School Library System - WSWHE BOCES: Professional Development

The authors set forth the theory and rationale behind adopting a Guided Inquiry approach to PreK-12 education, as well as the expertise, roles and responsibilities of each member of the instructional team.

How can you create an authentic learning environment--one where students ask questions, do research, and explore subjects that fascinate them--in today's standards-driven atmosphere? Author Larissa Pahomov offers insightful answers based on her experience as a classroom teacher at the Science Leadership Academy--a public high school in Philadelphia that offers a rigorous college-prep curriculum and boasts a 99 percent graduation rate.

This important new book identifies the skills and qualities students need, based on the Common Core State Standards, to be really ready for college and careers. Go beyond content knowledge...the deep thinking and learning skills detailed in this book will equip students for success!

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are putting educators under pressure to examine what works and what doesn't. Even with the best efforts, integrating new strategies into daily practice in the classroom or library can be frustrating. This book will help. Providing a professional development toolkit that trains school librarians and teachers and enables them to train others, it presents a sequence of scaffolded essential questions that results in a customized blueprint for effective teaching.

What are "essential questions," and how do they differ from other kinds of questions? What's so great about them? Why should you design and use essential questions in your classroom? Essential questions (EQs) help target standards as you organize curriculum content into coherent units that yield focused and thoughtful learning. In the classroom, EQs are used to stimulate students' discussions and promote a deeper understanding of the content.

Transform your library into a "think tank" by helping teachers create an active learning environment in which students question, investigate, synthesize, conclude, and present information based on Common Core standards. * Includes relevant, rigorous, fun, and field-tested lesson plans for multiple disciplines * Provides reproducible pages to allow librarians and teachers to easily use a lesson * Offers a K-5 scaffolding approach to teaching information literacy skills * Features graphical illustrations and practical schemas that explain, illustrate, and model how brain-based learning works

Transform your library into a "think tank" by helping teachers create an active learning environment in which students question, investigate, synthesize, conclude, and present information based on Common Core standards. * Provides diverse, brain-friendly, and field-tested lesson plans that feature thinking targets, texts, and standards and enhance students' deep thinking skills * Presents a school-library focus driven by inquiry process and information literacy skills * Features graphical illustrations and practical schemas that explain, illustrate, and model how brain-based learning works * Includes an extensive, research-based bibliography