Achievement behaviour in schools can best be understood in terms of attempts by students to maintain a positive self-image. For many students, trying hard is frightening because a combination of effort and failure implies low ability, which is often equated with worthlessness. Thus many students described as unmotivated are in actuality highly motivated - not to learn, but to avoid failure. Students have a variety of techniques for avoiding failure, ranging from cheating to setting low goals which are easily achieved. In Making the Grade, Martin Covington extracts powerful educational implications from self-worth theory and other contemporary views of motivation that will be useful for everyone concerned with the educational dilemmas we face. He provides a comprehensive, insightful review of research and theory, both contemporary and historical, on the topic of achievement motivation, and arranges this knowledge in ways that lead to imminently practical recommendations for restructurin
With an increasing emphasis on creativity and innovation in the twenty-first century, teachers need to be creative professionals just as students must learn to be creative. And yet, schools are institutions with many important structures and guidelines that teachers must follow. Effective creative teaching strikes a delicate balance between structure and improvisation. The authors draw on studies of jazz, theater improvisation and dance improvisation to demonstrate that the most creative performers work within similar structures and guidelines. By looking to these creative genres, the book provides practical advice for teachers who wish to become more creative professionals.
With an increasing emphasis on creativity and innovation in the twenty-first century, teachers need to be creative professionals just as students must learn to be creative. And yet, schools are institutions with many important structures and guidelines that teachers must follow. Effective creative teaching strikes a delicate balance between structure and improvisation. The authors draw on studies of jazz, theater improvisation and dance improvisation to demonstrate that the most creative performers work within similar structures and guidelines. By looking to these creative genres, the book provides practical advice for teachers who wish to become more creative professionals.
How - and why - have children of blacks, American Indians, Mexican-Americans, and Puerto Ricans been deprived by and often excluded from the so-called American educational system? In this classic 1977 study of a problem neglected or undervalued in most standard histories of American education, Professor Meyer Weinberg seeks the answers. Concretely and empirically, he shows that from their forebearers' first contact with dominant American society, minority children have been shockingly disadvantaged by the public schools. Instead of accepting this passively, however, minority group parents and leaders have struggled against it. Their efforts and those of others to secure the amount and quality of schooling that majority offspring get almost routinely were largely failures. Dr Weinberg claims this was inevitable but says that without a clear understanding that efforts were made, no further efforts can ever succeed.
How do children become eager, motivated learners and caring, responsible citizens? Educating Hearts and Minds, first published in 1995, is a portrait of Japanese preschool and early elementary education which examines these questions. Its thesis - which will surprise many Americans - is that Japanese schools are successful because they meet children's needs for friendship, belonging, and contribution. This book brings to life what actually happens inside Japanese classrooms. What do children learn? How do they learn? What values are emphasised, and how are they taught? In a sharp departure from most previous accounts, this book suggests that Japanese education succeeds because all children - not just the brightest or best-behaved - somehow come to feel like valued members of the school community. Ironically, Japanese teachers credit John Dewey and other progressive Western educators for many of the techniques that make Japanese schools both caring and challenging. This book brings to a
A moving celebration of school and all it may signify: work and play, creativity and trust, and a supportive community that extends beyond wallsA school isn’t just a building; it is all the people who work and learn together. It is a place for discovery and asking questions. A place for sharing, for helping, and for community. It is a place of hope and healing, even when that community can’t be together in the same room. John Schu, a librarian and former ambassador of school libraries for Scholastic, crafts a loving letter to schools and the people that make up the communities within in a picture book debut beautifully illustrated by Veronica Miller Jamison.
