Developing Expert Learners: A Roadmap for Growing Confident and Competent Students (Corwin Teaching Essentials) - Softcover

McDowell, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1544337159 ISBN 13: 9781544337159

Publisher: Corwin, 2019

Synopsis

Building upon the groundwork from Rigorous PBL by Design, this resource provides practices that strategically support students as they move from novices to experts in core academics. This book 

• Provides an actionable framework for developing student expertise
• Offers practical guidance for creating a culture that cultivates expertise and builds student efficacy
• Gives a unit and lesson template that clarifies the steps students must take to build, deepen, and apply core content knowledge and skills
• Ensures your students’ progress in their learning through a process for selecting instructional, feedback, and learning strategies 
• Includes strategies for improving your professional expertise individually and collectively

 

About this title

About the Author

Michael McDowell, Ed.D. is the Superintendent of the Ross School District. Most recently, he served as the Associate Superintendent of Instructional and Personnel Services at the Tamalpais Union High School District. During his tenure, the Tamalpais Union High School District was recognized by the Marzano Research Laboratories as one of the top highly reliable organizations in the United States, and schools within the district received recognitions by the US News and World Report, and honored with California Distinguished Schools accolades.

Prior to his role as a central office administrator, Dr. McDowell served as the Principal of North Tahoe High School, a California Distinguished School. Prior to administration, Dr. McDowell was a leadership and instructional coach for the New Tech Network supporting educators in designing, implementing, and enhancing innovative schools across the country. Before engaging in the nonprofit sector, Dr. McDowell created and implemented an environmental science and biology program at Napa New Technology High School, infusing 1:1 technology, innovative teaching and assessment, and leveraging student voice in the classroom. Additionally, Dr. McDowell, taught middle school math and science in Pacifica, CA.

Dr. McDowell is a national presenter, speaking on instruction, learning, leadership and innovation. He has provided professional development services to large school districts, State Departments of Education, and higher education. In addition, he was a former National Faculty member for the Buck Institute of Education and a key thought leader in the inception of their leadership work in scaling innovation in instructional methodologies. His expertise in design and implementation is complimented by his scholarly approach to leadership, learning, and instruction. 

He holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and a M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Redlands and an Ed.D. from the University of La Verne. He received departmental honors for his work in Environmental Science and was awarded the Tom Fine Creative Leadership Award for his doctoral work at the University of La Verne. He has also completed certification programs through Harvard University, the California Association of School Business Officials, the American Association of School Personnel Administrators, and Cognition Education. He holds both a California single subject teaching credential and an administrative credential.

Review

"Teaching for transfer"  - imparting knowledge and skill in a way that makes them really useful, and not just fodder for exams and tests - is the Holy Grail of education. This book is a wonderfully practical guide to how to do it in any classroom. -- Guy Claxton, Author of The Learning Power Approach: Teaching Learners to Teach Themselves

As educators, we are challenged in preparing our students for college and career readiness as they go into the real world. Developing Student Expertise addresses the intentional moves of the teacher to prepare students for challenging work at their level of learning, resulting in students reaching their fullest potential as expertise in their own learning. -- Elizabeth Alvarez, Chief of Schools, Chicago Public Schools

This book is the roadmap to take students from being developing experts to the experts they all have the potential to be. Providing high expectations and valuing all students as learners requires educators to plan instruction that takes students―all students―from their current level, to that place just beyond that level. McDowell suggests that in order for students to become experts, "the control over learning must be mutually shared between teachers and students." Teaching students how to build their efficacy in learning, the ability to navigate and lead their own learning, is the optimal approach for every faculty to engage in. McDowell identifies The 5Cs (Clarify, Challenge, Check, Communicate, and Cross contexts) that are requisite for this shared partnership to flourish, and gives reflection questions and activities that allow every educator to plan their steps toward this desirable result. -- Tom Hierck

As he did in Rigorous PBL by Design, Michael McDowell has once again produced an invaluable resource for educators who are striving to empower students to fully develop their own expertise and self-efficacy. Developing Expert Learners provides the practical means―through planning tools, research-based strategies, teaching practices, and special features―to enable teachers to maximize student learning at the surface, deep, and transfer levels of complexity. By integrating "The 5Cs (Clarify, Challenge, Check, Communicate, and Cross Contexts) as guiding actions for developing student expertise" into all unit and lesson planning, McDowell shows how these strategies can dramatically impact student learning. Classroom educators will find Chapter 3, "Planning for Impact," and Chapter 4, "Teaching for Impact" particularly useful for creating and implementing their own roadmap to greater student self-efficacy. Chapter 5, "Collective Efficacy," presents a powerful framework that teacher teams can utilize to create their own beliefs and action steps to greater student learning. -- Larry Ainsworth

I appreciate and am enthusiastic about the layout of this book. For a coach, team leader, or school administrator, the book lends itself to being a manual for school improvement. It provides excellent questions to reflect on and activities after each chapter for school leaders to collaborate with and work alongside teacher teams in developing efficacy and expertise at their schools―which in the end will impact the achievement of all our learners. Our district will benefit from the content of this book and its resources, activities, and reflection questions to increase student learning at the surface, deep, and transfer levels through the work of teams. -- LeeAnn Lawlor

This urgently needed book has the potential to transform schools and experiences for learners and teachers everywhere. Once again, Michael McDowell has written a compelling, practical guide for educators who seek to give their students the skills they need to be successful in our ever-changing world. This book is a must-read for new and veteran educators alike! -- Cindy Johanson

Of course, Michael McDowell has once again provided a purposeful and practical guide for teachers and leaders. Teachers, administrators, and even student leaders recognize the importance of focusing on learning through clear learning intentions, success criteria, and now―with this new book―tools and strategies to measure student progress. We have made a fundamental shift in how we address instructional practice, review student work, and more important, build our own efficacy and expertise at all levels of our organization. -- Maren Rocca Hunt

In Developing Expert Learners, McDowell harnesses the research on building student self-efficacy, peer-to-peer feedback structures, and student ownership of learning through a handful of focus areas, aligned and actionable learning practices, and tools that have been road-tested. If you wish to build stronger, more invested, and more equipped learners, this book is a must-read. -- Kara Vandas

As a follow up to Rigorous PBL by Design, McDowell continues to write about practical strategies to help teachers build students’ expertise. The book is filled with strategies, tools, and very useful references based on the exciting research of John Hattie and Visible Learning. McDowell shapes this book around 5Cs―promoting clarity, leveraging challenge, consistent checking, cultivating conversation, and tackling contextually rich problems. Michael’s command of lesson design and instruction make this a natural follow up to his very successful Rigorous PBL by Design. It will clearly help teachers have impact on student learning. -- Ainsley B. Rose

As we move away from the age of pouring knowledge into the brains of learners and, instead, begin handing them the steering wheel of their own learning to develop efficacy and expertise, McDowell′s tool kit of sound simplicity, sparked by wisdom and courage, offers clear and do-able courses of action that all educators can put into motion to change the learning lives of their students. -- Melissa Schaub

Edition details

• Publisher: Corwin
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1544337159
• ISBN 13: 9781544337159
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280