Scientists who study child development have recently found that kids who are "smart but scattered" lack or lag behind in crucial executive skills—the core, brain-based habits of mind required to “execute” tasks like getting organized, staying focused, and controlling emotions.
Readers theatre is a powerful tool for building language skills and involving young readers with literature. Educator and seasoned readers-theatre coach Shirlee Sloyer provides teachers and librarians with nuts-and-bolts guidelines for integrating readers theatre into the classroom and library. Detailed instructions for every step guide readers through the process of setting up and conducting a successful program that is based on NCTE and IRA standards.
In the context of education, we define differentiation as a teacher’s reacting responsively to a learner’s needs. A teacher who is differentiating understands a student’s needs to express humor, or work with a group, or have additional teaching on a particular skill, or delve more deeply into a particular topic, or have guided help with a reading passage—and the teacher responds actively and positively to that need.
This book is part primer on adolescent psychology, part primer on adult psychology, and full primer on how adults who work with teenagers can deal with teenagers more effectively. I offer conceptual frameworks that I hope will encourage adults to talk to one another about their work with teens, especially the challenges. I contend that we all face challenges because we all become affected by our teenage students, and therefore we should recognize, acknowledge, and talk about our challenges in an effort to apply best practices in our work.
This book is about teaching and the life, energy, substance, hope, and determination that excellent teachers bring to the rhythm of classrooms every day, year in and year out. Ultimately, schooling, despite its external pressures and cynics, comes down to students, to what happens in the classroom, and to the person who orchestrates it—the teacher.
