“Developing a Crisis Management Plan” provides policies and procedures necessary to prevent and react to school threats,... More > emergencies, and evacuations. The section is divided into two parts: those crisis situations that require evacuation and those crisis situations that require taking shelter. < Less

The Safe School Planning Guide provides a 32 page template for schools to assess the overall security through, developing... More > policies that regulate healthy practices, bully proofing the campus and planning in advance for a crisis. < Less

Section one, “School Building Security,” provides educators with an overall program for securing their school... More > facilities. It provides policies and procedures necessary for securing both internal and external building security. The author has provided short rationales for each policy and the necessary forms for their implementation. The section concludes with a valuable assessment tool that administrators and security officials can use to evaluate the present level of building security and provides a reference point for future security planning. < Less

Today, more than ever before, educators are faced with the idea that in order to improve instruction, they will need to... More > create newer, faster and better systems to assess their schools strengths and weaknesses. Educators are now responsible for gathering an array of measures, including formative academic assessments, attendance rates, suspension rates, public opinion ratings, and school climate surveys. < Less

A Guide to Virtual Collaboration will serve as a step by step process for the virtual presenter as he/she works to develop... More > effective communication strategies needed for developing a collaborative agenda for a point to point or multi-point video conference. The purpose of A Guide to Virtual Collaboration is to help virtual presenters outline a collaborative agenda to resolve organizational issues that will help bridge the gaps between individuals and to create new paradigms of thought in the planning process. < Less

It should be noted that there cannot be an exemplary school without large numbers of effective teachers. To be an effective... More > teacher means more than being a "good" teacher. It means that certain types of student achievement take place. Achievement takes place at the classroom level when the teacher effectively delivers to students a curriculum matched to the district's desired outcomes. To deliver a curriculum means to find ways to engage students successfully with those materials and activities that have empirical or logical links with the outcomes. The ways teachers find to increase students' engagement, success rate, and understanding of the desired outcomes are termed instructional performance. < Less

Classroom environment represents the organizational function of the teacher. Certain tasks that affect classroom environment... More > are performed in a variety of settings as a result of the teacher’s individual beliefs. It is what the teacher does to organize daily learning. It includes setting expectations for behavior, providing support in the development of a positive self-concept, realizing the individual differences of each student, and grouping students within the classroom based on prescriptive learning needs. A teacher should be cognizant of classroom climate and the effects on student learning. Evaluators should also support teachers in construction classroom climates that are focused on maximizing student achievement. In chapter three each of the four quadrants will be explored, defining the process of classroom environment decisions and how to assess each one separately. < Less

Domain one outlines the definitions and performance criteria that directly relate to the executive functions of teaching.... More > These definitions will serve as specific guidelines for teachers and supervisors to use when discussing the executive function of teaching. Most districts suffer from performance criteria that are too general or poorly defined; therefore, often teachers have doubts about exactly what is expected of them when designing instruction. It is both the responsibility of the supervisor and the right of the teacher to know and understand expectations of performance. To ensure the understanding of performance criteria within domain two, planning for instruction definitions and criteria are outlined to ensure clarity of teacher performance expectations. < Less

It is the intent of Part One to look at some emerging thoughts about the improvement of the teacher evaluation process as a... More > whole. To accomplish this we must first recognize that teacher evaluation is not an event but an unremitting process that evolves over time with no conclusions except for continuous growth. Helping Teachers Teach Better will explore the roots of well defined practices as we identify specific frameworks of teaching as well as the tools necessary for assessing specific domains. Evaluators will be given new tips on how to establish non-threatening assessment environments that are built on treating teachers as professionals. This new approach will focus on reflective development and individualized goal driven improvement process that is deeply entrenched in the principles and practices of high professional standards. < Less

A young mans triumphant adventure for wisdom, bravery and the right to rule a kingdom. Travel along the many paths from... More > royalty to pauper to nobility as a prince confronts the challenges to win the princess’s hand in marriage.

At midnight, on the last hour of the first year, the prince sat reading at his table. He was buried in the book stacked library like a mouse in cheese. A strong wind blew through the room like a chill breath of winter, cold and hard as steel. The room caught a solemn quietude. The torches and fire went out. The room became dark bending together as though it was whispering secrets. The mind of the prince became portent, full of danger. In the center of the table a fog encircled orb appeared. The orb hovered, became brighter and glowed with random gleams of blue light. The prince farsightedly gazed upon the orb like it was a star in morning light.
Listen to the story at: http://digitalstoryland.podbean.com/ < Less