*** Notice: For the protection of property rights, this catalog is available for online browsing only. Please drop us a line if you would like to receive a copiable version of this catalog. Thank You!
Weekly New Release - Education
For Our Students and Ourselves
By: Will Richardson
Internet access has put the world at our fingertips, providing a classroom without walls. It allows us to contribute our experiences to the sum of human knowledge online. In this keynote session from the 21st Century Learning Institute held in Rosemont, Illinois, on October 13, 2010, Will Richardson shares eight shifts necessary to fully utilize Internet technology as a continuous learning opportunity. He challenges educators to set aside the old model of schooling and re-envision the foundation of teaching and learning as global and continuous. Will offers insight on how to:
Pull information globally from alternative sources.
Manage and synthesize multiple streams of information.
Detect false information on the Internet.
By empowering our students and ourselves to leverage the influence of technology, we can provide continuous learning and better prepare for a 21st century world.
DVD (With CD) / 2011
>>> more details <<<
By: Ken Kay
In this keynote session (from the October 11, 2010, 21st Century Skills Institute in Rosemont, Illinois), Ken Kay argues that 21st century education must be rooted in knowledge and skills that ensure readiness for every student. He explains the importance of fusing the three Rs-reading, writing, and arithmetic-with the four Cs-critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. Providing examples of successful districts and models, he outlines the need for local, state, and federal leaders to create polices that support this approach for every school.
DVD (With CD) / 2011 / 67 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Jay McTighe
In this keynote session (from the October 13, 2010, On Excellence in Teaching Summit in Bellevue, Washington), Jay McTighe helps participants to understand the three stages of backward design:
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction.
In the backward design framework, the ideas of teaching and assessing for understanding are woven into the process of curriculum design. In this framework, the goal is to help learners understand the content identified in the standards, using the textbook as a resource, not as a syllabus.
DVD (With CD) / 2011 / 68 minutes
>>> more details <<<
What Does It Take to Get It Right?
By Carol Ann Tomlinson
Differentiated instruction was designed to address the instructional needs of diverse students. However, simply claiming to practice differentiation will not meet those needs. In this keynote session (from the October 14, 2010, On Excellence in Teaching Summit in Bellevue, Washington), Carol Ann Tomlinson calls on teachers to implement best practices regarding curriculum, assessment, instruction, and learning environment-and to learn how these factors interrelate. She examines and invites educators to scrutinize their practices in applying the four foundational principles of effective differentiation, which:
1. Begins with a growth mindset, moves to student-teacher connections, and evolves to community
2. Is rooted in meaningful curriculum
3. Is guided by ongoing assessment
DVD (With CD) / 2011 / 72 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Robert J. Marzano
In this two-part presentation, Robert J. Marzano provides a blueprint detailing how schools and districts can develop teacher expertise. Addressing teachers directly as well as school and district leaders, he charts research-based techniques to organize strategies through lesson segments using a nine-segment framework. The segments are sorted into three categories:
Segments involving routine events
Segments involving academic content
Segments involving issues that must be addressed as they occur
Using personal anecdotes, Dr. Marzano explains techniques for teachers and school and district leaders in a thoughtful and engaging presentation.
DVD (With CD) / 2011
>>> more details <<<
The Differentiators
By Cheryl Lemke
In this keynote session (from the October 13, 2010, 21st Century Learning Institute in Rosemont, Illinois), Cheryl Lemke shows how to design tomorrow's curricula by using research in sociology, learning, and neuroscience as reinforcement for the key elements in 21st century learning:
Democratization of knowledge
Critical and creative thinking
Web 2.0 and mass collaboration
Multimodal learning
She explains how students can use high-tech tools to explore ideas, research questions, test hypotheses, compose thoughts, and reach conclusions. These technological tools aid in collaboration and authenticity-two highly effective accelerators to learning as they enable interactivity, sharpen and extend thinking, and pique intellectual curiosity. This video describes how to:
Connect the theory of 21st century skills to student learning and specific lesson design
Recognize the critical role of learning sciences research in the 21st century
Envision new designs for learning, now possible through digital tools
DVD (With CD) / 2011 / 52 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Sustainable Changes for 21st Century Learning
By Douglas Reeves
In this keynote session from the 21st Century Learning Institute in Rosemont, Illinois, on October 13, 2010, Douglas B. Reeves provides the key elements for developing new assessment strategies for the 21st century learner. Detailed in his presentation are three fundamental shifts that must take place:
Assessments must move from standardized to authentic: For students to perform authentic tasks, assessment conditions must be variable, not standardized.
