The field of education has seen exponential growth in the number of education professionals using social media platforms as instructional resources to supplement their existing classroom resources. Social media has made it easy for education professionals to create, share, and sell their ready-made instructional materials with other educators;…

This book provides more than 50 classroom-ready tools that make it easy to implement the nine categories of effective teaching strategies from McREL's bestselling book, "Classroom Instruction That Works" (2012) across grade levels and content areas. By incorporating these tools into your daily practice, you can turn your classroom into a…

In the first two parts of this series, ("Teaching for Engagement: Part 1: Constructivist Principles, Case-Based Teaching, and Active Learning") and ("Teaching for Engagement: Part 2: Technology in the Service of Active Learning"), William J. Hunter sought to outline the theoretical rationale and research basis for such active…

The blueprint to build a model physical education (PE) curriculum begins by establishing a sound curricular foundation based on a lesson plan template that incorporates clear and concise program goals, the alignment of lessons to state or national content standards, and the collection, analysis and use of objective assessment data that informs…

When it comes to planning for instruction, many teachers may feel an overwhelming need to rely on prescribed curricular resources and when those are not available many teachers may feel lost. While several methods for improving instructional planning exist, research has shown that prioritizing standards, creating assessments aligned to those…

Successful implementation of historical approach to teach nature of science (NOS) requires suitable curriculum material. Several research and development projects have produced lesson plans for science teachers. 25 lesson plans from four different projects involved in creating curriculum material utilizing historical approach in chemistry…

In the process of experiential learning, students acquire skills and values as the consequence of a direct experience. Experiential learning draws on senses, emotions, and cognition and appeals to learners' entire being. Such learning, by nature, enables the development of a variety of capabilities, such as planning, teamwork, coping with…

Any school interested in preparing students for learning and working in 21st century academic and job settings needs this resource to explain to teachers the new skills students need and provide teachers with tools to teach and reinforce these skills. Based on the work of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, this action tool defines what…

Informed by the results of a baseline research study of regional citizen knowledge and understanding concerning watershed issues, a team of university faculty and classroom teachers designed and implemented a water conservation education program to address lacking areas of watershed knowledge. The authors developed age-appropriate, hands-on…

Regardless of your stage at implementing the design tools and using the improved template for Understanding by Design[R] (UbD), this companion to "The UbD Guide to Creating High-Quality Units" is essential for taking your work to a higher plane. This volume features a set of hands-on modules containing worksheets, models, and self-assessments that…

Summer Enrichment Workshop (SEW) is a 3-week enrichment program held at The University of Alabama (UA) Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for students identified as gifted and talented. The faculty of the College of Education, Program of Gifted and Talented (GT), formed a partnership with a College of Engineering faculty member who mentored the graduate student…

The purpose of this article is to explore the use of a lesson-planning template designed to support and scaffold pre-service teachers' lesson-planning techniques for a wide range of learners in inclusive classrooms. This template is currently used across the final three semesters of a dual certification inclusive elementary and special education…

This paper traces the evolution of the design framework for the use of technology in a teacher education program in a Singaporean university. This course focuses on developing student teachers' capacity for the use of ICT in teaching and learning. We report our two-level reflection: one that focuses on the trajectory of the course design, and one…

Consistent with the theme of this issue, we describe the details of one continuing effort to build knowledge for teacher education. We argue that building a useful knowledge base requires attention to the processes used to generate, record, and vet knowledge. By using 4 features of knowledge-building systems we identified in the introductory…

Creating effective mathematics lessons can be a challenge for any teacher. One approach to design an effective lesson is using a before-during-after (BDA) format. This article describes what a BDA format is and provides two examples of how it is implemented in high school mathematics classes. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)