What are the patterns of teaching and learning that make a classroom holistic? How do children invent oral and written language? How do they create the culture and curriculum of a classroom? How does the spirit of community and collaboration develop among children and teachers? What are the relationships between literacy, schooling, and socialization as they form among the children? These are a few of the broad questions that Kathy Whitmore and Caryl Crowell answer in this absorbing portrait of Caryl's third-grade classroom, "the Sunshine Room." Over the span of a school year, we watch the students in this bicultural classroom within a bilingual, working-class neighborhood work and develop together as a community of learners. It is the story of how the Sunshine Room, like many whole language classrooms, invents itself; and how in this process the children themselves are continually inventing oral and written language, culture, and curriculum. In two separate collaborative voices, the authors carry readers through several critical events in the life of the classroom: the process through which the children and the teachers negotiate the curriculum, the creation of a theme study about the Middle Ages, and a vicarious experience of the Middle East war through children's literature and discussions. On an individual level, the deep friendship between Seaaira, an English-speaking child from the volunteer community, and Lolita, a bilingual Latina from the barrio, is symbolic of the bicultural experience fostered in the Sunshine Room.

The Invention of Science: Why History of Science Matters for the Classroom introduces readers to some of the developments that were key for the emergence of Eurocentric science, the discipline we call science. Using history this book explores how human groups and individuals were key to the invention of the discipline of we call science. All human groups have a need and desire to produce systematic knowledge that supports their ongoing survival as a community. This book examines how history can help us to understand emergence of Eurocentric science from local forms of systematic knowledge. Each chapter explores elements that were central to the invention of science including beliefs of what was real and true, forms of reasoning to be valued, and how the right knowledge should be constructed and the role of language. But most importantly this book presented these ideas in an accessible way with activities and questions to help readers grapple with the ideas being presented. Enjoy!

Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists helps teachers - both pre-service and in-service - to develop exciting science programs in their classrooms. This book provides the groundwork for designing and implementing a science program that takes into account the latest research in teaching and learning. It provides an approach that will capture children's imaginations, stimulate their curiosity and create a strong foundation for their continued interest in, and appreciation of, science and the world in which they live. The book is designed to be user-friendly, and offers an approach to teaching science that is exciting for teachers as well. This thoroughly revised, second edition focuses on making inquiry more explicit both in terms of the process of inquiry and teaching in ways that capitalize on children's curiosity and questions. New material has also been added on U.S. and Canadian science standards, as well as professional standards for teachers.

Is your classroom culture conducive to the expectations of the Common Core? Teaching content is not enough; students need a classroom structure and atmosphere that will help them learn key academic skills. This practical book will show you how to transform your classroom culture, raise the level of rigor, encourage higher-level questioning and critical thinking, and promote academic discussions. You will also find out how to adjust your classroom management techniques so that students learn to regulate themselves while completing these higher-level tasks. Special Features in Each Chapter: Key Idea—a summary of the essential idea that will be addressed in the chapter Practical strategies—a variety of easy-to-implement ideas that you can try right away Connections to the Common Core State Standards—how the skills taught in this book will help students meet the standards Reflection Questions—thoughtful questions that will help teachers apply their learning to their own classrooms. These questions can be answered independently or used in book study groups. Extend Your Knowledge—creative ideas for extending your knowledge beyond the ideas in this book

Are you having difficulty meeting the needs of all the students in your classroom? Do you feel overwhelmed with the disruptive behaviors displayed by your students? Creating a Therapeutic Classroom by author Gina Heyen is designed to give teachers practical ideas that can be implemented immediately into their classrooms. Creating a Therapeutic Classroom begins with the structure of the room to establish a calm learning environment. Then the book discusses several behavior modification tools that can be utilized throughout the day with a diverse selection of reinforcement forms to use as your students apply the skills you have discussed with them. Creating a Therapeutic Classroom will finally guide you through the application process of the ideas presented, so that your toolbox is always ready to intercept any behaviors noted in the classroom. Creating a Therapeutic Classroom is a must for the novice and tenured teacher alike who is looking for new ideas to meet the needs of today's students.

Now in its seventh edition, Creativity in the Classroom helps teachers link creativity research and theory to the everyday activities of classroom teaching. Ideal reading for any course dealing wholly or partially with creativity and teaching, this foundational textbook covers definitions, research, and theory in the first half, and reflects on classroom practices in the second. Thoroughly revised and updated, the seventh edition features new research on neuroscience and creativity in specific disciplines; new sections on social-emotional learning, teaching engineering, and leadership; and an entire new chapter on building creativity at the school or district level.

Creating a Learner-centred Primary Classroom is an essential resource to improve teaching practice, examining the key elements that contribute to a learner-centred classroom and offering strategies to encourage children to take a shared role in their learning. Including case studies describing teachers’ methods for linking theory to practice, this user-friendly, photocopiable resource demonstrates how to: construct a learning community encourage collaborative learning share strategies for engaging individual learners provide a scaffold for strategic thinking in the classroom link assessment procedures to learning showcase the practice and outcomes of purposeful curriculum planning. Any teacher who wants to practically tailor their teaching practice to meet the needs of individual learners will find this an invaluable resource.

During the first twenty years of the new millennium, many scholars turned their attention to translingualism, an idea that focuses on the merging of language in distinct social and spatial contexts to serve unique, mutually constitutive, and temporal purposes. This volume joins the more recent shift in pedagogical studies towards an altogether distinct phenomenon: transnationalism. By developing a framework for transnational pedagogical practice, this volume demonstrates the exclusive opportunities afforded to freshmen writers who write in transnational spaces that act as points of fusion for several cultural, lingual, and national identities. With reference to recent works on translingualism and transnationalism, this volume is an attempt to conceptualize effective writing pedagogy in freshman writing courses, which are becoming more and more transnational. It also provides educators and first year writing administrators with practical pedagogical tools to help them use their transnational spaces as a means of achieving their desired learning outcomes as well as teaching students threshold concepts of composition studies. This volume will be particularly useful for first year writing faculty at colleges and universities as well as writing program administrators to create a more effective curriculum that addresses these needs in classroom settings. All scholars with a doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition, English as a Second Language, Translation Studies, to name a few, will also find this a valuable resource.

From philosophy and rationale to sample lesson plans and evaluation forms, this complete design for the mixed-age primary classroom provides practical answers to teachers', administrators', and parents' questions about planning, implementation, environment, curriculum, management, assessment, and evaluation. Reproducible forms and assessment tools ease use. Grades K-6. Index. Bibliography. Illustrated. Good Year Books. 277 pages.

A new and expanded edition of one of the decade's most influential education books. In this practical guide, Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager provide K-12 educators with the how, why, and cool stuff that supports making in the classroom, library, makerspace, or anywhere learners learn.