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The best classes have a life of their own, powered by student-led conversations that explore texts, ideas, and essential questions. In these classes, the teacher's role shifts from star player to observer and coach as the students Think critically, Work collaboratively, Participate fully, Behave ethically, Ask and answer high-level questions, Support their ideas with evidence, and Evaluate and assess their own work. The Spider Web Discussion is a simple technique that puts this kind of class within every teacher's reach. The name comes from the weblike diagram the observer makes to record interactions as students actively participate in the discussion, lead and support one another's learning, and build community. It's proven to work across all subject areas and with all ages, and you only need a little know-how, a rubric, and paper and pencil to get started. As students practice Spider Web Discussion, they become stronger communicators, more empathetic teammates, better problem solvers, and more independent learners—college and career ready skills that serve them well in the classroom and beyond. Educator Alexis Wiggins provides a step-by-step guide for the implementation of Spider Web Discussion, covering everything from introducing the technique to creating rubrics for discussion self-assessment to the nuts-and-bolts of charting the conversations and using the data collected for formative assessment. She also shares troubleshooting tips, ideas for assessment and group grading, and the experiences of real teachers and students who use the technique to develop and share content knowledge in a way that's both revolutionary and truly inspiring.

Using discussion in instruction may facilitate spaces where students can engage with difficult and opposing ideas as a form of shared inquiry. Discussion is part of a larger curricular goal that intersects the two aspirations of diversity of perspectives and democratic inquiry in that it challenges stereotypes and assumptions through student interactions. An essential goal of discussion is increased personal understanding of difficult issues through social learning. Discussion pedagogy engages students with issues that surpass the self and connects them with larger societal problems, allowing them to expand their perspectives and increase their worldviews of difficult issues. Discussions may have the capability to advance the public‐sphere through the use of critical and reasoned discourse. Nevertheless, teaching with discussion is a complex and sometimes ambiguous endeavor. Using discussion pedagogy promotes perturbation, disturbance, and disequilibrium as natural and anticipated outcomes of instruction. Instructors using discussion often feel pulled between desirable, but seemingly contradictory, outcomes for their students: for example, wanting students to participate but also wanting them to learn to listen to others'viewpoints; hoping that they will dialogue but also wanting them to pose questions with each other; expecting they will use the text to ground their opinions and also valuing students'personal experiences as they relate to the topic under discussion. Similarly, instructors using discussion must manage instructional paradoxes: focusing on the process of discussion but also having an eye on the possible products of the discussion, such as outside actions or a culminating project; wanting to provide structure to help students understand expectations and increase student engagement and also valuing organic, less structured dialogues that highlight student interest in the topic. These contradictions may be met with a problem‐solving stance leading to an either/or consequence, choosing one viewpoint over another. Yet, the paradoxical outcomes and instructional choices in discussion, though opposing, are mutually desirable. In fact, each side of the dilemma relies on the other. These types of problems for discussion outcomes and instruction are not really problems. They are dilemmas that simply need management.

Viele Eltern stehen dem Umgang ‘Neuer Medien'im Unterricht skeptisch gegenüber. Zu viel haben sie von Hackern, Viren, Datenklau und Spionage gehört. Doch der Einsatz von neuen bzw. digitalen Medien im Unterricht ist heute wichtiger denn je. Die meisten Jugendlichen besitzen bereits im Grundschulalter einen Computer oder haben Zugriff zum Internet. Der Zugriff erfolgt jedoch meist auf eine unreflektierte Art und Weise. Mit Hilfe eines WebQuests kann genau diesem Problem entgegengearbeitet werden und Schülerinnen und Schüler der reflektierte Umgang mit dem Computer und insbesondere mit dem Internet nähergebracht werden. Gerade der Musikunterricht bietet viele Möglichkeiten für den Einsatz von WebQuests, ohne dass dabei der fachliche Inhalt auf der Strecke bleibt. Lernende, wie Lehrende profitieren gleichermaßen von dieser ‘neuen'Unterrichtsmethode wodurch das Klassenzimmer zur interaktiven Lernumgebung wird. Auf folgende Fragen soll in dieser Arbeit eine Antwort gegeben werden: Wie findet aktuell (Musik-) Unterricht in der ‘digitalen Welt'statt? Wie hat das digitale Zeitalter Musikunterricht verändert und welche Rolle spielt hierbei der WebQuest? Was ist ein WebQuest und wie ist er aufgebaut? Wie könnte ein WebQuest im Musikunterricht konkret aussehen – ein Praxisbeispiel.

