Eradicate Average

CULTURIZE Your School.

Average schools don't inspire greatness--and greatness is what our world needs if we are going to produce world-changing learners.

In Culturize, author and education leader Jimmy Casas shares insights into what it takes to cultivate a community of learners who embody the innately human traits our world desperately needs, such as kindness, honesty, and compassion. His stories reveal how these soft skills can be honed while meeting and exceeding academic standards of twenty-first-century learning. You'll learn...

• How to reach those who seem unreachable

• What to do when students disengage or drop out of school

• How to ensure your learners feel cared for and empowered

• How to create an environment where all learners are challenged and inspired to be their best

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Jimmy Casas guides readers to understand that school culture must be a daily focal point for all school leaders.

--Beverly Hutton, Ed.D., Deputy Executive Director, National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)

No matter your title or profession, page after page of this book will inspire you.

--Kayla Delzer, CEO, Top Dog Teaching Inc.

Read this book to culturize your school and to live your excellence--every day.

--Thomas C. Murray, Director of Innovation, Future Ready Schools

Artificial intelligence may change the world more than the iPhone, the internet, or even electricity.

It's bound to change education. (It already has.) But how?

AI for Educators is a readable guide for educators.

• It translates AI through a teacher lens.
• It provides practical ideas you can use in class right away.
• It unlocks powerful ways to streamline teaching and save time.

It also paints a picture of the future our students will face-and provides questions you can help them grapple with.

We can use AI to empower teaching and learning. And it can start today.

Based on Dave Burgess's popular Outrageous Teaching and Teach Like a PIRATE seminars, this book offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. You'll learn how to: - Tap into and dramatically increase your passion as a teacher - Develop outrageously engaging lessons that draw students in like a magnet - Establish rapport and a sense of camaraderie in your classroom - Transform your class into a life-changing experience for your students This groundbreaking inspirational manifesto contains over 30 hooks specially designed to captivate your class and 170 brainstorming questions that will skyrocket your creativity. Once you learn the Teach Like a PIRATE system, you'll never look at your role as an educator the same again.

Transforming Your School Starts with 1% Changes

As his school began rebounding from the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, visionary educator Ron Clark asked himself a crucial question: How can we continue to improve when we're already giving our all? The answer was to ask his staff to brainstorm ways to be just a little bit better. If everyone committed to ten of these one percenters, as he called them, they would have a major impact. That's exactly what happened, and today, the Ron Clark Academy is leading the way with simple but innovative practices that are transforming the lives of students, parents, and teachers.

In Be 1% Better, Clark opens his playbook, sharing dozens of ways he and his staff have made change doable. The strategies here work both within and beyond the classroom by breaking change down into baby steps that can easily be integrated into daily tasks and that don't involve months of planning or considerable resources.

Be 1% Better equips educators, administrators, staff, and school leaders with everything they need to get just a little bit better, then watch as these one percenters cascade into cultural and curricular shifts that benefit everyone.

Ron Clark is the New York Times best-selling author of The Essential 55, which has sold more than one million copies in twenty-five different languages. Clark's other works, Move Your Bus, The End of Molasses Classes, and The Excellent 11 were all met with critical acclaim. He has been named American Teacher of the Year by Disney and was Oprah Winfrey's pick as her Phenomenal Man. He founded the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, which more than 145,000 educators from around the world have visited to learn about the extraordinary ways that teachers and parents of RCA have helped children achieve great success. Clark has been featured on the Today show and CNN, and his experiences have been turned into the uplifting film The Ron Clark Story, starring Matthew Perry.

Your Guide to Student-Led Learning

Catlin Tucker and Katie Novak have worked with too many educators who are frustrated and disillusioned with the teaching profession. They know that teachers are drowning in work and unrealistic demands. Many are mentally and emotionally exhausted by the uncertainty and constant change

created by the pandemic. In this follow-up to UDL and Blended Learning, the authors have set out to help teachers reimagine their approach to this work so that it is sustainable and rewarding.

Each chapter in The Shift to Student-Led takes apart one traditional teacher-led work ow, examining the problems it presents teachers and students, what the research says versus what the reality in the classroom is, and how UDL and blended learning can free teachers from the sage on the stage role and place students at the center of their learning. These reimagined student-led workflows help students develop self-awareness, internal motivation, and self-regulation skills, which are critical to becoming expert learners.

