Backwards Planning--Win the book!!

Recently there has been a lot of hubbub about backwards planning in my district and I wanted to make sure that I knew what they were talking about so I purchased this book:

                               click here to learn more

The author, Harriet Isecke, wrote this book as a companion book, or even sort of a "book to turn to" because Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggens and Jay McTighe is so hard to implement. Me...I bought it because I like the cover.  Plus, I have used books by Wiggens an McTighe in the past (they were the movers and shaker of standards-based teaching, so thank them for the list of standards you have today!) and knew that they use a lot of jargon-based writing.  Not that this is bad...but when it is crunch time and you have to change the way you have thought, you don't need jargon....you need direction.  And that is what I found in this book!

Chapter 1 of this book is especially important as it defines 'backwards plannng'.  The book unfolds to explain how to plan 'backwards', check for both formative and summative assessments, progress monitoring, and project-based learning.  The author also supplies tools to help you get started.  I love the way she breaks it all down.  I give it 2 thumbs up!

Now for the good part....win this book!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Best Book Ever: Reading Without Limits

This had been the most enjoyable and useful book that I have seen in quite a while.  It takes information from all of the other reading gurus out there, mixes it with some new ideas (like mild texts, medium texts, and spicy texts for friendly-kid reading) and makes you REALLY want to read it!!!

What surprised me most was that 25% of Americans didn't read a book last year.  And we wonder why our educational system if falling behind that of other countries!  Do you have those kids in your classroom that only read when you make them?  Well, I have tried several of the techniques in this book and now I have kids who CHOOSE to read because they can read about Avatar or Ninjago (I am still not sure what those are, but the parents are buying them, so I am letting them read them and do reading responses with them!).  

The thoughts and strategies behind Maddie Witter's 'program' were used in the #1 school in Manhattan...which happened to be in Harlem.  How can you beat that?  All of the chapters are great, but sense it 'tis the season, Chapter 12 has been my lifeline for the past few weeks.  This chapter centers on standardized test prep and how to do it the right way.  I plan to go page by page and get my kidlins ready for a SCARY test.  Not so much scary for them, but scary for me because I have so much riding on these scores.  So, enough of that before I give myself a migraine over the worry....I have to have faith!  

Go ahead and enter and I will send you two brand new copies!!   You saw that there are two pictures of the book up their right?  You wouldn't want me to share mine...it is written in, highlighted, and dog-eared!  So...I figured it was SO good that you would not want to read this alone....you would want to read it and discuss it with a friend!  Boo Yah!!  Don't you love brand new books?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Ten-Minute Inservice--Wouldn't That Be Awesome?

Is your administrator long winded?  Maybe you might want to slip this on his or her desk?  Or maybe you are the administrator's secret pal and you can 'anonymously' donate the book?  hehe  It's worth a try!!!

The book has 40 different 'lessons' that are broken up into different areas:  classroom management, teaching practices, school climate, learning from others, and "What makes a great teacher?".  This book is seriously a good read and helpful even if you aren't an administrator.  Sometimes it just makes sense to know what they are looking for....especially around evaluation times!  As an added bonus, pdf files can be downloaded for free!  Or....if you or your administrator is a techie, there are Power Point slides that can be used also!!!


Now...with all that said, who wants to win this book?  I am going to give this great book away!


a Rafflecopter giveaway