Opening Doors to Equity: A Practical Guide to Observation-Based Professional Learning - Softcover

Singer, Tonya W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 145229223X ISBN 13: 9781452292236

Publisher: Corwin, 2014

Synopsis

The transformative professional learning model that advances equity in your school!

How do we make educational equity a reality, lesson by lesson? Author Tonya Singer shows how team observation and learning can strengthen schools and support educational achievement by all students. Including video clips of actual teams, this book helps to:

•  Implement best practices for observation-based professional learning
•  Work as a team to create a culture of deep collaboration that closes opportunity gaps among students
•  Use observation-based data to better reach culturally and linguistically diverse learners
•  Develop and implement strategies that build students’ skills for future success

 

 

About this title

About the Author

Tonya Ward Singer, M.F.A., is a professional learning leader with a deep commitment to ensuring diverse learners excel with rigorous expectations. She consults nationally helping K-12 educators realize new possibilities in language and literacy learning to close opportunity gaps for ELs and students in poverty. 

Tonya has taught at multiple grade levels as a classroom teacher, reading teacher, and EL specialist, and has extensive experience helping school leaders transform learning at scale.  Her choice work is supporting educators in launching and sustaining site-based, continuous inquiry around live lessons.  She has been collaborating extensively with multiple districts developing, testing, and refining observation inquiry, the focus of this book.

An expert in pedagogy for linguistically diverse learners, Tonya has co-authored curriculum for international publishers including Scholastic, Longman and Oxford University Press.  She thrives on leveraging research and innovation to solve educational challenges, and inspiring others to do the same. 

Review

"This exceptionally valuable book provides a clear process I can use to engage with my colleagues around learning.  I appreciated the ideas and practical information that will ensure that my professional learning group focuses on student learning as evidenced in real lessons. The tools that Tonya Singer provides are useful and relevant, not to mention tried and true.

To ramp up professional learning, this is the tool that will start your engine."

Author: Douglas Fisher, Professor

"Tonya Ward Singer skillfully provides educators with a powerful professional learning model that is based on the most recent work and relevant research in the field. This book is a practical guide for making the complexities of teaching diverse learners more visible―to others and to our selves―and for fostering rich professional conversations that are focused on improving the teaching of all students. " Author: Jeff Zwiers, Senior Researcher

"Opening Doors to Equity is truly a facilitator’s dream.  I could take it and use it well with teachers to engage in professional learning.  The process is definitely tried and true – it speaks well of the author’s experiences in real schools with real educators. On the basis of the amount of yellow highlighting I did in each chapter, I would say this is an incredibly powerful book."

Author: Lois Brown Easton, Educational Consultant, Author

"The writing, the depth, the flow, examples are all exciting and well done.  Very appropriate for teachers.  I recommend the book because of the detailed information, clear step-by-step process." Author: Margarita Calderón, Professor Emerita

"This book is a must read for principals, instructional coaches, teacher leaders and others charged with the task of providing meaningful professional development for teachers.  As a how-to guide, the practical suggestions within this book provide a relevant framework for implementing classroom-based inquiry. The online videos are icing on the cake!" Author: Judy Brunner, Clinical Faculty

"The author is able to look at the challenges of learning for students and teachers in a way that is engaging so that everyone can feel accepted and encouraged. This book looks at literacy issues openly and realistically. All points of view can be valued if the suggestions are implemented as recommended. Learning for all is not only the goal but also can be the reality."

Author: Barb Keating, Educational Consultant

"The author of has compiled a cornucopia of best practice and top research under one roof in the learning community. The text directs and explains a culture where teachers assist each other in collaboration assisting students in growth and readiness for an ever changing world." Author: Lyndon Oswald, Principal

"With all the changes taking place in education, this process of teachers working collaboratively together can both improve our instructional practice and open doors for us to support each other in ways we have not in the past. Both the improvement and support are vital in education at this time." Author: Leslie Standerfer, Principal/Academic Associate

"Tonya Ward Singer’s, Opening Doors to Equity – A Practical Guide to Observation-Based Professional Learning is a rich text for administrators and teacher leaders concerned with supporting the growth of others. It combines practical ideas to build a strong learning culture with ideas to take full advantage of ‘open doors’ to move a compelling equity agenda forward. " Author: Beate Planche, Educational Consultant/Researcher

"Opening Doors to Equity is extremely practical, clear, and easy to understand and implement.  Most importantly, the practice supports sustainable professional learning of any content area or strategy, especially relevant now as we are transitioning to Common Core State Standards and in need of examining the effectiveness of the many new practices we are implementing." 

Author: Katherine Strach, Language and Literacy Consultant

Edition details

• Publisher: Corwin
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 145229223X
• ISBN 13: 9781452292236
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248