Intended for K-12 educators, instructional coaches, and school leaders who want to create academically robust, inclusive learning communities, this book is full of principles, strategies, and resources that can be put into practice right away and at any level.

Even before the hit TV show whose name she inspired ever aired, Ms. Abbott was a larger-than-life figure.

The teacher who put the Abbott in TV's hit Abbott Elementary is just as serious about education-and caring-as the show is funny. In her classroom, in the hallways, and in her Philadelphia neighborhood, she could do what other teachers couldn't. But even the legendary Ms. Abbott wasn't always prepared for the situations she faced, though she was always up to the challenge. Now, Teaching the Ms. Abbott Way is here to tell her story and inspire educators with her example.

This book looks at the key moments in Ms. Abbott's career and life, gives voice to her philosophy on teaching, and shows how any educator can care for their students by being serious and passionate about not just what they learn but the climate and community they learn it in.

Kids walk into schools full of wonder and questions. How you, as an educator, respond to students' natural curiosity can help further their own exploration and shape the way they learn today and in the future. The traditional system of education requires students to hold their questions and compliantly stick to the scheduled curriculum. But our job as educators is to provide new and better opportunities for our students. It's time to recognize that compliance doesn't foster innovation, encourage critical thinking, or inspire creativity--and those are the skills our students need to succeed. In The Innovator's Mindset, George Couros encourages teachers and administrators to empower their learners to wonder, to explore--and to become forward-thinking leaders. If we want innovative students, we need innovative educators. In other words, innovation begins with you. Ultimately, innovation is not about a skill set: it's about a mindset. The Innovator's Mindset is for you if: You are a superintendent, district administrator, or principal who wants to empower your staff to create a culture of innovation You are a school leader - at any level - and want to help students and educators become their personal best. You are a teacher who wants to create relevant learning experiences and help students develop the skills they need to be successful. You'll be inspired to: Connect with other innovative educators Support teachers and leaders as learners Tap into the strength of your learning community Create ongoing opportunities for innovation Seek more effective methods for measuring progress And, most importantly, embrace change and use it to do something amazing

What if learning was exciting? What if students felt important and empowered every time they walked into the building? What if parents looked forward to calls from their children's teachers and principals, instead of cringing when the school's number popped up on their phones? To Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome, those aren't far-fetched what ifs; they can (and should) be a reality for every teacher, school, parent, and student. In Kids Deserve It , Todd and Adam encourage you to think big and make learning fun and meaningful for students. While you're at it, you just might rediscover why you became an educator in the first place. Learn why you should be calling parents to praise your students (and employees). Discover ways to promote family interaction and improve relationships for kids at school and at home. Be inspired to take risks, shake up the status quo, and be a champion for your students. #KidsDeserveIt

Choosing to See: A Framework for Equity in the Math Classroom

By Pamela Seda and Kyndall Brown

Most of the top jobs for the future require students to have a strong foundational understanding of mathematics. Our failure to mathematically educate most students in general, and students of color in particular, is bad not only for these students individually but also for our society. In Choosing to See, Pamela Seda and Kyndall Brown offer a substantive, rigorous, and necessary set of interventions to move mathematics education toward greater equity, particularly in serving the needs of Black and Brown students, who are underrepresented and underserved as math scholars. The authors' thoughtful ICUCARE equity framework serves as a lens to help teachers see where they are achieving this alignment and where they are not. Through this lens, choosing to see means caring enough about what you see to act. It means accepting that every one of your students can be an expert given the opportunity. It means recognizing negative stereotypes about marginalized students and understanding their effects. It means knowing that your students have rich lives outside the classroom that can inform what you do inside the classroom. And it means recognizing and celebrating their human dimensions, so that all students' strengths, capabilities, and talents can grow.

