Teaching With The Instructional Cha Chas

With foreword by Rick Wormeli Merging educational neuroscience with a formative assessment process and differentiated instruction, LeAnn Nickelsen and Melissa Dickson developed a four-step cycle of instruction -- (1) chunk, (2) chew, (3) check, and (4) change -- that has the power to double the speed of student learning. Compatible with any subject area, the book's brain-friendly teaching strategies and plentiful tools are designed to help transform students into active learners and independent thinkers. Educational neuroscience- and research-based teaching strategies to improve student achievement: Combine brain science with a formative assessment process and differentiated instruction to maximize student learning. Examine effective teaching strategies and differentiation practices so you can bump it up or break it down according to student needs. Consider the four-step instructional cycle and understand the components of chunk, chew, check, and change. Explore how the formative assessment process can double the speed of learning. Learn how to plan instruction and preassess efficiently so that daily learning targets and formative assessments enable each student to meet standards. Receive templates and teaching strategies that can be easily differentiated and implemented in daily lesson plans. Contents: Introduction: Maneuver Your Footwork With Four Steps Part I: Setting Up Your Classroom Dance Floor Chapter 1: Choreograph Your Instruction With the Cha-Cha Steps Chapter 2: Move Smoothly From Broad Ideas to Smaller Ideas Chapter 3: Get to Know Your Dance Partners Part II: Putting the Steps Together Chapter 4: Take Step One: Chunk (Instruct) Chapter 5: Take Step Two: Chew (Learn) Chapter 6: Take Step Three: Check (Evaluate) Chapter 7: Take Step Four: Change (Differentiate) Chapter 8: Finesse the Chunk, Chew, Check, and Change Cycle Epilogue: Swing Into Action With the Four Steps

With foreword by Rick Wormeli Merging educational neuroscience with a formative assessment process and differentiated instruction, LeAnn Nickelsen and Melissa Dickson developed a four-step cycle of instruction -- (1) chunk, (2) chew, (3) check, and (4) change -- that has the power to double the speed of student learning. Compatible with any subject area, the book's brain-friendly teaching strategies and plentiful tools are designed to help transform students into active learners and independent thinkers. Educational neuroscience- and research-based teaching strategies to improve student achievement: Combine brain science with a formative assessment process and differentiated instruction to maximize student learning. Examine effective teaching strategies and differentiation practices so you can bump it up or break it down according to student needs. Consider the four-step instructional cycle and understand the components of chunk, chew, check, and change. Explore how the formative assessment process can double the speed of learning. Learn how to plan instruction and preassess efficiently so that daily learning targets and formative assessments enable each student to meet standards. Receive templates and teaching strategies that can be easily differentiated and implemented in daily lesson plans. Contents: Introduction: Maneuver Your Footwork With Four Steps Part I: Setting Up Your Classroom Dance Floor Chapter 1: Choreograph Your Instruction With the Cha-Cha Steps Chapter 2: Move Smoothly From Broad Ideas to Smaller Ideas Chapter 3: Get to Know Your Dance Partners Part II: Putting the Steps Together Chapter 4: Take Step One: Chunk (Instruct) Chapter 5: Take Step Two: Chew (Learn) Chapter 6: Take Step Three: Check (Evaluate) Chapter 7: Take Step Four: Change (Differentiate) Chapter 8: Finesse the Chunk, Chew, Check, and Change Cycle Epilogue: Swing Into Action With the Four Steps

* What is 'interactive teaching' in primary classrooms? * What do primary teachers and children do to interact effectively? * Are there benefits in such interactions to both teaching and learning? A research partnership of tutors and teachers strives towards answers to these key questions. This book is the story of this intriguing and exciting research project. The authors examine the practical and theoretical aspects that are key to understanding and undertaking interactive teaching in primary classrooms. The project is unique in using its own interactive processes, 'Reflective Dialogues', to help teachers make sense of their own teaching. This process includes capturing and analysing classroom sessions on video; and cameos of these classroom interactions are discussed throughout the book. The research context is the Literacy Hour in Key Stages 1 and 2. This new title is key reading for academics, researchers, teacher educators, policymakers and primary school teachers.

Classroom Observation explores the pivotal role of lesson observation in the training, assessment and development of new and experienced teachers. Offering practical guidance and detailed insight on an aspect of training that is a source of anxiety for many teachers, this thought-provoking book offers a critical analysis of the place, role and nature of lesson observation in the lives of education professionals. Illustrated throughout with practical examples from a range of education settings, it considers observation as a means of assessing teaching and learning and also as a way of developing teachers’ skills and knowledge. Key topics include: The purposes and uses of lesson observation The socio-political and historical context in which lesson observation has developed Practical guidance on a range of observation models and methods Teacher autonomy and professional identity Performance management, professional standards and accountability Peer observation, self-observation and critical reflection Using video in lesson observation. Written for all student and practising teachers as well teacher educators and those engaged in educational research, Classroom Observation is an essential introduction to how we observe, why we observe and how it can be best used to improve teaching and learning.

This study features a collection of eight case studies of exemplary cases from secondary schools as well as international literature reviews and policy analysis related to formative assessment.

With this giant flip chart, you can teach comprehension to your whole class or small groups with great ease and impact. Or prop the chart up on an easel for students to use on their own! Two-page spreads show a strategy lesson on one side and on the other, a nonfiction or fiction passage with Robb's think aloud highlighted. Finally, your students can see the kinds of thoughts a reader makes to puzzle the meaning of a word, visualize, and so on. Includes lessons for 8 key strategies, including inferring, posing questions, making connections, discerning cause and effect, and more. Engaging journal writing prompts support students as they practice the strategies independently. For use with Grades 4 & Up.

This volume addresses the need for a more considered and systematic approach to teacher education and training in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), in all its forms: Technology Enhanced Language Learning, Network-Based Language Learning, Information and Communication Technologies for Language Learning and so on. The 20 chapters of the book are divided into five parts: (1) foundations of teacher education in CALL; (2) CALL degree programs; (3) CALL pre-service courses; (4) CALL in-service projects, courses, and workshops; (5) alternatives to formal CALL training. The chapters cover a broad range of levels, environments, countries, and languages. Rather than simply offering inspired speculation, the chapters provide practical information to readers, reporting on what has actually been done in a wide variety of teacher education programs and courses around the world. In many cases, the chapters describe how programs and courses have evolved, and include either qualitative or quantitative research, or both, to inform the structure of CALL courses, tasks and activities.