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All PD In Focus videos are organized into channels guided by widely recognized experts.
This channel examines a middle school and high school where district leaders, school leaders, and teachers have found great success by improving practices in building leadership capacity, fostering a healthy, safe, and supporting learning environment, and focusing on student and professional learning. Featuring William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge, authors of Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools, this channel will show you how your school can disrupt the cycle of poverty and lift students to high achievement.
This channel examines how two elementary schools are successfully meeting the needs of students living in poverty while encouraging them to become high achievers. Drawing on years of studying high-poverty, high-performing schools, William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge, authors of Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools, identify the common practices and structures that effective schools put into action as well as the unproductive processes they eliminate.
Start here to learn how you can use PD In Focus to lead your professional development. PD In Focus supports your efforts to improve learning, teaching, and leadership through building local capacity and expertise. This channel includes video tutorials, collaborative learning tools, and guides for use at your school.
The Art and Science of Teaching Channel presents a comprehensive framework for effective teaching. This framework consists of three major focus areas and ten design questions, all of which are powerfully interconnected as part of the art and science of great teaching.
ASCD Master Class is a lively and in-depth video interview series in the mold of Charlie Rose. Each month, join NPR correspondent and former educator Claudio Sanchez in the studio as he talks with some of today's most influential educators about the issues that matter. This season, Claudio leads a five-part series on leadership. Look for a new episode each month, premiering exclusively in PD In Focus.
ASCD Master Class is a lively in-depth video interview in the mold of Charlie Rose. NPR correspondent and former educator Claudio Sanchez talks with some of today's most influential educators and entrepreneurs about the issues that matter. In season two, Claudio leads a multi-part series on technology in education. Look for new episodes throughout the year, premiering exclusively in PD In Focus.
Discover best practices in action. This channel features teachers and schools using innovative methods and teaching strategies to motivate students, build resiliency in the classroom, and develop critical-thinking skills.
Learn how the human brain develops and how this impacts learning from early childhood to secondary school. Discover key principles and strategies for brain-compatible teaching and learning.
Explore how the Common Core State Standards approach literacy and Mathematics in new and important ways. Through video examples, you'll learn practical ways to put the standards to work in classrooms.
Explore how educators and school leaders are implementing strategies in the classroom to meet the Common Core Initiative's Standards for Mathematical Practice and Standards for Mathematical Content. In this channel, we visit two schools with math programs designed to meet the Common Core Initiative's expectation that students acquire a level of fluency in math that will carry them through high school and college. Video segments show how strategies and resources like collaborative teaching, professional development, formative assessment, and technology help teachers and students meet the goals of Common Core math standards.
This channel features interviews with the principal and teachers at Sleepy Hollow High School in New York. You'll visit math and science classrooms and witness the evolving process of implementing the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. Explore how lesson plans are developed across departments, the school's strategy for "teaching to the individual," and how teachers work with students in classes ranging from English as a second language (ESL) to AP calculus.
The Common Core Webinars Channel contains a selection of archived webinars describing shifts required in curriculum development and implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Each webinar is led by an education professional intimately involved with the development of the standards or who can offer advice and suggestions for successful implementation and assessment of student achievement in relation to the standards.
This channel focuses on the nuts and bolts of structuring and executing an Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting that is tied to the Common Core State Standards. Watch as a school team—composed of a school principal, special education teacher, language arts teacher, and math teacher—meets with the parent of a special needs student and engages in an annual review that uses the Common Core State Standards to help inform his goals.
Learn how cooperative learning can be used to fulfill content requirements and address achievement gaps in student learning.
Whether you're deep into curriculum mapping or just starting out, this channel offers concrete tools and resources to help you implement the process in your district or school. The channel features teachers and administrators who are implementing the process and shares tools and resources that assist in creating quality maps. Learn how to support collaboration and develop professional development sessions that are essential to successful curriculum mapping.
Based on the updated second edition of Carol Ann Tomlinson's The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, this channel shows you practical, real-world examples from experienced elementary and secondary school teachers of how to divide your time, resources, and efforts to effectively instruct students of various backgrounds, readiness and skill levels, and interests. Tomlinson, through interviews and interactions with teachers, offers guidance on what, why, and how to differentiate.
Differentiated instruction is responsive instruction that addresses and takes into account students’ varied learning needs. This channel explores how to ensure that all students meet the learning goals and provides practical teaching and learning strategies.
Who are English language learners? Students are called ELLs until they achieve full English proficiency. The resources in this channel are organized around instructional practices, literacy strategies, classroom assessment, connecting to culture, and parent involvement. Learn strategies from expert teachers as they work with their ELLs.
Bring to life the components of successful teaching practice and classroom observation processes from ASCD's acclaimed book Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. Scenes from elementary, middle, and high school classrooms illustrate what successful teachers do in all four domains of effective practice: planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities.
Drawing on the work of authors and educators Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, this channel outlines the elements of the Framework for Intentional and Targeted Teaching® (FIT Teaching), a tool for teachers that provides strategies they can use to elevate instruction. You’ll visit classrooms where teachers are using the framework to explain and demonstrate the five major FIT Teaching components. When consistently and thoughtfully implemented, this system of tactics results in success for all.