A provocative and practical read! Seda and Brown remind us that equity is not a destination but a journey we take together with our students, their families, and our colleagues. DR. TRENA L. WILKERSON, professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Baylor University, president, NCTM

It's one thing to embrace Standards for Mathematics Practices (SMP) but quite another to see the human potential of minoritized children and teach them in ways that ensure they actually succeed. The authors of this book share rich personal stories that not only help teachers to see their students but to also perceive who they are and what they can become. JACQUELINE LEONARD, professor of Mathematics Education, University of Wyoming

Choosing to See is the emotional and spiritual journey that all math educators need to embark on wholeheartedly. The book is a timely primer that takes the deep and complex issue of race and systemic bias in the mathematical experiences of Black students and presents them with unflinching clarity and candor. SUNIL SINGH, author of Pi of Life

This book helps close the gap between recognizing that we can do more to make math classrooms equitable and actually having a plan for how to do it. Pamela and Kyndall are respected leaders in the mathematics education community and help unpack the problems we may not be aware of as well as solutions for addressing them. ROBERT KAPLINSKY, author of Open Middle Math

Invest in excellence--for your students every day, your colleagues year after year, and yourself for a lifetime.

Jimmy Casas, veteran educator and author of Culturize, believes that by cultivating a mindset that centers on investing in students, colleagues, and--most of all--themselves, educators can shift schools away from a culture that runs on compliance, blame, and fear. In Live Your Excellence, he shares inspiration, stories, and strategies to help overcome the negative undercurrents that exist in school culture today.

Jimmy explains how educators of all stripes can embrace an investment-based approach to everything from collaborative leadership to challenging students to feelings of inadequacy. His insights into navigating the complexities of working in schools will be an invaluable resource for all of the educators who desire--more than anything--to rediscover their own excellence and make a difference.

Dave Burgess Consulting books

What can you do to achieve excellence as an educator and inspire it in your students and staff every single day? In this outstanding book, Jimmy Casas answers that question with refreshing honesty and insight.

--Manny Scott, Original Freedom Writer, author, speaker

This book is a gift to any educator who wants to make their school better than it's ever been.

--Dr. Jody Carrington, Author, speaker, game changer

This is a wonderful book filled with great ideas and strategies, but what makes it special are the stories--some will break your heart, some will help you put it back together, and all of them will remind you of the importance of living our best lives and helping others live their best lives too.

--Jim Knight, Senior partner, Instructional Coaching Group

How is What Makes a Great Principal unique, and what sets it apart from other leadership books?

Many leadership books outline the what of effective leadership without delving into the how. What sets What Makes a Great Principal apart from others are three key elements: a clear emphasis on what truly matters, narratives and strategies directly sourced from teachers and students, and a diverse range of perspectives that collectively paint a comprehensive picture of impactful school leadership.

Our book distinctly identifies the five pillars essential to great principals, providing a framework that enables school leaders to prioritize daily tasks and establish long-term objectives. Drawing from a blend of research, personal experiences, and external expertise, we crafted these pillars understanding the constant demands on principals' attention. Recognizing the need for support in prioritization, our book equips school leaders with tools and strategies to implement these pillars effectively.

Crucially, the means to put these pillars into action are shared by those directly under the principal's leadership-teachers and students. What Makes a Great Principal showcases poignant stories and specific practices from educators and learners, offering insights into what inspired and supported them in achieving their best work. By presenting school leadership through the lens of those most impacted by the principal, this book redefines the essence of effective leadership in education.

AI can't replace the human element of education. It can elevate it.

Educators understand the crucial importance of developing learning experiences that are accessible, engaging, and student-centered. However, when faced with a long list of ever-increasing demands, teachers are often left without the time, energy, and resources necessary to turn best intentions into best practices. Enter Elevating Educational Design with AI, a guide for teachers who want to use technology to activate engagement, give students agency over their learning, and streamline workflows.

In an era when AI is rapidly reshaping our world, some educators feel apprehensive about integrating it into their practice. Without a focus on the humans behind the ideas, AI-generated lessons can end up perpetuating one-size-fits-all learning experiences, undermining efforts to create inclusive and differentiated learning environments where all students can thrive. The conversational, personable, and inquisitive approach of Elevating Educational Design with AI refocuses the conversation on how we can use AI-powered tools in the service of strong pedagogical practices that offer effective learning experiences for every student, demystifying the integration of AI in education, guiding educators, and helping them harness its power.

With their latest book, Catlin Tucker and Katie Novak empower teachers with an adaptable and rigorous educational design framework that embodies the best ideals of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning. They explain how readers can leverage modern AI as a dynamic thought partner to help transform insights into action. Each chapter explores a step in designing accessible, inclusive, and equitable experiences, highlighting how to employ AI to create learning environments anchored in strong pedagogical practices.

