What should conversations about race look and sound like in the elementary classroom? How do we respond authentically and truthfully to children’s questions about the world? 
And how can we build classroom communities that encourage these meaningful conversations about race?

Matthew Kay and Jennifer Orr take on these questions and more in We’re Gonna Keep On Talking: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Elementary Classroom. A companion work to Kay’s Not Light, But Fire, this book focuses on the unique and powerful role discussions about race can play in the elementary classroom.

Drawing its title inspiration from the lyrics of the freedom song “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” sung by hundreds of children marching against segregation in what came to be known as the Children’s Crusade of 1963, We’re Gonna Keep On Talking is written for teachers who are willing to match children’s courage and brilliance, and who believe that “a foundation in meaningful race discourse will help [children] to seek justice for themselves and their neighbors, to be kinder, [and] more thoughtful.”

Writing with the humility and honest storytelling of two career classroom teachers, Matthew Kay and Jennifer Orr share:

• Strategies for building safe and supportive classroom and school spaces for productive discourse
• Dozens of practical teacher moves for facilitating race conversations
• Classroom stories that allow readers to envision ways into the work through picture books, art, graphs, historical photographs, and current events
• Tips for aligning the work of race conversations to your grade-level standards

Whether you are unsure of where to begin or looking to deepen your practice, We’re Gonna Keep On Talking will be your guide to the important work of race conversations in the elementary classroom.
 

Today’s students bring with them to the classroom a wide variety of understandings and ways of knowing. Sharing this richness of understanding, as well as students’ unique ways of looking at challenges, solving problems, and interpreting the world adds an incredible depth and meaning to all types of classroom learning. This thoughtful guide offers authentic, meaningful and purposeful activities that will lead students to share their thinking, and to support and mentor each other emotionally, socially, and academically. It explores numerous ways to create opportunities for shared learning, mentoring partnerships, and expanding student horizons.

In 6 Tools for Collaborative Mathematics Coaching, Nicora Placa lays out a clear path to help you become a trusted and effective math coach. Her “6 Tools” are flexible structures that you and your colleagues can use to learn together:

1. Building Teams: Fostering a Learning Community
2. Student Interviews: Learning to Listen
3. Visiting Classrooms: Developing Your Lens
4. Learning Walks: Focusing the Team on Students’ Thinking
5. Rehearsing Routines: Practicing with Colleagues
6. Lesson Study: Learning Collectively with Voice, Choice, and Agency

In this easy-to-use, practical guide, Placa introduces each of the 6 Tools with classroom vignettes, step-by-step guidelines for rollout, connections to the literature, resources for further research, planning templates, and opportunities for you to adapt the tool for your particular context.

Whether you're a new coach who loves teaching math to children but is new to adult education, or a more experienced coach who is looking for new strategies to engage your teams, 6 Tools for Collaborative Mathematics Coaching can help you create learning opportunities that honor teachers as professionals. With a collaborative coaching approach, you can improve teaching and learning across your school and for all your students.

"There’s so much to love about how 6 Tools is constructed." --Elham Kazemi

Deepening In-Class and Online Learning shows teachers how to make learning joyful as they translate successful classroom strategies to virtual learning. The book includes more than 60 step-by-step strategies that encourage interaction, foster inclusion, and spark imagination. Each activity is presented in a consistent format, ready-to-use in-class and for online learning.

Whether teaching virtually or adding digital activities to in-class instruction, this book explores effective ways for students to present, communicate, and collaborate. Innovative activities range from discussing hot topics and sharing personal stories to visual boards and digital storytelling. Also included is an up-to-date glossary of digital tools to help make sense of the shifting landscape in today’s classrooms.
 
 

This practical book is full of quick and easy-to-use lessons that promote meaningful writing practices in the classroom. Teachers will find strategies organized alphabetically and in a consistent format that will inspire students to plan, develop, and share their writing. The lessons allow teachers to choose what they need to meet the diverse and various needs of students in grades one through eight. Each independent lesson guides students through the writing process with information about a writing form, along with suggested literature sources. Tips throughout the book will help students successfully write to narrate, to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to respond, and to enjoy.