All That Matters: What Is It We Value in School and Beyond? - Softcover

Rief, Linda; Barbieri, Maureen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0435088483 ISBN 13: 9780435088484

Publisher: HEINEMANN, 1995

Synopsis

All That Matters examines learning and evaluation and the need to bring the two together in more relevant ways. Rief and Barbieri invite us to consider how we might best develop our students' strengths, presenting a collection of truly useful-and often novel-approaches.

The voices recorded in All That Matters are those of risk takers: teachers who seek greater insight into, and respect for, children; enthusiasts who incorporate the unexpected into their teaching-art, music, gardening, foreign languages, and more. Above all, they are the voices of lifelong learners who share their passion with students and colleagues, parents and family. These teachers are willing to chance failure because they understand that learning is as essential to our survival as breathing; learning is what keeps us alive. From them, we learn ways to:

• examine the potential of portfolios to reflect different kinds of intelligence
• balance individual needs with those of the entire class
• discover ways to enhance professional development within school walls
• involve parents in meaningful, ongoing evaluation
• recognize and honor students' and teachers' passions in the classroom and beyond.

Woven in among their classroom stories are "Interludes," where teacher-writers reflect on what matters most in their lives. What makes a teacher write a poem honoring a town's courage in the face of bigotry? What makes another teacher reminisce about her mother's garden or a community's loyalty or a father's faith?

Rief and Barbieri believe that teachers like these, who know what they really cherish, can help us all better define what we value for our students. More important, they help us achieve it.

About this title

About the Author

Maureen Barbieri has taught middle school in New Hampshire, Ohio, and South Carolina. Since coming to New York, she has been a staff developer in District 2 and a divisional head at Marymount, an all girls' independent school. In addition to frequent consulting, she now teaches literacy courses in the Department of Teaching and Learning at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education, where she co-directs the summer writing institute. Her book, Sounds from the Heart: Learning to Listen to Girls (Heinemann, 1995), received the James N. Britton Award for Inquiry with the English Language Arts from the National Council of Teachers of English as well as the International Educator's Award from the Delta Kappa Gamma Society.

Linda Rief teaches middle school in Durham, New Hampshire and is an instructor in the University of New Hampshire's Summer Literacy Institute. A national and international presenter on issues of adolescent literacy, she is also a recipient of NCTE's Edwin A. Hoey Award for Outstanding Middle School Educator in the English Language Arts. Her newest book is The Quickwrite Handbook: 100 Mentor Texts to Jumpstart Your Students' Thinking and Writing. She is also the author or coeditor of many Heinemann titles, including Read Write Teach, Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook, The Writer's-Reader's Notebook, Adolescent Literacy, Vision and Voice, and Seeking Diversity. In 2000, Linda was the recipient of NCTE's Edwin A. Hoey Award for Outstanding Middle School Educator in the English/Language Arts. Her classroom was featured in the series Making Meaning in Literature, produced by Maryland Public Television for Annenberg/CPB. Read a New York Times article that shows how Linda and Oyster River Middle School are responding to increased high-stakes testing pressures. Follow Linda on Twitter @LindaMRief.

Review

“Rief and Barbieri . . . examine aspects of portfolio assessment, professional development, and parental involvement. In the process, they provide an excellent picture of the many benefits of authentic assessment and the evaluation of students.”–Educational Leadership

Edition details

• Publisher: HEINEMANN
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0435088483
• ISBN 13: 9780435088484
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 236