Level Up Your Leadership with Intention, Connection, and Direction

School communities are full of people who have both the ability and desire to lead. Some lead without knowing it. Most lead without the recognition they deserve. Whether you lead in a classroom, department, building, or district, chances are you know how challenging it can be to identify and develop other strong leaders, and to grow the leadership capacity of your organization as a whole. But ensuring that the leaders around you know their worth, helping them cultivate connections, and growing their confidence can help your whole team move forward together, helping the organization and the people within it to thrive.

Lead from Where You Are offers a down-to-earth, implementable approach to rethinking how we build leadership and community in schools. Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, a veteran principal and superintendent, argues that our focus must be on growing leadership potential all across the community, from students to teachers to staff. We can do this by reflecting on how we build a sense of intention together, how we connect with each other, and how we direct those we lead with compassion and affirmation. Sanfelippo's frank discussion of the highs and lows of leadership will help new principals and superintendents feel prepared, while also providing useful methods and sound counsel.

Innovative Protocols for ELA Instruction

With this latest contribution to the best-selling series, Jacob Carr offers a new set of EduProtocols tailored to the ELA classroom. Infinitely adaptable and deeply engaging, these lesson frames can be deployed with almost any course content, as well as a variety of learning objectives. Designed to empower your students with the critical thinking and analytical writing skills they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond, these EduProtocols incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and generative AI. Sure to enliven discussion and build collaboration, The EduProtocol Field Guide ELA Edition is overflowing with ideas to help teachers Go slow to go fast and supercharge instruction.

Endorsements

Where was this book when I was becoming a teacher? It is wise, fun, practical, and memorable. Buy the book and keep it close by. -Dr. Fred Mednick, founder, Teachers Without Borders

A must-have for teachers who aspire to teach better, work less! -Dr. Donya Ball, author, Against the Wind: Leadership at 36,000 Feet

This book equips ELA educators with questioning strategies, public speaking skills, and collaboration methods that empower students to become independent and critical thinkers. -Nathan Collins, English teacher and edTech consultant

Kids begin their learning journey as curious problem solvers who ask questions and create solutions. As they go through school, something happens to many of our students, and they begin to play the game of school, eager to be compliant and follow a path instead of making their own.

As teachers, leaders, and parents, we have the opportunity to be the guide in our kids' education and unleash the creative potential of each and every student. In a world that is ever changing, our job is not to prepare students for something; instead, our role is to help students prepare themselves for anything.

In Empower, A.J. Juliani and John Spencer provide teachers, coaches, and administrators with a roadmap that will inspire innovation, authentic learning experiences, and practical ways to empower students to pursue their passions while in school.

Compliance is expecting students to pay attention. Engagement is getting students excited about our topics, interests, and curriculum. But when we empower students, they crave learning that is both meaningful and relevant to their life, now and in the future.

Empower is for you if ...

• You are a teacher eager to get students making, designing, and creating their own learning path in (and out of) the classroom

• You are a superintendent, district administrator, or principal who is leading change and working to help your staff thrive in a twenty-first-century learning environment

• You are a coach, staff developer, or teacher leader who is crafting professional learning experiences and wants to encourage colleagues to be the guide on the ride

Empower is focused not only on what happens when students own their learning but also on how to reach a place where that is possible in the midst of standards, set curriculum paths, and realities of school that we all have to deal with. Written by real educators who are still working in schools and with teachers, Empower will provide ways to overcome these challenges and turn them into opportunities for our learners to be unabashedly different and remarkable.

Join the conversation online using the hashtag #EmpowerBook and learn more at EmpowerBook.co.

Meet Alpert.

Alpert loves blank sheets of white paper, or ahem, snowstorms, as he calls them.

Alpert is living his best life, flying around in a snowstorm until one day, a line shows up on the page. A magic line.

Alpert is confused. He is intrigued.

What is this line? Who put it there? Why?

Join Alpert as he hilariously deals with the growing illustrations that change with every turn of the page.

Help him cope with his snowstorms that turn into detailed settings!

Be Relentless

Hamish Brewer (aka the Tattooed Skateboarding Principal) grew up in a home disrupted by poverty, addiction, and family dysfunction. He understands the feelings of fear, lostness, and desperation that overwhelm too many children today--because that was his life. That experience is what drives him to work relentlessly to empower people living in the toughest areas to envision and create a better future for themselves.

