Starting Small: Celebrating First Steps When Adopting Curricular Changes K16 [Paperback]

Teachers are often tasked with taking on new curricula, standards, mandates, and other changes, often with little time and few resources. However, teachers are nothing if not innovators. And many teachers leverage their assets to adopt new practices using small but meaningful changes that go beyond box-checking and encourage authentic learning and engagement. This book celebrates teachers' small steps by sharing examples of these excellent small changes. This book provides tips and tricks for making small but meaningful changes that make lasting impacts on teaching and learning. Contributors include academics, classroom teachers, and librarians, who offer suggestions for instructors across a wide span of ages, grades, and subjects. The book includes 24 straightforward chapters from a range of perspectives and subjects. Some are content specific, with concrete suggestions grounded in academic disciplines while others are broad and can be adapted to any learning environment.Many teachers leverage their assets to adopt changes using small but meaningful changes that go beyond box-checking and encourage authentic learning and engagement. This book celebrates teachers' small steps by sharing examples of these excellent small changes.Lauren Madden is a Professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at The College of New Jersey. The aim of her work is to advocate for scientific literacy and the health of our planet through teaching and learning.

Starting Small: Celebrating First Steps When Adopting Curricular Change K-16

Foreword
By: Lauren Madden

Chapter 1 Little Kids Making Big Decisions
By: Tiffany Robles

Chapter 2 Small Changes, Meaningful Impact: Number Talks in the Elementary Mathematics Classroom
By: Heather West Jerez*, Temple A. Walkowiak*, Briana Pelton, Kristin Hord, & Jennifer Tymkin
* The first two authors are co-lead authors.

Chapter 3 Wonder Walks as Nature Based Teaching PracticelS)