Exploring Alabama through Project-Based Leaning includes 50 well-thought-out projects designed for grades 3-5. In assigning your students projects that dig into AlabamaÕs geography, history, government, economy, current events, and famous people, you will deepen their appreciation and understanding of Alabama while simultaneously improving their analytical skills and ability to recognize patterns and big-picture themes. Project-based learning today is much different than the craft-heavy classroom activities popular in the past. Inquiry, planning, research, collaboration, and analysis are key components of project-based learning activities today. However, that doesnÕt mean creativity, individual expression, and fun are out. They definitely arenÕt! Each project is designed to help students gain important knowledge and skills that are derived from standards and key concepts at the heart of academic subject areas. Students are asked to analyze and solve problems, to gather and interpret data, to develop and evaluate solutions, to support their answers with evidence, to think critically in a sustained way, and to use their newfound knowledge to formulate new questions worthy of exploring. While some projects are more complex and take longer than others, they all are set up in the same structure. Each begins with the central project-driving questions, proceeds through research and supportive questions, has the student choose a presentation option, and ends with a broader-view inquiry. Rubrics for reflection and assessments are included, too. This consistent framework will make it easier for you assign projects and for your students to follow along and consistently meet expectations. Encourage your students to take charge of their projects as much as possible. As a teacher, you can act as a facilitator and guide. The projects are structured such that students can often work through the process on their own or through cooperation with their classmates.

Locally or individually, STEM programs provide additional opportunities to engage K-12 students, including those from marginalized groups, with the support of STEM outreach organizations through the co-construction and implementation of STEM activities during school, out of school, at home, and in the community. Research suggests that community-engaged partnerships forge relationships that can enhance and sustain K-12 STEM education efforts between K-12 districts and the scholarly community. There is a need to highlight community-engaged teaching and scholarship produced from partnerships between K-12 school districts and STEM outreach organizations. Developing and Sustaining STEM Programs Across the K-12 Education Landscape describes the purpose of the collaboration between K-12 school districts and STEM outreach organizations, the STEM activities that participating K-12 students engage in, and the impacts on STEM learners that emerge from the partnership. Covering topics such as continuous program improvement, school-industry partnerships, and student success, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for educational leaders and administrators, pre-service and in-service educators, teacher educators, researchers, and academicians.

Digital Learning in High-Needs Schools examines the challenges and affordances that arise when high-needs school communities integrate educational technologies into their unique settings. Although remote, blended, and networked learning are ubiquitous today, a number of cultural, economic, and political realities—from the digital divide and digital literacy to poverty and language barriers—affect our most vulnerable and underresourced teachers and students. This book uses critical theory to compassionately scrutinize and unpack the systemic issues that impact high-needs schools’ implementation of digital learning tools. Incisive sociocultural analyses across fifteen original chapters explore the intersection of society, technology, people, politics, and education in high-needs school contexts. Informed by real-world cases pertaining to technology infrastructure, formative feedback, Universal Design for Learning, and more, these chapters illuminate how best practices emerge from culturally responsive and context-specific foundations.

Use the latest research to bring differentiated instruction to today′s inclusive classrooms! With flipped classrooms, response to intervention, and technology discussed as differentiated instructional tools, this book has it all! Teachers need 21st century resources that help them provide high-quality, differentiated instruction for all students. In this new edition of his best-selling resource, William Bender draws on the latest brain research, technology, and educational initiatives to bring a new focus to differentiating instruction in the context of the Common Core State Standards. By weaving together differentiated instruction, Response to Intervention, and educational technology, educators can increase achievement among students with learning disabilities and also foster the development of 21st-century skills. This updated guide offers Specific strategies for differentiating instruction within an RTI framework and in the context of the Common Core State Standards Strategies for using technology to instruct and assess students with learning disabilities Teaching tips and concrete examples of brain-friendly instruction Guidance on a range of supportive instructional techniques Additional strategies based on the latest research in metacognition Up-to-date techniques such as using Khan Academy, flipped classes, and wikis to enhance learning in general and special education settings This new edition of Differentiating Instruction for Students With Learning Disabilities offers the tools and strategies educators need to maximize achievement for all students. "The ideas in this book are wonderful! They are new, innovative, current, interesting, and very practical. I could easily implement some of these ideas in my classroom tomorrow!" —Rachel Aherns, Teacher Westridge Elementary School, West Des Moines, IA "Between these pages you will find ample strategies of how to effectively and efficiently individualize instruction for a classroom of diverse learners, without having to spend countless hours before and after a lesson preparing and assessing." —Jessica Purcell, Teacher Morehead City Middle School, Morehead City, NC