Making Liberalism Work

Congratulations to Cris Tovani recipient of ILA''s Adolescent Literacy Thought Leader Award 2017!The truth is when we rely on lecture in an effort to cover content were doing students a disservice. Although lecture can be engaging and even useful lecture alone cannot give kids real opportunities to learn retain and transfer the disciplinary ideas skills and practices were trying to teach. Cris Tovani and Elizabeth Moje help us translate the time spent lecturing into powerful learning experiences where students interact and inquire into topics that matter. Their research-based alternatives help you create the conditions for engaging relevant work thats inherently interesting and sparks critical thinking. Elizabeth Moje helps us understand the latest research on how people learn and shows powerful evidence that teachers can increase student learning with more purposeful student participation. Veteran teacher and instructional coach Cris Tovani provides a practical model for instruction thats backed by the current research and puts student engagement at the center of your teaching. Her examples of problem-based learning activities include connections to national standards and topics that matter outside the classroom walls. Together Elizabeth and Cris make a convincing argument that when we minimize teaching-as-telling and transition to planning for kids to do the work student engagement soarsand so does learning.