As a field, education has largely failed to learn from experience. Time after time, promising education reforms fall short of their goals and are abandoned as other promising ideas take their place. In Learning to Improve, the authors argue for a new approach. Rather than “implementing fast and learning slow,” they believe educators should adopt a more rigorous approach to improvement that allows the field to “learn fast to implement well.” Using ideas borrowed from improvement science, the authors show how a process of disciplined inquiry can be combined with the use of networks to identify, adapt, and successfully scale up promising interventions in education. Organized around six core principles, the book shows how “networked improvement communities” can bring together researchers and practitioners to accelerate learning in key areas of education. Examples include efforts to address the high rates of failure among students in community college remedial math courses and strategies for improving feedback to novice teachers. Learning to Improve offers a new paradigm for research and development in education that promises to be a powerful driver of improvement for the nation's schools and colleges.

Let Randi Stone and her award-winning teachers demonstrate tried-and-tested best practices for teaching science in diverse elementary, middle, and high school classrooms.Linked to companion volumes for teaching writing and mathematics, this resource for new and veteran educators helps build student confidence and success through innovative approaches for raising student achievement in science, such as: Expeditionary learning, technology and music, and independent research study Model lessons in environmental studies and real-world science Inquiry-based strategies using robotics, rockets, straw-bale greenhouses,'Project Dracula,''Making Microbes Fun,'and more!With engaging activities weaving through science fact and fiction to lead learners on intriguing journeys of discovery, this guide is sure to fascinate and inspire both you and your students!

This dynamic book explores a variety of ways teachers can integrate service learning to enliven their classroom, meet the unique developmental needs of their students, and satisfy the next generation of standards and assessments. The authors demonstrate how inquiry-based teaching with service learning outcomes cultivates, requires, and rewards literacy, as well as important skills like perspective taking and compassion. Through the pursuit of service learning projects, students develop and apply literacy and disciplinary knowledge, experience real-world implications, and learn to think in more connected ways. At the same time, students acquire literacies essential for creating a culture of civic engagement and for mastering the Common Core.A powerful blend of practical, theoretical, and inspirational, The Activ(ist) Learner:Provides examples that combine inquiry and service learning to help students develop and apply literacy and disciplinary knowledge.Helps teachers move from informational teaching to sociocultural apprenticeship teaching.Describes a way of teaching that develops students'intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.Includes templates for conducting inquiry units and charts with CCSS connections.“Our students are indeed the future trustees of our societies, so why not engage them early on in positive activism? This book, a collaborative conversation that speaks to the challenge and the opportunity that our classrooms provide us, offers an engaging look at how a shift in thinking can positively impact our future.”—Clifton L. Taulbert, lecturer and author of Eight Habits of the Heart“In an era where everyone has an opinion about education, Wilhelm, Douglas, and Fry take us back to the root of the word educate: to nurture and to lead forth. The Activ(ist) Learner reminds us that service learning allows teachers and students to collaborate through inquiry to ask deep, substantive questions, and then take actionable steps to make a difference in their schools, communities, and the world. If you are truly interested in education—nurturing and leading—then The Activ(ist) Learner will help you begin a transformative journey.”—Troy Hicks, Central Michigan University

