Clarity for Learning: Five Essential Practices That Empower Students and Teachers

An essential resource for student and teacher clarity

With the ever-changing landscape of education, teachers and leaders often find themselves searching for clarity in a sea of standards, curriculum resources, and competing priorities. Clarity for Learning offers a simple and doable approach to developing clarity and sharing it with students through five essential components:

• crafting learning intentions and success criteria
• co-constructing learning intentions and success criteria with learners
• creating opportunities for students to respond
• effective feedback on and for learning
• students and teachers sharing learning and progress

The book is full of examples from teachers and leaders who have shared their journey, struggles, and successes for readers to use to propel their own work forward.

Author: John T. Almarode,Kara L. Vandas
Publisher: Corwin Publishers
Published: 11/16/2018
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.90h x 6.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781506384696

About the Author
John Almarode was the 2015-2016 Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professor of Education, the first to ever occupy this endowed professorship, and is currently Associate Professor of Education and the Co-Director of the Center for STEM Education and Outreach in the College of Education at James Madison University. As a teacher, he has worked with all age groups in education, from prekindergarteners to graduate students. John began his career teaching secondary mathematics and science to a wide range of students. He has presented locally, nationally, and internationally in countries as far away as Canada, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Korea, and Thailand. He has worked with thousands of teachers, hundreds of school districts, and numerous professional organizations. John has conducted staff development workshops, keynote addresses, and conference presentations on how the brain works and what schools and classrooms can do to better align with how the brain works. He has authored multiple articles, reports, book chapters, and two books including Captivate, Activate, and Invigorate the Student Brain in Science and Math, Grades 6-12 (Corwin Press, 2013) and a children's book (Author House, 2010) to help inform young children and their parents about the amazing brain. At James Madison University, he works with pre-service teachers, getting them ready to enter their own classrooms. He actively pursues his research interests including the science of learning, the design and measurement of classroom environments that promote student engagement, interest and engagement in STEM disciplines, specialized STEM high schools, interventions for low socioeconomic populations, college and university laboratory schools, and the translation of American education pedagogy in international schools. The work of John and his colleagues has been presented to the United State Congress, the Governor of Virginia, various Cabinet Members, the Virginia Senate, the United States Department of Education, and even the Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House. John holds a Doctoral Degree in Science Education from the University of Virginia, a Master's Degree in Teaching with an emphasis in Gifted and Special Education, and a Bachelor's Degree, with Honors, in Physics and Mathematics.

Kara Vandas works with districts and schools around the country to implement processes and practices that best support student learning. She is the co-author of Partnering with Students: Building Ownership of Learning. Her areas of focus in professional learning include Visible Learning Plus, Visible Learning Literacy, Instructional Coaching, High Impact Instruction, Common Formative Assessment 2.0, Learning Intentions & Success Criteria, Co-constructing Success Criteria, and Partnering with Students: Building Ownership of Learning. Over the course of her career in education, Kara has worked as a teacher, teacher leader, trainer, and program developer. She holds a Master of Arts in Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Regis University and Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Wyoming. Kara brings experience from her previous work as the Director of Teacher Effectiveness for the Colorado League of Charter Schools. In this role, she was responsible for partnering with over 30 public, charter schools around the state of Colorado in the implementation of best practices in curriculum and assessment design, collaborative use of data, and the implementation of effective instructional strategies. In doing so, Kara has had the opportunity to support rural, urban, and suburban schools of various instructional models, student populations, and across K-12 systems in order to best implement these powerful practices. Prior to her work with charter schools in Colorado, she worked with a private, alternative school system to establish an innovative teacher education program for teachers serving high-need students. In addition, Kara worked with Edison Schools, now Edison Learning, to train teachers in effective instructional and classroom management practices. Kara also taught with Edison Schools in Colorado, where she taught middle school science, reading, and language arts. Her teaching career began at the Denver Street School, an alternative school for high-need youth in Denver, CO.