This is a must-read for early career teachers (ECTs), focusing on the role of the ECT in terms of school curriculum design and implementation. It explores the topics surrounding curriculum that those in training or ECT induction are likely to encounter and need to understand, and offers a range of practical and critical strategies and approaches to curriculum design. It begins with examining the history of the core ideas around curriculum, including educational philosophy and concepts, before moving on to planning, reflection and principled intent and implementation. It also delves into the various roles of those involved in curriculum design. This is an essential text for ECTs as curriculum is a key aspect of the Core Content and Early Career Frameworks. It draws on real-life enactments and models to help those in their early stages understand their role in curriculum implementation, especially in relation to the Ofsted focus on the quality of education and the role of all teachers as professionals. Most importantly, this book recognises curriculum as the beating heart of any strong educational offer.

Teachers in their first few years of their teaching career require high quality, structured support to begin the journey towards becoming experts. Establishing research-based best practices and working habits set up early career teachers for a fulfilling and successful career. The requirements of teachers are constantly changing, and teachers need to continually adapt their knowledge and practices to fit schools’ changing demographics. Having a toolbox of research-based best practices to draw upon can support early career teachers as they move from theory to practical application when the learning curve is the steepest. Strengthening the system of support includes increasing teachers’ influence over their day-to-day work and developing positive and supportive cultures of learning. Supporting Early Career Teachers With Research-Based Practices presents both theoretical and practical research to support the conceptual understanding of educational praxis for common areas with which early career educators may require additional expertise or support. This book is intended to be a valuable contribution to the body of literature in the field of education by supplying research-based teaching practices for modern education. Primary topics covered include professional learning, classroom management, student-teacher relationships, teaching diverse students and inclusive educational practices, and teacher self-care strategies. This book is a valuable reference tool for early career teachers of all subject areas and grade levels, school administrators, teacher mentors and guides, education faculty in higher education, educational researchers, curriculum developers, instructional facilitators, practicing teachers, pre-service teachers, professional development coordinators, teacher educators, researchers, academicians, and students interested in teaching practices and support for the early career teacher.

The Essential Guides for Early Career Teachers provide accessible, carefully researched, quick-reads for early career teachers, covering the key topics they will encounter during their training year and first two years of teaching. This title on Assessment provides a range of practical but critically engaged strategies and approaches to assessment. It offers a brief history of the core ideas and educational philosophy underpinning these, looks at links to planning and reflection, examines the concept of progress over time as a mirror for quality teaching and learning, and explores the idea of pupil self-assessment. Most importantly it recognises that assessment can and should be at the heart of enabling and accelerating the progress of all learners. Clear, accessible and practical. An unmissable guide to classroom assessment. Professor Dame Alison Peacock

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

"I love, love, love this book! This smorgasbord of professional development strategies maximizes time and on-site expertise. From the perspective of educators hungry for cost-effective, proven ways to promote ongoing, job-embedded professional learning, this is an à la carte menu for building healthy professional development ′meals′ based on specific needs and available resources." —Gail Ritchie, Instructional Coach Fairfax County Public Schools, VA "This book offers a menu of practical, integrated, research-based tools and processes that engage and empower teachers and administrators in co-constructing a powerful form of job-embedded professional development that is relevant, focused, and organic, and allows schools to transform themselves into a self-sustaining learning organization." —Pedro R. Bermúdez, Professional Development Support Ready Schools Miami, FL Achieve effective, on-site teacher development without breaking the budget! This essential guide to job-embedded staff development helps schools and districts move away from reliance on outside expertise, instead drawing on and developing the experience and skills of their own faculty. The authors provide a complete toolbox of school-based professional development (PD) strategies, with recommendations on which tools to use for different times and settings, guidelines for implementation, and extended examples of each tool in action for a full spectrum of proven, cost-effective PD models, including: Book study and lesson study Action research and professional learning communities Coaching and co-teaching Webinars, podcasts, Open Space Technology, online communities, and much more

"Just what the educational doctor ordered. Written in an easy-to-understand format, this guide contains excellent explanations and valuable models, guidelines, checklists, unit designs, and lesson designs to help teachers implement standards-based education in their classrooms." —Vaughn G. Rhudy, Teacher Shady Spring High School, WV "Zagranski, Whigham, and Dardenne tame the beast of accountability for principals, teachers, and parents by articulately defining what is really expected. A real guide for demystifying the complex world of standards-based education." —Erica Ann Faginski, Principal Michael E. Smith Middle School, South Hadley, MA Transforming your curriculum into a standards-based model: What every educator needs to know! This comprehensive handbook offers a data-driven curriculum design process to help educators meet today′s standards of performance and assessment. Based on decades of hands-on experience, Richard Zagranski, William T. Whigham, and Patrice L. Dardenne provide a clear set of expectations and responsibilities for stakeholders at all three levels of the educational pyramid: teachers, teacher leaders/coordinators, and administrators. Their user-friendly approach, which both incorporates and looks beyond NCLB, shows readers how to take a standard, transform it into a performance objective, and design a corresponding assessment piece. The text includes: Standards-based guidelines and action plans Ready-to-use charts, rubrics, and templates Real-world examples and assessment methods Step-by-step instructions to ensure sustainability Chapter summaries and a glossary for easy reference Understanding Standards-Based Education leads educators through a well-defined course of curriculum revision and presents all participants with specific, need-to-know information for accomplishing mandated goals.

Provides you with the required knowledge and skills development around special educational needs and disability (SEND) as you progress through your early teaching career. Using an audit tool, the text builds on any previous training enabling you to ground and embed your practice for children and young people presenting with SEND. It recognises the increasing challenges you may face and distils the theoretical into usable techniques in the classroom. Critical but also practical, the text guides you through research-based concepts and reflective tasks central to understanding and supporting issues around SEND.