This updated edition of the award-winning bestseller shows teachers how to help students become the motivated, successful, and natural learners they were born to be.

“Parents and principals trying to understand what makes successful schools work ought to read Born to Rise.” — New York Times Born to Rise is the inspiring account of Deborah Kenny’s pursuit of social justice for our nation’s most vulnerable children. Part memoir, part manifesto, it is a hopeful and practical exposition of what it takes to transform schools and create organizations where the staff lights up with entrepreneurial drive. Students enter Harlem Village Academies, the network of charter schools Kenny founded, several years behind grade level, but in just a few years they are transformed, ranking among the highest in the nation. How did they do it? For the first time, Kenny reveals the secret to creating a powerful workplace culture that attracts the most talented people and brings out their passion and highest performance—a culture that produces stunning student achievement results and teachers who regularly use words like “magical” to describe the workplace environment. It is a must-read for anyone who cares about children and the future of this country and for leaders who want to inspire fierce dedication in their employees.

The University of Florida has an ambitious goal: to harness the power of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni to solve some of society’s most pressing problems and to become a resource for the state of Florida, the nation, and the world. The human brain’s largest and most important developmental phase takes place between birth and age five. These years form the foundation for future physical, emotional, cognitive, and social capabilities, yet they can often be an overlooked time in a child’s life. At the University of Florida’s Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies, researchers are spearheading initiatives to support children’s health, development, learning, and well-being. Born to Learn gives readers an inside look at the bright minds working in the center and their collaborative pursuits to provide children with the best possible start in life. Together, these researchers are innovating the field of early childhood studies in the United States and abroad. Find out how researchers in Zambia are striving to deliver quality education to rural children with disabilities. Learn about the challenges parents face when trying to find quality preschools in low-income areas and how the center is not only mapping barriers to access but also looking for ways to overcome them. Visit the CHILD Center, a model demonstration site in Gainesville, Florida, where children receive a high-quality education, and teachers, researchers, and policymakers study and learn best practices. Through the tireless efforts of its staff, the Anita Zucker Center is enriching the lives of children and their families around the world to create a brighter future for all. The stories chronicled in Gatorbytes span all colleges and units across the UF campus. They detail the farreaching impact of UF’s research, technologies, and innovations—and the UF faculty members dedicated to them. Gatorbytes describe how UF is continuing to build on its strengths and extend the reach of its efforts so that it can help even more people in even more places

The first smile, the first laugh, the first word... These are the eagerly anticipated and treasured moments in a child's early life. From the moment they're born, children are ready to experiment and learn about communicating -- whether with the cries of a hungry infant, the chuckles of a baby playing peek-a-boo, or the emphatic "No!" of an independent toddler. As parents and caregivers, our love for the young children in our lives points the way for us in responding to their needs and wants. But there are many ways that we can turn those responses into opportunities to nurture our children's developing understanding of language, and to start them on the path of becoming successful and lifelong learners. In Born to Learn: Developing a Child's Reading and Writing, the authors share decades of experience as teachers, researchers, and mothers in describing how to turn everyday activities into learning opportunities for babies and young children. From suggestions about language games, to ideas about turning household chores into times for conversation, to advice about books to share, Born to Learn is full of practical, hands-on, and fun ways to encourage speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Each chapter focuses on a particular stage in children's development -- from infancy through the pre-school years -- and highlights ways you can help your child learn and grow, and be ready to meet the challenges and adventure of entering school.

This essential resource provides parents and educators of students of all ages with research-based, classroom-proven strategies for how to implement brain-compatible learning into your curriculum.

“A landmark book in the science of emotions and its implications for ethics and human universals.”—Library Journal, starred review In this startling study of human emotion, Dacher Keltner investigates an unanswered question of human evolution: If humans are hardwired to lead lives that are “nasty, brutish, and short,” why have we evolved with positive emotions like gratitude, amusement, awe, and compassion that promote ethical action and cooperative societies? Illustrated with more than fifty photographs of human emotions, Born to Be Good takes us on a journey through scientific discovery, personal narrative, and Eastern philosophy. Positive emotions, Keltner finds, lie at the core of human nature and shape our everyday behavior—and they just may be the key to understanding how we can live our lives better. Some images in this ebook are not displayed owing to permissions issues.