Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy (RAAL) Course: Teacher’s Guide Unit 2, Reading History
Unit 2: Reading History of the Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy Course introduces close reading of a range of history texts and genres. Readings focus on the topic of “rights,” and especially the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. Students continue to practice literacy skills introduced in Unit 1 and add new strategies related to the reading of history texts specifically.
The Teacher’s Guide for Unit 2 includes:
- Unit overview and rationale
- Scope and sequence
- Student goals
- Lesson plans and lesson background information
- Companion sustained silent reading lessons
- Documents for projection
- Copies of Unit 2 Student Interactive Notebook pages
- Reproducible pages for student metacognitive logs
- Assessment tools
- Connections to the Reading Apprenticeship Framework
Included with the Teacher’s Guide are Iron Jawed Angels (DVD) and a large timeline to be developed with the whole class.
Breaking Down Barriers, Building Relationships: Delaware’s Collaborative Approach to Inventorying Whole-Child Efforts
To support state education agency (SEA) leaders in establishing a statewide vision for serving the whole person, WestEd drafted and piloted the guide, Serving the Whole Person: An Alignment and Coherence Guide for State Education Agencies, in collaboration with several SEAs.
“The theory of change behind this guide is that if educators at every level of the K–12 system work in aligned and coherent ways to sustain equitable conditions of success that support whole-person learning and development, then each and every student will have the experiences that support personal purpose, healthy relationships, a sense of place in community, success in school and the workplace, and engaged citizenship.”
– Natalie Walrond and Natalie Romer
This case story describes Delaware Department of Education (DOE)’s collaborative approach to inventorying whole-child efforts, using and adapting the SEA Alignment and Coherence Guide to comprehensively review their statewide initiatives. It also shares key insights that may benefit other SEAs as they consider their own efforts to improve the alignment and coherence of their whole-person or whole-child initiatives.
This case story is also related to a WestEd service that provides alignment and coherence guidance for state and local agencies. Discover how our technical assistance team can lead you through a structured yet flexible process to improve the alignment and coherence of whole-person efforts in your state or district.
Serving the Whole Person: Safety Through Collaboration: Ohio’s Comprehensive Approach to Student Well-Being
Promoting more equitable conditions of learning and development for students, families, and educators; such conditions are more likely to result when whole-person initiatives are implemented within aligned and coherent systems.
To support state education agency (SEA) leaders in establishing a statewide vision for serving the whole person, WestEd drafted and piloted the guide, Serving the Whole Person: An Alignment and Coherence Guide for State Education Agencies, in collaboration with several SEAs.
“The theory of change behind this guide is that if educators at every level of the K–12 system work in aligned and coherent ways to sustain equitable conditions of success that support whole-person learning and development, then each and every student will have the experiences that support personal purpose, healthy relationships, a sense of place in community, success in school and the workplace, and engaged citizenship.”
– Natalie Walrond and Natalie Romer
This case story describes how the Ohio Departments of Public Safety (DPS), Education (DOE), and Mental Health and Addiction Services (MHAS) developed a collaborative approach to inventorying whole-child efforts, using and adapting the SEA Alignment and Coherence Guide to comprehensively review their statewide initiatives. It also shares key insights that may benefit other SEAs as they consider their own efforts to improve the alignment and coherence of their whole-person or whole-child initiatives.
This case story is also related to a WestEd service that provides alignment and coherence guidance for state and local agencies. Discover how our technical assistance team can lead you through a structured yet flexible process to improve the alignment and coherence of whole-person efforts in your state or district.
Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy (RAAL) Course: Teacher’s Guide Unit 1, Reading Self and Society
Unit 1: Reading Self and Society lays the foundation for the Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy Course as an inquiry into why and how people read and the role of literacy in people’s lives. Students begin to build a classroom community, explore their personal identities as readers, and begin to practice a number of reading and writing strategies that build comprehension. In particular, students learn to navigate the disciplinary texts encountered in English language arts, including a range of literary genres and expository texts. (Units 2 and 3 address history and science texts, respectively.)
