Teaching Skills Development Manual Using Learning Resources

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

Specially developed and tested for use in non-traditional learning environments this comprehensive resource will enable you to help adult and young adult learners consider their personal development and develop their life skills. Designed to encourage reflection and change, the learning activities let you draw up a customized menu of activities for individuals or groups to work on: identifying and managing stress . managing change . developing learning skills . developing an understanding of the workplace and workplace skills . developing communication skills . managing time and goal setting . managing money . identifying personal and transferable skills . identifying and developing personal support networks . developing and maintaining positive attitudes . food and nutrition . exercise and well-being . do-it-yourself: improve your home, your appearance, and your chances. All the activities are photocopiable, fully resourced, and supported with clear trainer's notes. They encourage learner assessment, review of information, testing other ways of responding to situations and events, setting personal success criteria, action planning, and reviewing progress. This invaluable manual is for experienced trainers and for staff who have had training added to their other responsibilities. It covers using the manual, formative assessment processes, action plans, and review, identifying particular learning needs, individual and group learning plans, and evaluation with references and specialist sources of assistance.

Written by bestselling author Ann Gravells, this is the complete go-to guide for anyone wanting to be (or working as) a teacher or trainer in the further education and skills sector, in the UK and beyond. It has all the information you need to work towards a qualification such as the Award, Certificate or Diploma in Education and Training. It is also relevant to anyone taking a Train the Trainer course, or an international teaching qualification. The book takes you through all the information you need to know, opening up the topic for learning in an easily accessible way. Interactive activities are included throughout, along with real examples of teaching and training in practice. The book also includes examples of completed teaching documents. This is a comprehensive text, covering: The role of a teacher/trainer Factors contributing to learning Planning and facilitating learning for groups and individuals Using technology and resources to support learning Assessing learning Quality assurance Evaluation, reflection, and continuing professional development (CPD) Preparing for a micro-teach session and teaching/observed practice

In this valuable resource, experts share deep knowledge including practical “how-to” and preventive trouble-shooting tips. Instructors will learn about course design and development, instructional methods for online teaching, and student engagement and community building techniques. The book contains successful teaching strategies, guidance for facilitating interactions and responding to diversity, and assessments, as well as future directions for online learning. With many field-tested examples and practice assignments, and with voices from students, teachers, and experts, this book arms instructors and administrators with the tools they need to teach effective and empowering online courses. This one-stop resource addresses all of the core elements of online teaching in terms that are universally applicable to any content area and at any instructional level. “A rare book in education: one that is not only highly useful but also intellectually coherent and based on robusta>, transferable principles of learning and teaching. All educators—in online environments and in brick-and-mortar schools—will find this an invaluable resource.” —From the Foreword by Grant Wiggins “We now know we can get increased participation with online tools to make thinking more visible and switch the traditional delivery of instruction to personalize learning. While it is inevitable that online learning will become an important skill for everyone, the ideas, concepts, strategies, design elements, and tools in the book by Thormann and Zimmerman can also be applied to blended learning.” —Alan November, Senior Partner and Founder, November Learning “The authors of this book have created an excellent resource for anyone interested in becoming an online instructor or improving his or her skills in online teaching. The authors share a wealth of step-by-step activities, examples of assignments and teaching strategies that will guide both novice and experienced teachers as they expand their skills into the online realm. Even as a ‘veteran’ online instructor the book provided me with new ideas to try in my next online class.” —Sam Gladstein, Coordinator, Edmonds eLearning Program at Edmonds School District, WA “Cheers to Thormann and Zimmerman for providing a must-read for online teaching. This clear and practical guide takes the instructor from design to implementation of online courses. The authors remove the anxiety about online teaching for those thinking about on-screen instruction, and provide new thinking and examples for those already immersed in it. It is a great guide for those entering the field and a superb resource for those actively engaged in it.” —Anthony J. Bent, Chairman, Global Studies-21st Century Skills Committee of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Book Features: The building blocks necessary to create a successful online course. The know-how of long-time online instructors. Models for Skype conferencing with groups of students. Templates for course building, including sample assignments, activities, assessments, and emails. Detailed treatment of diversity in the online environment Joan Thormann is professor in the division of Technology in Education at Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She edits a column on technology and special needs for Learning and Leading with Technology. Isa Kaftal Zimmerman is the principal of IKZ Advisors in Boston, Massachusetts, an educational consulting firm serving educators and stakeholders in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.