 |
Quick Guide | Unleashing Curiosity by Helping Students Commit to Mastery
Desire to learn ---- the essence of curiosity ---- is sparked when students are clear about what to learn, how to learn it, and why to learn it. As teachers, it's up to us to encourage curiosity and propel our students to want to master their learning. Our new 8-page guide offers tips and tools teachers can use to help students commit to mastery.
|
New Book! | Tools for Classroom Instruction That Works
Get 50+ classroom-ready tools to easily implement the effective teaching strategies from our bestselling book, Classroom Instruction That Works (2012). Each tool includes a summary of its research-based benefits, implementation guidance and examples, and a "Teacher Talk" section with lesson planning tips. Turn your classroom into a place where high levels of engagement and deep learning happen every day!
|
Research Report | Enhancing Formative Assessment Practice and Encouraging Middle School Mathematics Engagement and Persistence
Can formative assessment strategies for math help students stay motivated to learn during the critical transition to middle school? In this study, teachers participated in McREL's Learning to Use Formative Assessment in Mathematics with the Assessment Work Sample Method (AWSM), a professional development program that increases middle school math teachers' understanding of high-quality formative assessment processes. Reported outcomes suggested that teachers were better able to provide effective feedback, and students were better equipped to self-assess their progress and were more motivated to persevere with challenging learning tasks and problem solving.
|
Free White Paper | Curiosity Works: Moving Your School from Improvement to Innovation
What if every student were curious, self-motivated, and passionate about their learning? Wouldn't our classrooms be more joyful and dynamic and our schools more innovative? In this free white paper, Kristin Rouleau outlines a powerful new model for school improvement ---- an inside-out, curiosity-driven approach that builds on schools' bright spots in ways that go beyond improvement and help unleash both student and educator curiosity. This innovative approach helps a school commit to shared values within a purposeful community, focus on teaching and learning, support professional growth among teachers using a triad peer coaching model, and instill consistent, deep practices that weather the storms of change.
|
|
2018 Professional Learning Events
|
 |
McREL's 2018 professional learning
includes extended online coaching
Join us this summer in Denver for dynamic professional learning sessions that dig deep into research-based instructional and leadership practices that spark curiosity, positively influence achievement, and help transform your teaching and leading.
Participants in our 2018 professional learning events will receive extended online coaching during the 2018-19 school year to support your continued growth as an educator and leader.
Registrants will also receive a McREL Bookstore discount code for 20% off the suggested book or guide for each event.
|
|
|
|
|
|
BOOK INCLUDED |
Tools for Classroom Instruction That Works Academy (Denver)
Learn 50+ practical instructional tools from our book, Tools for Classroom Instruction That Works (2018). Aligned with McREL's renowned Classroom Instruction That Works strategies and framework, this two-day academy will be an intensive learning, working, and planning session. Participants will receive a personal copy of Tools for Classroom Instruction That Works.
|
|
|
|
SUGGESTED READING |
Helping ELLs Flourish With Academic Language Development (Denver)
Teachers ---- general education and ELL specialists ---- will learn how to apply effective research-based instructional strategies to the five stages of language acquisition and develop students' academic language during subject-matter instruction, using McREL's Academic Language Framework.
|
|
|
|
SUGGESTED READING |
School Leadership That Works: Evidence-Based Strategies
for Sharpening Instructional Focus, Managing Change Processes,
and Creating Shared Vision (Denver)
Discover the leadership responsibilities that are most strongly connected to student achievement and learn practical strategies to develop a purposeful, positive school community, initiate and manage change within your school, and choose the right focus for your school's improvement initiatives.
|
District Leadership That Works: Connecting Strategic Vision, Action,
and Results Across Your System (Denver)
Learn the principles of high-reliability systems and the actions used in health care, aviation, and other complex industries, and how these principles can be effectively applied to education systems. Determine the current state of your district's systems and begin to map steps toward improving instructional quality and reducing variability within and among your schools.
|
|
|
|
SUGGESTED READING |
Unleashing Student Curiosity to Learn (Denver)
Explore why and how curiosity can be sparked and sustained within your students, helping them become engaged, motivated, self-directed learners who "own" their educational journeys. Get tools, tips, and ideas for creating challenging learning tasks and higher-order questions that push students to deeper levels of content understanding and application.
