Rethinking Classroom Design

Have you ever entered a building or room for the first time and felt enhanced--felt your body relax and spirit elevate? The effect of human-made environments on learners’ brains is not subjective. According to research studies, we all have measurable responses to the design of a space. However, despite the many resources discussing how to decorate and design elementary school classrooms, few resources on middle and secondary level classroom design are available. This book fills that gap. Moreover, the purpose of this guide is to enhance learning spaces, boost student performances, and positively extend teachers’ influence.

"Many of today′s discipline problems result from student responses to outdated practices. This book lives up to its title, providing innovative approaches that demonstrate leadership rather than management. Teachers discover creative and proactive ways to engage students in the development of learning environments that are positively charged, cooperatively structured, and self-governed." —Dutchess Maye, Fellow for Instructional Design North Carolina Teacher Academy, Morrisville, NC A classroom leadership model of prevention, intervention, and problem solving for both teachers and students! Emphasizing a leadership model for effective classroom management rather than relying on strategies for compliance and control, this updated edition of the bestseller describes a comprehensive approach that encourages teachers to reevaluate their beliefs, roles, and practices and engages students as partners in creating a powerfully supportive learning environment. Offering a unique perspective on classroom leadership that helps teachers address potential problems before learning is disrupted, this resource shows how integrating leadership into daily classroom life enhances learning by strengthening students′ autonomy, self-esteem, and connectedness with others. Reflecting the author′s years of experience and filled with more real-life examples, new techniques, and ready-to-use worksheets, the book: Provides an interactive process that allows teachers to foster leadership in themselves and their students Includes classroom connections, personal connections, examples, checklists, and reflective questions With its distinctive and creative perspective on classroom management, Rethinking Classroom Management, Second Edition encourages teachers to become mentors and facilitators, rather than classroom managers, as they empower students to actively participate in their own learning.

Based on the latest research about how children learn, this book helps elementary school teachers make their classrooms into creative spaces that facilitate teaching and learning. It also delves into specific areas of classroom design such as use of color and plants, room arrangement, learning centers, and the impact of clutter. With before and after photos of real classrooms, teachers can examine each area and determine their own classroom's need for improvement.

Readings, resources, lesson plans, and reproducible student handouts aimed at teaching students to question the traditional ideas and images that interfere with social justice and community building.

Using clear explanations and cases, this must-have resource shows how formative assessment can improve student learning. Included are lesson plans and ideas for easy implementation.

This document is intended to inform discussion among Manitoba educators regarding the effective use of assessment processes to facilitate learning for all students.

Despite the promise of competency-based education (CBE), learner-centered issues related to support, retention, and program completion rates remain problematic. In addition, the infrastructure for higher education, including issues related to faculty (intellectual property, workload, and curriculum), pose barriers and challenges in the design, development, implementation, and delivery of CBE. In response, administrators, faculty, designers, and developers of competency-based experiences must incorporate innovative strategies that are foreign to the traditional institution. A strong emphasis on retention and graduation rates must surround the student with support, starting with the design and development of the CBE system. There are few resources that can help prepare instructional designers, advisors, academic administrators, and faculty to meet the many challenges of designing, developing, implementing, and managing CBE. Career Ready Education Through Experiential Learning is an essential reference book that includes strategies for design and development of competency-based education (CBE) programs, as well as administrative and delivery strategies as examples of how CBE can be implemented. Through a strong theoretical framework, chapters present the best practices, strategies, and practical tips as examples and scenarios that can be used in higher education settings. While highlighting education courses, programs, and lessons across various institutions and educational domains, this book is ideal for higher education administrators and policy designers/implementors, instructional designers, curriculum developers, faculty, public policy leaders, students in curriculum and instruction and instructional technology programs, along with researchers and practitioners interested in CBE and experiential learning in higher education.

Since the first edition was published in 1994, Rethinking Our Classrooms has sold over 180,000 copies.