How to Prepare Students for the Information Age and Global Marketplace examines how the structure of schools might be changed so that students in their formative years are able to learn in a manner th
What happens when musical instruments can’t make the sounds we expect them to make? Is music still possible? An uplifting picture book based on a true story.The schools of Philadelphia were filling up with broken violins, drums, pianos, and more, making it difficult for students to learn to play. This sparked an idea for a symphony, played entirely with the broken instruments, that would raise funds to repair the instruments themselves. Musicians young and old volunteered, and their captivating performance showed that even something broken can sing―and that great music is always possible with a bit of inventiveness and improvisation. Based on real events, this inspiring story introduces young readers to a range of instruments as it celebrates a community coming together to make a joyful, meaningful noise. More information about the nonprofit organization Broken Orchestra can be found in the back matter, including a link to an audio recording of the symphony performance.
This revelatory and gripping nonfiction middle grade book explores a deeply troubling chapter in American history that is still playing out today: the strange case of Prince Edward County, Virginia, the only place in the United States to ever formally deny its citizens a public education, and the students who pushed back. In 1954, after the passing of Brown v. the Board of Education, the all-White school board of one county in south central Virginia made the decision to close its public schools rather than integrate. Those schools stayed closed for five years. While the affluent White population of Prince Edward County built a private schoolfor White children onlyBlack children and their families had to find other ways to learn. Some Black children were home schooled by unemployed Black teachers. Some traveled thousands of miles away to live with relatives, friends, or even strangers. Some didn't go to school at all. But many stood up and became young activists, fighting for one of the
As interest in creativity explodes, it has become more complicated to decide how to best nurture creativity in our schools. There are the controversial Common Core Standards in many states. Meanwhile, the classroom has become increasingly digital; it is easier to access information, communicate ideas, and learn from people across the world. Many countries now include cultivating creativity as a national educational policy recommendation, yet there is still debate over best practices. Indeed, many well-intentioned educators may institute programs that may not reach the desired outcome. The notion that schools 'kill creativity' has become a widespread social meme. We view such beliefs as both hyperbolic and problematic: they allow us to recognize there is a problem but not solve it. In this book, a wide array of international experts addresses these issues, discussing theories and research that focus on how to nurture creativity in K-12 and college-level classrooms.
This book examines the relationship between democracy and schooling and argues that schools are one of the few spheres left where youth can learn the knowledge and skills necessary to become engaged,
As interest in creativity explodes, it has become more complicated to decide how to best nurture creativity in our schools. There are the controversial Common Core Standards in many states. Meanwhile, the classroom has become increasingly digital; it is easier to access information, communicate ideas, and learn from people across the world. Many countries now include cultivating creativity as a national educational policy recommendation, yet there is still debate over best practices. Indeed, many well-intentioned educators may institute programs that may not reach the desired outcome. The notion that schools 'kill creativity' has become a widespread social meme. We view such beliefs as both hyperbolic and problematic: they allow us to recognize there is a problem but not solve it. In this book, a wide array of international experts addresses these issues, discussing theories and research that focus on how to nurture creativity in K-12 and college-level classrooms.
Percy Jackson meets Tristan Strong in this hilarious, action-packed middle grade contemporary fantasy that follows a young boy as he journeys across China to seal the underworld shut and save the mortal realm.Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open. The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack's body and binds to Zack's AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack's mom's soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history's most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifa
One of the key topics for establishing meaningful links between brain sciences and education is the development of reading. How does biology constrain learning to read? How does experience shape the development of reading skills? How does research on biology and behaviour connect to the ways that schools, teachers and parents help children learn to read, particularly in the face of disabilities that interfere with learning? This book addresses these questions and illuminates why reading disorders have been hard to identify, how recent research has established a firm base of knowledge about the cognitive neuroscience of reading problems and the learning tools for overcoming them, and finally, what the future holds for relating mind, brain and education to understanding reading difficulties. Connecting knowledge from neuroscience, genetics, cognitive science, child development, neuropsychology and education, this book will be of interest to both academic researchers and graduate students
Bullying in Schools: How Successful Can Interventions Be? is a comparative account of the major intervention projects against school bullying that have been carried out by educationalists and researchers since the 1980s, across Europe, North America and Australasia. Bullying in schools has become an international focus for concern. It can adversely affect pupils and in extreme cases lead to suicide. Schools can take action to reduce bullying and several programs are available but do they work? In fact, success rates have been very varied. This book surveys thirteen studies and eleven countries. Working on the principle that we can learn from both successes and failures, it examines the processes as well as the outcomes, and critically assesses the likely reasons for success or failure. With contributions from leading researchers in the field, Bullying in Schools is an important addition to the debate on tackling school bullying.
