Creating Smart Schools

This book is a guide for the creation of “Smart Schools. ” Through the use of the “Education Instructional Coaching Model, American students can display the highest levels of academic achievement. This model is based upon a set of core beliefs that include: • the major goal of educators is to inspire students to become critical thinkers and independent learners; • educators must create environments of small learning communities where a major portion of instruction is devoted to problem solving; • teachers must design student directed instruction; • educational reform is comprehensive and involves every member of the educational community; • instructional coaching which requires mutual respect between a coach and teacher is the corner stone for improving classroom instruction.

Perkins reveals the common misguided strategies students use and offers teachers and parents advice on how they can help their children. Although there has been a great deal of impassioned debate over the sad state of American education today, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how children actually learn to think. But, as David Perkins demonstrates, we cannot solve our problems in this area simply by redistributing power or by asking children to regurgitate facts on a multiple choice exam. Rather we must ask what kinds of knowledge students typically acquire in school. In Smart Schools, Perkins draws on over twenty years of research to reveal the common misguided strategies students use in trying to understand a topic, and then shows teachers and parents what strategies they can use with children to increase real understanding.

Help staff focus on results, and implement SMART (Strategic and specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results based, and Time bound) goals to transform your school into a place where every student meets or exceeds standards. The authors present four success stories from real SMART schools and several frameworks for adult and student goal setting that lead to real results.

A revolution in education is sweeping across America. Smart Schools, Smart Kids takes readers into dozens of pioneering schools across the country to describe successful programs and how they work, the problems they have encountered, and the results they have achieved. Innovative reformers are transforming every aspect of the "nineteenth-century factory-model school" into a new kind of public school capable of educating kids for twenty-first century challenges. Smart Schools, Smart Kids shows how. It is a book that is sure to be warmly welcomed by parents, teachers, administrators, and public officials alike who want to improve education for their own and for all of America's children. This nation can no longer afford to wait for change: Smart Schools, Smart Kids will make a real difference now. Book jacket.

Prepare your students for the future while juggling the expectations of multiple stakeholders! A fresh take on the classic first edition, this guide defines and advocates SMART goals—goals that are Strategic and specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results oriented, and Time bound. Gain a schoolwide understanding of how to cultivate a productive collaborative culture, and engage every member of your team in the process.

In order to adequately prepare students for success in their lifetimes, our schools need to be transformed into environments that encourage students to evolve and develop as creative individuals. Educators are challenged to establish an instructional practice that will encourage and support the development of student creativity as well as meet curricular goals and assessments. In this book, author Mark Gura shows that yes, creativity can be developed and—with the variety of technology resources currently available—doing so is not only possible, but practical and effective. Through examples and practical approaches the book guides educators in: • weaving Maker, STEAM, Robotics, and Gaming into Instruction • encouraging motivation, entrepreneurship, curiosity, and play • teaching creativity across the curriculum • finding technology tools and resources to support student creativity

Prepare your students for the future while juggling the expectations of multiple stakeholders! A fresh take on the classic first edition, this guide defines and advocates SMART goals--goals that are Strategic and specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results oriented, and Time bound. Gain a schoolwide understanding of how to cultivate a productive collaborative culture, and engage every member of your team in the process.