July Book Choice

Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind

Just as gifted children clearly differ from the norm, Deborah Ruf s book Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind is set apart from the stacks of other books written for parents, teachers, and professionals about the development of a gifted child naturally endowed with a high degree of general mental ability or extraordinary ability in a specific domain. Although the designation of giftedness is largely a matter of administrative convenience. The most obvious reason is that the author has carefully collected and categorized vignettes from 50 families with 78 different gifted children. Because of the breadth of this project, Ruf gives readers an unprecedented opportunity to vicariously experience daily living with exceptional children

July Book Choice

Overview
An essential part of moving forward with ASCD's Understanding by Design® framework is to make sure its principles and strategies are reflected in all aspects of your school improvement efforts, including curriculum planning, leadership, teacher professional development, and action research. Here’s a book to help you with that. From creating your mission and goals to identifying desired results, UbD authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe describe how to focus your school on the goals of understanding and accomplishment-based learning. Dozens of action ideas, curriculum frameworks, and assessment rubrics help you use backward design and other UbD processes to determine the evidence for your success and to plan improvement steps in instruction and leadership roles.