Assessments must be open: The tradition of secret assessment is based on the notion that assessment is fair only when it is secret. Yet, global best practices indicate that the best assessments are those in which students helped create test questions.
Assessments must combine team and individual efforts: Educational institutions rely on assessments that are based almost exclusively on individual work. Dr. Reeves suggests that 21st century assessment must include rigorous, comprehensive consideration of teamwork and collaboration.
DVD (With CD) / 2011 / 63 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour
Transforming a school into a professional learning community (PLC) requires changing embedded behaviors, beliefs, and processes, which can cause resistance and conflict. In healthy PLCs, these conflicts are addressed in ways that both support core values and respect team members. In this short video, Richard DuFour and Rebecca DuFour model a principal and a teacher engaging in a conflict over grading practices, then the role play is broken down and analyzed. Viewers will learn how to hold difficult but crucial conversations that lead to higher levels of commitment to PLC practices. PLC author and expert Robert Eaker and authors Anthony Muhammad and Cassandra Erkens are also featured. The video is presented in the following segments:
Introduction-This segment explores the loose and tight culture of a PLC school and explains why implementing the tight or nonnegotiable practices can cause conflicts within the PLC team, and why it is so essential for leaders to address those conflicts directly.
A Difficult Conversation-Next, Richard DuFour introduces the central scenario, in which he plays a principal in a PLC school engaging in a difficult but crucial conversation with a teacher (played by Rebecca DuFour). The role play illustrates how to incorporate the five keys to effectively leading a difficult conversation.
Analyzing a Difficult Conversation-The final segment, designed to be used with the Facilitator Guide activities, breaks down the role play to allow workshop participants to review and analyze the use of the five keys to leading a difficult conversation.
DVD (With Facilitator's Guide) / 2011 / 30 minutes
>>> more details <<<
How PLC Practices Create the Foundation for a Successful Intervention Program
By Mike Mattos
Decades of research have demonstrated that all students can learn at high levels and that schools control the factors to make academic achievement possible; professional learning communities (PLC) and response to intervention (RTI) provide the tools to support and ensure success for all students. In On Solid Ground: How PLC Practices Create the Foundation for a Successful Intervention Program (from the July 28, 2009, Professional Learning Communities at Work? Institute in Seattle, Washington), Mike Mattos shows how PLC values and structures align with RTI to form the necessary foundation for both an inclusive general education program and an effective intervention program. Mike examines the core ideas of a PLC and presents accessible strategies for planning and self-assessment that lay the groundwork for a shift to PLC and RTI practices. His discussion offers the following:
Flexible frameworks for establishing collective responsibility and collaborative culture
Powerful models for assessing student performance and teaching practices
Reliable guidelines for identifying standards and making collective decisions about curriculum
Sensible perspectives on how diverse instructional styles and personalities can be equally effective in promoting high levels of student learning
Using the power of PLC practices to plan successful intervention programs will produce both student and teacher success, and On Solid Ground provides the blueprint.
DVD (With CD) / 2011
>>> more details <<<
By Mike Mattos
A system in which struggling students must fail before they can receive additional support is being replaced by comprehensive systems of interventions. In this breakout session, Mike provides an accessible survey of response to intervention (RTI) systems and explains how RTI, combined with a professional learning community (PLC) foundation, creates a powerful system for achieving high levels of learning for all students.
DVD (With CD-ROM) / 2011
>>> more details <<<
By: Richard DuFour
The foundation of a professional learning community is the three big ideas-a focus on learning, a collaborative culture, and a focus on results. The knowledge and skills essential to the success of students has been articulated by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. In this keynote session from the 21st Century Learning Institute in Rosemont, Illinois, on October 12, 2010, Richard DuFour asserts that traditional school culture is not designed to deliver those outcomes. For students to acquire essential skills, schools must organize into professional learning communities. In this culture educators collaborate, share best practices and integrate these skills into classroom practice. He discusses the fundamental characteristics of professional learning communities and explores the following topics:
What we know about the world's best school systems
What we know about effective professional development
How to collaboratively develop strategies to teach 21st century skills
How to develop a PLC culture by focusing on commitment to effectively change behavior
DVD (With CD) / 2011 / 71 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Teacher Learning Communities in the Service of Formative Assessment
By Dylan Wiliam
Dylan Wiliam asserts that "the future economic prosperity of the United States depends on making the teachers we've got better." Teacher quality is the most significant variable in school improvement, and of all the things teachers can do to improve the quality of their teaching, formative assessment has been shown to provide the greatest impact.