|
|
|
|
SUGGESTED READING |
Managing Change: Evidence-Based Strategies for Starting
and Sustaining New Policies, Practices, and Processes (Denver)
Change is constant in schools: Every new program, policy, or procedure comes with the need to implement and manage change well. Attend this research- and evidence-based session to learn the keys to helping your school team not just survive change, but thrive in it.
|
Instructional Coaching That Works (Denver)
Learn a new, more effective approach to instructional coaching that is focused on "inside-out," strengths-based peer coaching that brings small teams of teachers together, building on bright spots while learning and growing as peers and professionals. You'll leave this session knowing how to create belief among your school team that personal and collective growth is possible, and how to use data to drive coaching decisions that improve outcomes that matter to all.
|
JULY 17-18
|
SEPTEMBER 20-21
|
|
How to Move Your School from Improvement to Innovation:
A Guided Pathway for Success (Denver)
Learn why curiosity is an important lever for learning and how to cultivate it in teachers, leaders, and learners using the five improvement and innovation pathways in McREL's Curiosity Works™ approach. You'll leave this intensive two-day session with an understanding of the important differences between an inside-out, curiosity-driven approach to school improvement and an outside-in or top-down approach. Learn how to focus for improvement or innovation, and how to identify high-leverage strategies for action. You'll also gain an understanding of the importance of monitoring change, both for the organization and for individuals.
|
JULY 19-20
|
SEPTEMBER 27-28
|
|
ASCD Empower18 National Conference
March 24-26 | Boston, Massachusetts
Join McREL staff for informative conference sessions and visit with us in the exhibit hall to learn about our curiosity-driven, inside-out approach to school improvement and innovation.
Moving English Learners (ELs) from Speaking to Writing
Presenter: Jane Hill
Date and time: Saturday, March 24, 3:30 p.m.
Tools for Classroom Instruction That Works
Presenters:
Cheryl Abla and Harvey Silver
Date and time:
Sunday, March 25, 8:00 a.m.
Out of Curiosity: Restoring Joyful Learning with an 'Inside-out' Approach to School Change
Presenters: Bryan Goodwin, Kristin Rouleau, and Tonia Gibson
Date and time: Sunday, March 25, 1:30 p.m.
Dynamic, Engaging Classrooms: How They Look, Feel, and Sound
Presenter: Cheryl Abla
Date and time: Monday, March 26, 8:00 a.m.
VISIT CONFERENCE WEBSITE
|
Weeklong Chats on Twitter
|
Looking to grow your professional learning network? Join us for our weeklong Twitter chats, where participants share best practices, strategies, and common (or uncommon) struggles and successes. Follow us on Twitter and use the hashtag #McRELchat to share your thoughts and ideas on each week's theme with other educators.
|
Topic | Supporting ALL learners
February 19-25
How do you support ALL students in mainstream classrooms (e.g., ELL, special education, gifted-talented)?
|
February 26-March 4
What's the best curiosity hook you've used with your students?
|
Topic | Recreational learning
March 5-11
What procedures are set in your classroom to promote recreational reading? Do you allow it during class periods?
|
Topic | Goal setting for assessments
March 12-18
What kinds of goal setting do your students have around assessments (state, SAT, ACT)?
|
Topic | Education revolution
March 19-25
What type of revolution is going on at your school around education or improvement?
|
McREL is hiring!
We are seeking candidates for several research positions in our Denver and Honolulu offices.
Our research and evaluation teams give our clients and partners a big-picture view of existing improvement initiatives to determine what's working, what's not, and what to do next. We also offer support and guidance for managing systemic change, capacity-building, and proposal development, and we provide independent evaluation of grant-funded programs.
|
McREL: Helping educators flourish
"Each of [McREL's] resources and products has allowed our staff to grow professionally and have an impact on student learning
across our small rural district."
Darrel Kohlman, Superintendent, Nemaha Central Schools ---- USD 115, Kansas
|
|
Follow on Twitter
Quick Links
|
|
|
|
|
