Differentiating for students' learning preferences can often seem too complex and complicated for too little gain. Learn a better way forward with the guidance of "Doable Differentiation." Author Jane A.G. Kise provides a series of straightforward, high-reward strategies that K-12 educators like you successfully use in their daily…

Help your PLC+ group to work "wiser," not harder. This practical guide to planning and implementing PLC+ groups in a collaborative setting is designed to equip professional learning community teams with the tools they need to work effectively toward improving student learning. Designed as an accompanying resource to "PLC+: Better…

Discover how Lesson Study benefits both students and teachers. Unlike scripted curricula that strip teachers of professional decisionmaking, Lesson Study values teachers by expecting them to be agents of improvement in their own classrooms. This resource empowers readers to oppose reform efforts that minimize teacher agency by offering an…

This booklet synthesizes principles of motivation that have emerged from research examining the effect of motivational practices on school learning. It addresses achievement motivation, intrinsic motivation, goal orientation, and the effect of teacher practices on the promotion of motivational beliefs, motivation strategies, and willpower. It also…

Discusses the stress that special education teachers may feel by role overload and lack of autonomy. Stress relieving strategies are described, including setting realistic expectations, making distinctions between the job and personal life, increasing autonomy, looking for alternative sources of reinforcement, increasing efficacy, and developing…

A self-efficacy quiz for teachers is provided, and guidelines are offered for using the quiz to increase an individual teacher's sense of teaching efficacy. Suggestions are offered for positively altering current beliefs about teaching and students and for addressing a sense of low personal teaching efficacy. (DB)

This digest discusses why special education teachers may become stressed by role overload and lack of autonomy, and presents strategies for successfully managing stresses related to teaching. Strategies include: (1) setting realistic expectations; (2) making distinctions between job and personal life; (3) finding ways to exercise professional…

Arguing that girls need caring adults to teach, advise, and create rituals that help them negotiate the transition to a womanhood based on feminine values and that includes roles traditionally thought to be male, this book provides a practical guide for raising healthy girls and suggests exercises for parents and teachers. Chapter 1 maintains that…

This article explains how teachers can strengthen the self-efficacy of students who are struggling academically and increase their motivation for schoolwork. Instructional principles include linking new work to recent successes, teaching needed learning strategies, reinforcing effort and persistence, stressing peer modeling, and helping students…

This paper addresses the issue of career unhappiness among academic professionals and ways academics cope with this problem. Various signs and symptoms of career blockage are discussed such as dissonance and disillusionment in the job, the non-realization of gender-specific expectations, and the feeling of career plateauing. Four stages of the…

Because school success is predicted largely by emotional and social measures, teachers and parents cannot start too early in helping children develop their emotional intelligence. The paper describes emotional intelligence, discusses how to teach it, and presents resources for learning how other schools are helping students build emotional…

Six necessary program components to prepare gifted students with disabilities for productive adult lives are identified: provide challenging educational experiences along with supports, facilitate passion learning through enrichment activities, empower students through student-centered planning, develop self-advocacy, enhance positive social…

This report reviews the literature on learning theories and frameworks applicable to instruction of undergraduate college students. An introductory section provides an overview and discusses the importance of learning frameworks. The first half of the volume addresses various theoretical frameworks in detail. These include: motivation theories,…

This collection of 20 essays by 21 authors presents teaching methods and resource material promoting productive school experiences for American Indian students. The chapters are organized into five sections. The opening chapter of section 1 emphasizes that teachers must understand and respect the cultures and backgrounds of their students, an…