway 97
    • Conclusion 104
  • Chapter 6 Creating Pathways Using Inquiry and Project-Based Learning 105
    • Project-Based Learning 106
    • Lessons in Decoding Texts and Constructing Meaning 110
    • Inquiry-Based Research 114
    • Inquiry in a Differentiated Math Class 126
    • Developing Powerful Questions in Humanities 131
    • Deep Inquiry Learning: An Integrative Unit 136
    • Conclusion 150
  • Chapter 7 Creating Pathways through Social-Emotional Learning 153
    • Developing a Learning Community 154
    • Integrating Social-Emotional Learning and
    • Project-Based Learning 158
    • Service Learning 167
    • Challenge-Based Projects in Community Learning 172
    • Effective Essential Questions and Challenge Statements 175
    • Conclusion 180
  • Chapter 8 Creating Pathways to Self-Regulated Learning 181
    • Helping Students Self-Regulate 182
    • Building Criteria with Students 189
    • Making Shakespeare Accessible 190
    • Engaging Students as Critical Thinkers 195
    • Numeracy Circles: Tackling Problems Together 197
    • Conclusion 204
  • Chapter 9 Creating Pathways Using Diverse Texts 205
    • What is a text? 206
    • The Power of Text Sets 206
    • First Nations Community-Generated Texts 209
    • Information Texts: Synthesis and Inference 212
    • Graphic Novels Expand Our Repertoire of Text 216
    • Integrating Diverse Texts 227
    • Stop Cyberbullying Unit 231
    • Conclusion 236
  • Chapter 10 Creating Pathways through Writing 237
    • The Pleasure of Writing 238
    • Poetic Play Pays Off 239
    • A Pathway into Personal Writing 243
    • Writing Informational Texts through Inquiry 246
    • Conclusion 259
  • Chapter 11 Creating Pathways through Technology and New Literacies 261
    • Making the World a Better Place Together 263
    • Musqueam Inquiry — Using iPads 269
    • Creating Pathways with New Technologies 277
    • Conclusion 288
  • References 289
  • Index of Frameworks, Approaches, or Strategies 297

Description

In this third volume of It's All About Thinking, the authors focus on teaching and learning in the middle years, transforming principles into practices, and exploring such questions as: How can we help students develop the competencies they need to become successful learners? How can we create pathways to deep learning of important concepts? How can we engage and support diverse learners in inclusive classrooms? Nicole, Linda, and Leyton explore these questions and offer classroom examples to help busy teachers develop communities where all students learn, focusing on the big ideas in middle years education today.