In Content, Then Process: Teacher Learning Communities in the Service of Formative Assessment (from the 2009 Annual Conference on Standards and Assessment in Las Vegas, Nevada), Dr. Wiliam outlines a model to shift toward more formative assessment-based teaching practices by first addressing content (what needs to be changed) and then addressing the process to approach that change. He discusses the role of teacher learning communities (TLCs) in creating this change, and explains the five essential elements that must be included when developing and implementing the process to revolutionize the way teachers teach.
Dr. Wiliam then details the steps TLCs can follow to successfully enact this change and provides strategies for incorporating continuous student engagement through minute-to-minute formative assessments. His discussion offers the following:
Five key strategies for effective formative assessment
Examples of practical strategies to use in the classroom to encourage student engagement and close achievement gaps
Tools teachers can use during lessons to gather evidence of learning and keep students on track
Guidelines for how to provide constructive feedback that will promote students' ownership of their own learning
Methods for providing feedback that move learning forward by giving students guidance on how to improve and by causing students to think about their learning
A model to transform pedagogy
Using TLCs to promote formative assessment-based curriculum will enhance teaching skills while increasing student engagement and achievement, and Content, Then Process provides the framework to begin this process.
DVD (With CD) / 2010 / 86 minutes
>>> more details <<<
A New Approach to Lesson Observation and Design
By: Robert J. Marzano
This fully loaded presentation delivers Dr. Marzano's best and most effective strategies for lesson design and observation. After outlining 10 critical areas of instructional practice, he guides you through practical design questions, fundamental segments of classroom instruction, expectations regarding teaching behavior, three critical interventions, four phases of effective teaching, and a protocol for monthly reflective practice meetings.
DVD / 2010
>>> more details <<<
Gerald Nosich outlines some basic strategies for getting students to think critically about historical questions. Good for all history-based courses. Topics include: what are the real reasons for teaching history?, the value of "living in the past," four basic historical questions, discovering our misconceptions of the past, and strategies for teaching students to think critically about the past.
DVD / 59 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Includes the following videos:
Critical Thinking and Educational Reform -60 minutes
Common Misperceptions of Economics - 48 minutes
21st Century Capitalism - 57 minutes
Cowboy Capitalism - 57 minutes
Educating the Work Force - 59 minutes
Questions and Answers with Robert Heilbroner - 52 minutes
In this 6-part series Robert Heilbroner, distinguished economist and author, and Richard Paul, Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking, discuss the economic prospects for the U.S. in the next century. Will the economic success of the U.S. be determined by our ability to cultivate a work force of critical thinkers, as Paul argues, or will resources, new technologies and the laws and politics governing production and world trade outweigh any foreseeable improvements in education? In pursuit of this fundamental question, Heilbroner and Paul address this and other closely related issues such as:
The long and short range implications of global economic changes and the need for educational reform
Common misperceptions about economics and the role of economists
Robert Reich's and Lester Thurow's analysis of the U.S. economic future
Individualistic vs. communitarian forms of capitalism
Japanese vs. U.S. forms of management
Endemic corruption in U.S. politics and business
The capacity of the U.S.educational bureaucracy to adapt
The qualities of a critical thinking work force
6 DVDs
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
The How to Teach Through Socratic Questioning video series was created to teach instructors at all levels of education how to bring one of the oldest and still most powerful teaching techniques into the classroom. Whereas traditional instruction is concerned with giving students answers, Socratic questioning recognizes that questions, not answers, are the driving force in thinking.
Feeding students endless content to remember is akin to repeatedly stepping on the brakes in a vehicle that is, unfortunately, already at rest. Instead, students need to turn on their intellectual engines. Only when answers generate further questions does thought remain alive. Only students who have questions are really thinking and learning. The quality of the questions we ask determines the quality of the thinking we do.