The Teacher’s Guide for Unit 1 includes:
- Course overview and rationale
- Unit overview and rationale
- Scope and sequence
- Student goals
- Lesson plans and lesson background information
- Companion sustained silent reading lessons
- Documents for projection
- Copies of Unit 1 Student Interactive Notebook pages
- Reproducible pages for student metacognitive logs
- Assessment tools
- Connections to the Reading Apprenticeship framework
California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSEL) Updated Tri-Fold Version
Effective leadership is essential in setting direction, developing people, engaging communities, and creating conditions for successful teaching and learning. But what does that leadership look like?
The recently updated California Professional Standards for Education Leaders (CPSEL) identify what a school or district administrator must know and do in order to demonstrate and sustain effective leadership today.
The standards emphasize equity, access, opportunity, and empowerment for students, educators, and all members of the school community as they work together to ensure that all students graduate ready for college and/or a career. In doing so, the CPSEL serve as a foundation for administrator preparation, induction, professional learning, and evaluation.
The updated CPSEL maintain the same basic footprint of the original standards, emphasizing:
- Development and Implementation of a Shared Vision
- Instructional Leadership
- Management and Learning Environment
- Family and Community Engagement
- Ethics and Integrity
- External Context and Policy
Elements and indicator examples for each of the six standards are included to further define leadership.
This tri-fold version of the CPSEL is a quick-reference resource most helpful when used with the updated Moving Leadership Standards Into Everyday Work: Descriptions of Practice.
Note:Â CPSEL were adopted by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing in 2014.
Making Sense of SCIENCE: Genes & Traits Formative Assessment Task Bank
This collection of assessment tasks is designed to augment an existing curriculum with tasks that encourage students to think and figure things out.
These accessible and interesting tasks go beyond simple recall and promote reasoning, give students a chance to explain their thinking, and ask students to communicate in several modes (e.g., words, drawings).
This task bank, designed for use with students grades 5–12, contains black line masters on a range of concepts related to genetics.
Also Available
- Facilitator Guide Bundle: Contains the Facilitator Guide, Teacher Book, Making Sense of Student Work: A Protocol for Teaching Collaboration, and a digital download that includes all course materials, the eBook edition of Making Sense of Student Work: A Protocol for Teacher Collaboration, and the Genes & Traits Formative Assessment Task Bank
- Teacher Book Bundle: Contains the Teacher Book, Making Sense of Student Work: A Protocol for Teacher Collaboration, and a digital download that includes all course handouts, additional classroom resources, the eBook edition of Making Sense of Student Work: A Protocol for Teacher Collaboration, and the Genes & Traits Formative Assessment Task Bank
- Charts: A set of single-use 24″ x 32″ wall charts that are used by facilitators to anchor discussions and provide a visual archive of teachers’ thinking in the Teacher Course
Professional Learning
- Facilitation Academies prepare staff developers, district science leaders, and other teacher educators to effectively lead a Making Sense of SCIENCE Teacher Course.
- Teacher Courses empower teachers to educate students in ways that increase engagement, promote critical thinking and analysis, and ultimately improve achievement.
Visit Making Sense of SCIENCE for more information about our professional development services and resources.
Making Sense of SCIENCE: Force & Motion for Teachers of Grades 6-8, Teacher Book
Published in collaboration with NSTA Press.
Proven through more than a decade of rigorous research to be effective with both teachers and students, Making Sense of SCIENCE helps teachers gain a deep and enduring understanding of tricky science topics, think and reason scientifically, and support content literacy in science, thereby increasing student achievement.
The materials presented in this book help teachers gain a solid understanding of tricky science concepts and common misconceptions, support productive and worthwhile professional learning communities, and prepare teachers to implement standards-based science curriculum. Topics are central to the Next Generation Science Framework and aligned with the Common Core State Standards in literacy.
This book guides teachers through investigations of motion, changes in motion, force, and the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration, and features:
- Hands-on experiments with easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations
- Clear explanations of tough science concepts
- Examples of classic misconceptions
- A bank of formative assessments
- A CD containing reproducible black line masters
- A guided protocol for evaluating student work in professional learning communities
Note: The complete Making Sense of SCIENCE for Teachers of Grades 6-8 professional development package contains the Teacher Book, plus a Facilitator Guide and additional CD. The Facilitator Guide includes extensive support materials and detailed procedures that allow science educators and staff developers to successfully lead a Making Sense of SCIENCE course for teacher learning.