Disrupt the norm. That is the challenge Hamish, a Nationally Distinguished Principal, calls educators, students, families, and communities to accept. And as he authentically shares his life experiences and adventures in this book, you, too, will be inspired to . . .

• Believe that something bigger and better is possible.

• Pursue your best, whatever it takes.

• Transform your school.

• Become the educator you always dreamed of being.

• Leave a legacy that pushes others to achieve their best

Relentless is more than a motto. It's a mission of total passion and purpose. And it's the only way to win at work and at life.

Are you ready to take your life and work to the next level?

Be Relentless

Hamish proves that passion, love, and thinking outside the box have the power to change children's lives. --Michael Ien Cohen, director and producer, Humanity Stoked

This book is no gimmick; it is a way of being. It is real. We must fight for all children. We must be all in. So, roll up your sleeves. Show those tattoos. And be Relentless. --John P. Broome, PhD, associate professor of education, University of Mary Washington

In Relentless, Hamish Brewer shares a story of hope, love, and inspiration for making schools better. It is one part memoir, one part school-improvement guide, and a whole lot of motivation. --Beth Houf, principal, Fulton Middle School; coauthor, Lead Like a PIRATE

Experience a Creative Breakthrough in Your Classroom

Have you ever wished you were more creative... or that your students were more engaged in your lessons? The Wild Card is your step-by-step guide to experiencing a creative breakthrough in your classroom with your students. Even if you've never painted a portrait or written a poem, you can create unforgettable lessons that help your learners retain content.

In this book, Wade and Hope King show you how to draw on your authentic self--your past experiences, personality quirks, interests, hobbies, and strengths--to deliver your content creatively. The seven steps in The Wild Card will give you the knowledge and the confidence to bring creative teaching strategies into your classroom. You'll learn...

• Why the deck is not stacked against you, no matter what kind of hand you've been dealt

• Why you should never listen to the Joker

• How to identify the Ace up your sleeve and use it to create classroom magic

• How to apply the Rules of Rigor in order to fuse creativity with learning

• How to become the Wild Card that changes the game for your students

This book is a teacher wonderland of ideas, inspiration, and mind-blowing magic. --Ron Clark, New York Times bestselling author and cofounder, Ron Clark Academy

Hope and Wade provide powerful, proven, practical steps to discovering the creativity inside of us all. --Kim Bearden, cofounder and executive director, Ron Clark Academy, author of LA Times bestselling Crash Course

Wade and Hope King challenge, equip, and emPOWER you to create lessons that bring light (not dread) to your students' eyes. --Jason David Frank, actor, Power Ranger, and eighth-degree black belt martial artist

These pages are full of real-life stories that will pull you in and challenge you to your core. --Amy Lemons, educator and blogger

SetTheStageToEngage.com

Passing the test is only one part of this story.

When Andrew Sharos began teaching Advanced Placement US History (APUSH), the school's track record on AP exams left something to be desired. The school scores averaged a 2.7 out of 5, and only 18 percent of the APUSH students passed the exam the year before. In his first year of teaching APUSH, 92 percent of his students passed the exam. And in years that followed, 100 percent of his APUSH students passed the exam.

With a national average near 50 percent on the APUSH exam, the fact that every student in Sharos's class passed is pretty incredible. But there is more to this story: The odds are stacked against the students in his suburban-Chicago school. Financial hardship, full-time jobs, and hunger are a normal part of life for many of his students. Despite the daily challenges they face, these students are learning they can beat the odds. It's a heartwarming, unlikely success story proving that, with the proper support, every student can experience academic success.

All 4s and 5s is a practical guide to teaching AP courses and leading AP programs. With twenty-five classroom strategies and twenty-five program strategies, All 4s and 5s equips you to develop a culture of academic and personal success.

This book is filled with hope, and it showcases how the intensity of AP learning is filled with relationships and life lessons that last much longer than the knowledge gained in the classroom.

--Dr. Robert Dillon, author, and director of innovation, University City School District

Straight from the shoulder, devoid of annoying academic jargon, searingly honest about failures and successes--Sharos gives us more than he imagines. Student outcomes are about students--not outcomes. A good book; heed its advice.

--Steven M. Avella, author, history professor, Marquette University

This is the AP book I have been waiting for From the first chapter to the end, it is full of practical, applicable, and creative strategies.

--Edwina Henslee, director, College Board