DVD / 64 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Asking Questions That Take Thinking Apart
How to use the elements of thought to take thinking apart
How to drive student thinking through questions
How to teach content using question-driven instruction
How to teach content as a mode of thinking
How to get content to take root in the thinking of students
Specific strategies for leading a Socratic questioning discussion
DVD / 80 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
In this video, the advantages and disadvantages of available critical thinking tests are presented and discussed. A case is made for the use of an essay test. Richard Paul demonstrates how a testing program can be coordinated with faculty development and programmatic assessment.
DVD
>>> more details <<<
To what degree do the mass media affect public discussion and thought about things that matter? Are there factors inherent in today's media system that make a rational discussion of politics virtually impossible? In this presentation, Professor Dorman discusses some of the problems he sees with the mass media and contemporary public discourse, particularly in terms of how issues are portrayed. The context for this analysis is the 1992 presidential campaign. Emphasis is on the need for teaching critical thinking skills about media and politics. A session from the 12th International Conference on Critical Thinking & Educational Reform.
DVD / 42 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Carol Tavris and Richard Paul discuss some of the common myths about the relationship between thinking and emotions. Topics include: how thinking affects emotions and how emotions affect thinking, the stereotype of the "rational person," how poor thinking can cause negative emotions, distinguishing between justified and unjustified anger, and the communicative function of emotions.
DVD / 59 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Penny Heaslip and Richard Paul discuss the role of intuition in nursing practice. Topics include: a definition of critical thinking,"Why is critical thinking important to nursing?," "What is intuition?," the confusion between intuition and prejudice, and how intuitions are fostered.
DVD / 80 minutes
>>> more details <<<
With Alan Schoenfeld and Richard Paul. Good for all levels of math and science instruction. Topics include: student attitudes toward mathematics, the importance of real-world math problems, the difference between "reasoning mathematically" and performing calculations, and teaching for discovery vs. lecturing.
DVD / 59 minutes
>>> more details <<<
In this program Yehudi Webster argues that the traditional model of education, which assumes its purpose is to prepare students for jobs, should be replaced by a model which emphasizes the role education can play in producing happy, well adjusted people. Webster sees the elements of thought as effective tools for achieving this new purpose. Topics include: student attitudes toward education, how social problems affect classroom dynamics, the historical approach to education, the relationship between reasoning and writing, and student and teacher evaluations.
DVD / 56 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
In this video, Dr. Paul explains and illustrates how to teach students to assess each other's work. Questions are addressed in all three videos. Ample theory and application are provided throughout.
DVD / 60 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Narrated by Richard Paul, this video contains interviews with educators from Greensboro, North Carolina who discuss their experiences instituting a district-wide critical thinking program. Important for anyone trying to develop a school or district wide critical thinking program. Topics include: the problem of a fragmented curriculum, overcoming teacher and student resistance, the need for developing a core of critical thinking teachers, resisting the temptation to adopt "pre-packaged" programs, and the need for ongoing in-service opportunities.
DVD / 59 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
A Critical Thinking Approach to Teaching and Learning
All subjects have a logic to them. Each is a system of meanings that enables us to reason effectively. Yet, most students try to learn not by reason, but by rote memorization. They blindly memorize someone else's answers.
Even when they do well on tests, it isn't because they truly understand. True understanding requires disciplined reasoning.
DVD / 59 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
All thought and behavior, insofar as it aims at knowledge or excellence, involves three dimensions: 1) an object we focus on, 2) a process we employ, and 3) standards we use to assess our work. Few students, unfortunately, have ever thought about "intellectual processes" (e.g., analysis or synthesis), or "intellectual objects" (e.g., conclusions, evidence, or assumptions), or "intellectual criteria" (e.g., clarity, accuracy, or consistency). Hence, they do not know what to do when asked, for example, to "analyze a question for clarity". In this tape, Richard Paul explains and models specific strategies for teaching awareness of intellectual processes, objects, and standards.
DVD / 53 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
Everyone thinks, but to think well we must learn to think explicitly about how we are thinking and make corrective adjustments as a result. For example, many students "study" but few think analytically about how they study and then reshape their study habits. This tape focuses on teaching for excellence in self-assessment, including specific teaching strategies.