Also available as part of this course is a set of wall charts that serve as a focal point for teacher learning during the course.
Facilitation Academies, designed to prepare staff developers, district science leaders, and other teacher educators to effectively lead Making Sense of SCIENCE courses, are also available.
Teacher Courses offer five days of engaging and worthwhile learning that help teachers implement science and literacy standards and boost student achievement in science.
Making Sense of SCIENCE: Energy for Teachers of Grades 6-8, Teacher Book
Published in Collaboration with NSTA Press.
Proven through more than a decade of rigorous research to be effective with both teachers and students, Making Sense of SCIENCE helps teachers gain a deep and enduring understanding of tricky science topics, think and reason scientifically, and support content literacy in science, thereby increasing student achievement.
The materials presented in this book help teachers gain a solid understanding of tough science concepts and common misconceptions, support productive and worthwhile professional learning communities, and prepare teachers to implement standards-based science curriculum. Topics are central to the Next Generation Science Framework and aligned with the Common Core State Standards in literacy.
This book guides teachers through investigations of energy, potential energy, heat energy, conservation of energy, and energy in ecosystems, and features:
- Hands-on experiments with easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations
- Clear explanations of tough science concepts
- Examples of classic misconceptions
- A bank of formative assessments
- A CD containing reproducible black line masters
- A guided protocol for evaluating student work in professional learning communities
Note: The complete Making Sense of SCIENCE for Teachers of Grades 6-8 professional development package contains the Teacher Book, plus a Facilitator Guide and additional CD. The Facilitator Guide includes extensive support materials and detailed procedures that allow science educators and staff developers to successfully lead a Making Sense of SCIENCE course for teacher learning.
Also available as part of this course is a set of wall charts that serve as a focal point for teacher learning during the course.
Facilitation Academies, designed to prepare staff developers, district science leaders, and other teacher educators to effectively lead Making Sense of SCIENCE courses, are also available.
Teacher Courses offer five days of engaging and worthwhile learning that help teachers implement science and literacy standards and have been proven to boost student achievement in science.
Visit the Making Sense of SCIENCE website for more information about Making Sense of SCIENCE for Teachers professional development books and Facilitation Academies.
Spotlighting Whole-Person Success: A Guide for Using Statewide Data to Identify Exemplar Districts in SEL and School Climate
Across the United States, educators and education leaders are increasingly recognizing the value of social and emotional learning (SEL), school climate, and related whole-person efforts as keys to enabling student success.
If educators at every level of the K–12 system — from the state level to the classroom — work in aligned and coherent ways to sustain the conditions that support whole-person learning and development, every student will have experiences that support personal purpose, healthy relationships, a sense of place in community, success in school and the workplace, and engaged citizenship.
This guide aims to support state and regional leaders to identify districts or schools with notably positive outcomes in the areas of SEL and school climate, learn about those exemplars’ strategies and experiences, and share their learnings in order to scale up whole-person efforts and outcomes.
The report is divided into three sections:
- Part 1: Quantitative Analyses to Identify Potential Exemplars
- Part 2: Qualitative Analysis to Verify and Finalize Exemplars
- Next Steps: Communicate and Scale the Exemplars’ Success
This comprehensive, adaptable, research-informed, and field-tested guide is also the basis of a related WestEd service. Discover how our technical assistance team can lead you through a structured yet flexible process to improve the alignment and coherence of whole-person efforts.
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Kindergarten: Observation Guide
Kindergarten is a sturdy bridge for children and families as they transition from early childhood to the K–12 system. Unfortunately, over time, kindergarten has become increasingly academic in nature, leaving little time for developmentally appropriate experiences necessary for young children to thrive. Â
Young children need developmentally appropriate environments and experiences to reach their full potential. This observation guide is designed to help state leaders, district administrators and teachers become more familiar with developmentally appropriate practice in kindergarten classrooms and identify strengths in local programs and resources needed to support developmentally appropriate practice.Â
The guide provides the following sections to use when observing for and identifying evidence of developmentally appropriate practice:
- Safe and Supportive EnvironmentsÂ
- Responsive Developmental RelationshipsÂ
- Family EngagementÂ
- Curriculum and InstructionÂ
- Motor DevelopmentÂ
- Literacy and Language DevelopmentÂ