Engaging Ideas

Learn to design interest-provoking writing and critical thinking activities and incorporate them into your courses in a way that encourages inquiry, exploration, discussion, and debate, with Engaging Ideas, a practical nuts-and-bolts guide for teachers from any discipline. Integrating critical thinking with writing-across-the-curriculum approaches, the book shows how teachers from any discipline can incorporate these activities into their courses. This edition features new material dealing with genre and discourse community theory, quantitative/scientific literacy, blended and online learning, and other current issues.

Use your course's big ideas to accelerate students’ growth as writers and critical thinkers The newly revised third edition of Engaging Ideas delivers a step-by-step guide for designing writing assignments and critical thinking activities that engage students with important subject-matter questions. This new edition of the celebrated book (now written by the co-author team of Bean and Melzer) uses leading and current research and theory to help you link active learning pedagogy to your courses' subject matter. You'll learn how to: Design formal and informal writing assignments that guide students toward thinking like experts in your discipline Use time-saving strategies for coaching the writing process and handling the paper load including alternatives to traditional grading such as portfolio assessment and contract grading Help students use self-assessment and peer response to improve their work Develop better ways than the traditional research paper to teach undergraduate reading and research Integrate social media, multimodal genres, and digital technology into the classroom to promote active learning This book demonstrates how writing can easily be integrated with other critical thinking activities such as inquiry discussions, simulation games, classroom debates, and interactive lectures. The reward of this book is watching students come to class better prepared, more vested in the questions your course investigates, more apt to study purposefully, and more likely to submit high-quality work. Perfect for higher education faculty and curriculum designers across all disciplines, Engaging Ideas will also earn a place in the libraries of graduate students in higher education.

The Primary STEM Ideas Book is designed to promote the integrated teaching of STEM in the primary classroom by providing teachers with lesson ideas for investigations and projects. The statutory requirements of the National Curriculum for science, mathematics and design and technology are comprehensively covered through a variety of practical, stimulating and engaging activities, which have all been tried and tested in the primary classroom. The interrelationship between the STEM subjects is strongly integrated throughout, allowing children’s knowledge and skills to develop with confidence in these key subjects through activities which only require easily accessible resources generally found in the classroom. Written by subject specialists with years of classroom experience teaching STEM, each chapter contains: A rationale showing links to the National Curriculum Key subject knowledge Brief session plans Ideas for supporting higher and lower attaining children Follow up ideas to provide extra inspiration Including ‘how to’ guides and other photocopiable resources, this book is perfect for creating integrated lessons, group work and discussions relating to STEM. The Primary STEM Ideas Book provides easy to follow instructions and helps spark fresh inspiration for both new and experienced teachers in primary STEM education.

Children benefit from the sensitive and supportive engagement of both their parents from the earliest of ages, but involving dads can be challenging. This book is designed to provide simple and accessible activities for practitioners looking to engage dads. Both June and Alice work with dads on a daily basis, helping them to understand their contribution to their children's development and longer term educational success. Realising how they can add to what the mums or other carers do in a different but complementary way, and how simple activities can enrich their children's lives, helps strengthen the bond between father and child. Each simple but effective idea in this book has been developed and written with the intention of promoting child and family well being, helping both children and families grow together.

Are your students really engaged in your teaching? Teachers everywhere are looking for quick and easy ways to liven up their lessons, try something new and exciting, or just tweak a strategy or practice that they have been doing for years. This is a 'recipe style' books that you can dip in and out of when you are looking for inspiration. 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Engaging Learners contains techniques and activities to apply to every area of classroom teaching, from livening up displays to using technology effectively, and even includes advice on greeting students and providing motivational feedback. Put these ideas into practice to get your class engaged and ready to learn.

No matter what you teach, there is a 100 Ideas title for you! The 100 Ideas series offers teachers practical, easy-to-implement strategies and activities for the classroom. Each author is an expert in their field and is passionate about sharing best practice with their peers. Each title includes at least ten additional extra-creative Bonus Ideas that won't fail to inspire and engage all learners. _______________ Based on extensive research and practical experience, 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Engaging Parents presents ideas for supporting the most effective forms of parental engagement in secondary schools. Engaging parents in their children's learning is the best lever we have to raise achievement in schools and parental support is essential to help students make progress throughout their secondary education. Written by two of the leading experts in the field, this book explains why it is so essential to get parents on board and how this can be done efficiently and effectively by all school staff. Tackling common issues such as homework, exams and transition, Janet Goodall and Kathryn Weston provide evidence-based ideas that can be implemented quickly and easily by all secondary teachers and school leaders, including form tutors and heads of year.

Engaging the Online Learner This updated edition includes an innovative framework—the Phases of Engagement—that helps learners become more involved as knowledge generators and cofacilitators of a course. The book also provides specific ideas for tested activities (collected from experienced online instructors across the nation) that can go a long way to improving online learning. Engaging the Online Learner offers the tools and information needed to: Convert classroom activities to an online environment Assess the learning that occurs as a result of collaborative activities Phase in activities that promote engagement among online learners Build peer interaction through peer partnerships and team activities Create authentic activities and implement games and simulations Praise for Engaging the Online Learner "The Phases of Engagement framework provides a road map for creating community at each phase of an online course. This book is an invaluable guide to innovative practices for online learning." –Judith V. Boettcher, coauthor of The Online Teaching Survival Guide "Engagement is the heart of online learning. The authors have developed an encyclopedia of tried-and-true learner engagement activities that are authentic and ready to use." –Donald P. Ely, professor emeritus, instructional design, development and evaluation in the School of Education, Syracuse University

In recent years, the rapidly growing field of community participation has promised to give people formerly excluded from decision making an influential voice about issues that affect their lives. Inclusive processes implemented in the United States and internationally have certainly given community members new opportunities to participate and be involved, but how effective are these processes in promoting the voice and influence of the people who have historically been excluded the most--the poorest, least educated, and most marginalized residents in communities? Of the various participants who have "a seat at the table," whose voices are influential, whose aren't, and why? This book summarizes how five community partnerships, working with a team of researchers, attempted to answer these critical questions. Investigating 10 cases--two from each community partnership--the study tracks the ideas of everyone involved and reveals how and why the ideas of marginalized and ordinary residents were far less likely to be influential than those of people with more clout, resources, or acknowledged expertise. Finally, the authors explain how and why these influence inequities can be overcome, providing readers with practical, evidence-based tools to help them do so. The book should be helpful to readers involved in any form of active community participation, from participatory research to civic engagement, deliberative democracy, and community initiatives. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.