DVD / 53 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
Listening and reading are effective means to learning only when done skillfully, yet most students lack basic listening and reading abilities. Therefore, educators at all levels must teach explicitly for them. In this tape, Richard Paul explains and models how to teach for excellence in listening and reading. He grounds the session in a conception of the logic of listening and reading and demonstrates how that logic can be used as a tool for listener and reader self-improvement.
DVD / 56 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
To Dissolve Wholes into Parts, Unite Parts into Wholes, Question, Infer, and Reason to Purposeful and Creative Ends (Infer)
We can understand something only by assuming that it has a logic, some order or coherence, reason or method, structure or pattern that makes sense, and so can be translated by a reasoning mind into ideas effectively grounded in reasoned judgment and expressed in an ordered, rational way. In this, the opening tape in the "How to Teach" series, Richard Paul sets out the foundations of a critical approach to teaching and learning. He elucidates how this approach fosters the ability of students to seek and grasp the logic of what they are studying by giving it a logic in their minds.
DVD / 53 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
Students cannot develop higher order thinking without developing reasoning abilities, which they cannot develop without frequently engaging in well-disciplined, analytic writing. Present instruction at all levels, however, systematically fails to teach well-disciplined, analytic writing abilities. In this tape, Richard Paul explains and models how to teach for excellence in analytic writing. He details specific strategies and documents some basic mistakes in writing instruction.
DVD / 56 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
In this introductory video, viewers are introduced to the fundamental logic of all assessment: its contrast with subjective preference, its basis in assessment goals, the need for objective facts, relevant criteria, valid reasoning, and a fair application of criteria to data. A checklist for all assessment is developed and questions from the audience are answered. A foundation is laid for the two videos that follow.
DVD / 90 minutes
>>> more details <<<
Gerald Nosich discusses strategies for teaching critical thinking through subject matter courses. Good for all levels of education. Topics include: critical thinking as "thinking things through,"reasoning about basic questions, evaluating arguments and explanations, and four questions students should always ask.
DVD / 59 minutes
>>> more details <<<
With Gerald Nosich. Strategies for encouraging students to think critically by designing assignments that require them to discover. Good for all levels. Topics include: Why discovery motivates students, why students remember what they discover, recreating historical discoveries, and discovering naive misconceptions.
DVD / 59 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
Reasoning, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Problem Solving, Communicating, Mastering Content (Judge)
When education is fragmented into parts that appear to students and teachers alike as dissociated, little of quality is done, few of the deep, long-term ends of education are well served. Reasoning, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, communication, mastering content - these are not unrelated dimensions of quality education. They are six deeply interwoven, deeply interdependent processes, fostered by the same modes of teaching. In this program, Richard Paul demonstrates their intimate inter-connections, relating them to particular teaching processes and strategies.
DVD / 58 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
The How to Teach Through Socratic Questioning video series was created to teach instructors at all levels of education how to bring one of the oldest and still most powerful teaching techniques into the classroom. Whereas traditional instruction is concerned with giving students answers, Socratic questioning recognizes that questions, not answers, are the driving force in thinking.
Feeding students endless content to remember is akin to repeatedly stepping on the brakes in a vehicle that is, unfortunately, already at rest. Instead, students need to turn on their intellectual engines. Only when answers generate further questions does thought remain alive. Only students who have questions are really thinking and learning. The quality of the questions we ask determines the quality of the thinking we do.
DVD / 90 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
Although we may study many subjects, we don't study them in a way that makes the criteria for assessing our thinking explicit. And though we express our thinking in what we say and do, we don't reflect much on how we come to our beliefs and conclusions, or on the criteria we use in that process. In this tape, Richard Paul demonstrates the importance of making intellectual criteria and standards explicit in instruction. He provides examples of poor reasoning by both students and teachers in the absence of clarity in assessment.
DVD / 58 minutes
>>> more details <<<
By Richard W. Paul
Much of our reasoning, our intellectual modeling of the world, is done without mindfulness. It is small wonder, then, that often we don't reason well. We expect students to learn to reason well without any awareness of the nature of reasoning, the elements of reasoning, or the criteria for assessing reasoning, without any knowledge of the logic of reasoning. Not surprisingly, our approach doesn't work. In this tape, Richard Paul first documents common problems in student and teacher reasoning and assessment of reasoning. Then he explains some of the fundamental concepts and skills essential to good reasoning and how to teach for it.
DVD / 54 minutes
>>> more details <<<
***Price on web-site may not be current and is subject to modification by quotation***