How can you create an authentic learning environment—one where students ask questions, do research, and explore subjects that fascinate them—in today's standards-driven atmosphere? Author Larissa Pahomov offers insightful answers based on her experience as a classroom teacher at the Science Leadership Academy—a public high school in Philadelphia that offers a rigorous college-prep curriculum and boasts a 99 percent graduation rate. Pahomov outlines a framework for learning structured around five core values: inquiry, research collaboration, presentation and reflection. For each value, she presents:• A detailed description of how the value can transform classroom practice and how a “digital connection” can enhance its application.• A step-by-step outline for how to implement the value, with examples from teachers in all subject areas.• Solutions to possible challenges and roadblocks that teachers may experience.• Suggestions for how to expand the value beyond the classroom to schoolwide practice.

Inspiring Dialogue helps new English teachers make dialogic teaching practices a central part of their development as teachers, while also supporting veteran teachers who would like new ideas for inspiring talk in their classrooms. Chapter by chapter, the book follows novice teachers as they build a repertoire of practices for planning for, carrying out, and assessing their efforts at dialogic teaching across the secondary English curriculum. The text also includes a section to support dialogic teacher learning communities through video study and discourse analysis. Providing a thorough discussion of the benefits of dialogic curriculum in meeting the objectives of the Common Core State Standards, this book with its companion website is an ideal resource for teacher development.Book Features:Dialogic tools for step-by-step planning within a lesson, over the course of a unit, or during an entire academic year.A user-friendly, interactive layout designed for new teachers who are pressed for time.Classroom examples addressing the challenges English teachers may face in stimulating rich learning talk in an era of standardization. A companion website with additional examples, activities, and course material.“Real talk. Real classrooms. Real students. The authors of Inspiring Dialogue have given teacher education programs a tool for introducing dialogic teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms while meeting Common Core State Standards objectives.”—Maisha T. Winn, Susan J. Cellmer Chair in English Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison, author of Girl Time: Literacy, Justice and the School-to-Prison Pipeline“Inspiring Dialogue covers a comprehensive and practical set of tools and strategies for implementing dialogic instruction.... It is a program that has been fully tested at Michigan State University in one of the most thorough and carefully crafted teacher education programs nationally.”—From the Foreword by Martin Nystrand, professor emeritus, University of Wisconsin–Madison“One of the most exciting aspects of English language arts is the discussion that can occur in the classroom. For many teachers, however, it is often a struggle to structure and implement real dialogue. Inspiring Dialogue provides specific guidance to encourage authentic conversations between teachers and students with practical advice for implementation.”—Leila Christenbury Chair, Department of Teaching and Learning, Commonwealth Professor, English Education, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityMary M. Juzwik is associate professor of language and literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University (MSU), and co-editor of the journal Research in the Teaching of English. Carlin Borsheim-Black is assistant professor of English language and literature at Central Michigan University (CMU). Samantha Caughlan is an assistant professor of English education in the Department of Teacher Education at MSU. Anne Heintz is an adjunct professor in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program at MSU.

Thinking critically. Communicating effectively. Collaborating productively. Students need to develop proficiencies while mastering the practices, concepts, and ideas associated with mathematics and science. Successful students must be able to work with large data sets, design experiments, and apply what they're learning to solve real-world problems.Research shows that inquiry-based instruction boosts students'critical thinking skills and promotes the kind of creative problem solving that turns the classroom into an energized learning environment.In this book, real-world lesson plans illustrate highly effective inquiry-based instruction as you learn• How to engage math and science students at all grade levels;• Why students should explore a subject before you explain it;• How to meet rigorous standards and expectations through rich, well-aligned classroom experiences;• How to develop useful formative assessments and gather critical information during every class period; and• How to create effective questions that guide students'deep learning and your own professional development.No matter what your experience with inquiry-based instruction, Succeeding with Inquiry in Science and Math Classrooms will help hone your ability to plan and implement high-quality lessons that engage students and improve learning.