Awaken the Learner: Finding the Source of Effective Education

With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, there is a renewed focus on developing writing skills and, along with it, an awareness that the new digital technologies have much to contribute in this vital area. Learn how to integrate technology into writing instruction with this handbook full of innovative ideas from an eclectic group of educators.

Benefits

- Find out how digital technology can facilitate grammar instruction, prewriting and brainstorming exercises, editing, revising, peer review, assessment, and collaborative writing.

- Equip yourself with and learn how to model strategies that help students brainstorm, plan, and organize their writing.

- Discover how the natural interplay between reading and writing can be used to strengthen both of these processes.

- Capitalize on the capability students have to move their writing through multiple storage locations and technologies from school computers and smartphones to laptops and tablets.

- Explore the need for students to know why they are writing and for whom.

- Develop your students understanding of voice, and teach them how to manage deadlines and other responsibilities of authorship.

- Examine the process of not just fixing mistakes, but also understanding the root issues that drive writing errors.

- Address the issue of assessing writing in ways that lead to positive growth in writing skill.

Darrell Scott is the founder of the Rachel s Challenge program. He has spoken to over five million people in live settings around the world and reached millions more through programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and The Today Show. He has authored or coauthored five books, including Rachel s Tears, Rachel Smiles, and Chain Reaction: A Call to Compassionate Revolution, and meets with politicians and educators regularly concerning issues of school violence.

Robert J. Marzano, PhD, is the cofounder and CEO of Marzano Research Laboratory in Denver, Colorado. During his forty years in the field of education, he has worked with educators as a speaker and trainer and has authored more than thirty books and 150 articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include The Art and Science of Teaching, Leaders of Learning, On Excellence in Teaching, Effective Supervision, The Classroom Strategies Series, Using Common Core Standards to Enhance Classroom Instruction and Assessment, Vocabulary for the Common Core, and Teacher Evaluation That Makes a Difference. His practical translations of the most current research and theory into classroom strategies are known internationally and are widely practiced by both teachers and administrators. He received a bachelor s degree from Iona College in New York, a master s degree from Seattle University, and a doctorate from the University of Washington.