What is formative assessment? The resources in this channel explain what formative assessment is, why it's important for teachers to use this approach in the classroom, and how to use formative assessments to gather evidence about student learning and use this evidence to adjust teaching.
Giving students good, effective feedback on their progress is one of the toughest challenges teachers face. In this channel, teachers demonstrate written and oral feedback strategies that put students at the center of the learning and help them improve their own performance. Teachers use feedback in the formative assessment process to improve the focus of classroom lessons and instructional strategies. They also ensure that feedback has the right timing and tone with the optimum amount of content and clarity.
If you’ve ever wondered what you could do to improve the performance of your high school students, close achievement gaps, and lower drop-out rates, then here’s an opportunity for you and your colleagues to see how innovative high schools are succeeding by being more responsive to the varied needs of their students. Use the resources in this channel to visit high schools that have redesigned the cultures of their schools and implemented strategies to personalize learning and help their students reach higher levels of achievement.
Go beyond the theory of Response to Intervention (RTI) to see exactly what schools do to help struggling students close achievement gaps. Use this channel to follow a high school freshman through an RTI approach that features research-based strategies that emphasize universal screening, diagnostic assessment, and a three-tiered instructional intervention. Learn about online research tools and how to build pools of expert teachers.
Common Core State Standards reinforce the new definition of literacy and raise the bar for student achievement. But how will teachers help students reach that bar? Visit two successful sites where integrating literacy education is working.
This channel, geared toward school leaders, includes examples of effective ways to empower teachers to make necessary shifts in curriculum planning and instructional practice. Learn how to roll out information without overwhelming staff, balance ongoing needs with the need to adopt new standards, and anticipate and overcome roadblocks to implementation.
Literacy means "power over letters" and includes the creation of text as well as the use of text in the learning process. This channel features resources and strategies to improve reading and writing skills in the content areas. Discover new ways to develop background knowledge and vocabulary in all grade levels and subject areas.
In the Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life channel, author and educator Baruti K. Kafele helps teachers and administrators understand how to address critical issues facing many young black male students. Watch videos in this channel to learn what it takes to motivate, educate, and empower young black males to succeed in school and in life.
Bring Robyn R. Jackson, the author of ASCD's wildly popular book Never Work Harder Than Your Students, to your school with this channel! Robyn explains how any teacher can develop the qualities and mind-set of a great teacher. Scenes from real classrooms take you through each of the seven principles described in her book. This channel shows how teachers in all grade levels can apply these practices in their classrooms and bring them all together to ensure that students take more responsibility for their learning.
This channel focuses on the four categories of the ASCD Principal Leadership Development Framework: the principal as a visionary, instructional leader, influencer, and learner and collaborator. These areas for professional growth are aligned to the ISLLC standards and other district, state, and organizational leadership competencies.
Visit elementary and secondary schools where teachers use problem-based learning to develop real-world, authentic tasks that motivate students and encourage them to take more ownership of learning. See examples of how teachers use problem-based learning to collaborate across the curriculum and integrate technology into their instruction.
See how educators are using technology and project-based learning to bring relevance and rigor into their classrooms. Scenes show successes and struggles of real teachers and students as they navigate the challenges of project-based learning across a range of subject areas at New Tech West High School in Cleveland, Ohio.
Visit this channel to see how one school decided to stand up to bullying and what they’ve done to create a safe, nurturing, and learning environment for everyone. Scenes show how educators use coordinating committees, student survey data, and classroom discussions to stay on top of real and potential bullying situations. Interviews provide insight into how to develop schoolwide awareness on how to recognize and respond to bullying.
The Strategic Teacher channel, drawing on Harvey Silver’s book The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-Based Strategy for Every Lesson, immerses teachers in practical research-based instructional and professional growth strategies that ultimately improve student learning. This channel features educators from across the United States who have used these strategies to transform their classrooms and schools into places full of a passion and joy for learning.
Providing students with a well-rounded education that includes science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) will help to prepare students for the jobs of the future. Visit this channel and see examples of special schools that focus on educating students of all ages on STEM. Learn how STEM can be incorporated into instruction at all grade levels and improve students' learning experiences and include 21st century learning skills.
Based on the ASCD book Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner by Pérsida and William Himmele, this channel explains how to fully engage every student. You will explore how teachers across grades implement Total Participation Techniques (TPTs) as alternatives to "stand-and-deliver" teaching strategies. TPT methods attract and hold students' attention, activate higher-order thinking, and provide formative assessments of academic progress. Field-tested techniques like Think-Pair-Share and Pause-Star-Rank are among the many strategies that engage every kind of student, from English language learners to gifted but disinterested students.
ASCD's rich video library takes professional development to the next level. Each video in the channel is presented in its original length, making it a must have resource for anyone seeking greater understanding of educational practices and theories. Over 90 hours of content are now available on demand, with new titles added regularly!
Based on Marilee Sprenger's best-selling books, Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core and Vocab Rehab, this channel puts Sprenger's brain-research–based, timesaving strategies for mastering vocabulary into action in real classrooms to boost student knowledge for the key words they need to know for success with the Common Core standards.
The Whole Child Initiative proposes a definition of achievement and accountability that promotes the development of children who are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. We seek to redefine what a successful learner is and how we measure success. ASCD is helping educators, families, community members, and policymakers move from rhetoric about educating the whole child to reality.
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