Achievement behaviour in schools can best be understood in terms of attempts by students to maintain a positive self-image. For many students, trying hard is frightening because a combination of effort and failure implies low ability, which is often equated with worthlessness. Thus many students described as unmotivated are in actuality highly motivated - not to learn, but to avoid failure. Students have a variety of techniques for avoiding failure, ranging from cheating to setting low goals which are easily achieved. In Making the Grade, Martin Covington extracts powerful educational implications from self-worth theory and other contemporary views of motivation that will be useful for everyone concerned with the educational dilemmas we face. He provides a comprehensive, insightful review of research and theory, both contemporary and historical, on the topic of achievement motivation, and arranges this knowledge in ways that lead to imminently practical recommendations for restructurin
One of the key topics for establishing meaningful links between brain sciences and education is the development of reading. How does biology constrain learning to read? How does experience shape the development of reading skills? How does research on biology and behaviour connect to the ways that schools, teachers and parents help children learn to read, particularly in the face of disabilities that interfere with learning? This book addresses these questions and illuminates why reading disorders have been hard to identify, how recent research has established a firm base of knowledge about the cognitive neuroscience of reading problems and the learning tools for overcoming them, and finally, what the future holds for relating mind, brain and education to understanding reading difficulties. Connecting knowledge from neuroscience, genetics, cognitive science, child development, neuropsychology and education, this book will be of interest to both academic researchers and graduate students
Learning language and using language to learn is at the core of any educational activity. Bringing together a globally representative team of experts, this volume presents an innovative and empirically robust collection of studies that examine the role of language in education, with a particular emphasis on features of school-relevant language in middle childhood and adolescents, and its precursors in early childhood. It addresses issues such as how children's linguistic and literacy experiences at home prepare them for school, how the classroom functions as a language-mediated learning environment, and how schools can support language minority students in academic attainment. Set in three parts - Early Childhood, Middle Childhood and Adolescence and Learning in Multilingual Contexts - each part features a discussion from experts in the field to stimulate conversation and further routes for research. Its structure will make it useful for anyone interested in ongoing efforts towards bui
A selection from Arnold's writing on education, other than Culture and Anarchy. All the pieces stem from his work as Inspector of Schools: they illustrate his concern both with the principles that must be established as a basis for the education of an industrial democracy and his practical concern with the day-to-day running of schools. 'Democracy' was first published as the introduction to The Popular Education of France. It faces the fundamental political problems and outlines the general objectives of a state educational system. 'A French Eton' was the result of the same examination of French education to see what the British could learn from it; here he considers private education for the middle-classes. 'The twice-revised code' criticises the national Revised Code of 1862: a system founded on gross utilitarianism. Extracts from Arnold's reports as an inspector show the man of principle at work in particular circumstances and relating what he sees to what he would wish to see. The
Reading Latin, first published in 1986, is a bestselling Latin course designed to help mature beginners read classical Latin fluently and intelligently. It does this by combining the understanding of continuous texts with rigorous teaching of grammar; it provides exercises designed to develop the skills of accurate translation; and it integrates the learning of classical Latin with an appreciation of the influence of the Latin language upon English and European culture from antiquity to the present. The Independent Study Guide is intended to help students who are learning Latin on their own or with only limited access to a teacher. It contains notes on the texts that appear in the Text and Vocabulary volume, translations of all the texts, and answers to the exercises in the Grammar and Exercises volume. The book will also be useful to students in schools, universities and summer schools who have to learn Latin rapidly.
