School Smarts

This is a book about success. A book about what effective learners do to succeed in school and how you can help all of your students achieve similar results. It's based upon a five-year study in which Jim Burke investigated the essential skills and abilities effective learners use to succeed in academic classes. His results are so groundbreaking, so powerful that they will forever change the way you view learning. Academic success involves much more than the obvious knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Effective students recognize what matters in school, what's worth paying attention to, how much effort is appropriate. They share four essential qualities, what Jim describes as the Four Cs of Academic Success: commitment - the extent to which students care about the work and maintain consistency in their attempt to succeed content-the information or processes students must know to complete a task or succeed on an academic assignment in class or in school in general competencies - those skills students need to complete the assignment or succeed at some task capacities - the quantifiable aspects of performance; students can have great skills but lack the capacity to full employ them. School Smarts describes each one of these qualities in detail, offering an array of examples and practical suggestions to help you develop these habits of mind in your own students. These strategies will work across all subject areas with all kinds of students - whether they're attempting to go from Fs to Cs or Cs to A/Bs. But Jim doesn't stop there. In the final chapter, he takes the Four Cs one step further, demonstrating how they can assist you in addressing the academic literacy needs of your students.

About the Author :
Jim Burke is the author of numerous bestselling Heinemann titles, including the English Teacher's Companion, Fourth Edition and What's the Big Idea? The question he's always tried to answer is "How can we teach our students better?" He seeks these answers daily through his work in his own classroom at Burlingame High School in California where he still teaches after twenty years. Facing the same constraints and challenges as every other teacher, Jim shares his creative solutions in bestselling professional titles with Heinemann such as Reading Reminders and Writing Reminders as well as through Heinemann Professional Development Services. As part of his commitment to helping teachers and learning how to use the latest technologies, he founded the English Companion Ning, described by Education Week as "the world's largest English department" and winner of several Edublog Awards for Best Social Network for Education. In addition to the EC Ning, Jim offers a steady stream of recommended resources through his website (www.englishcompanion.com) and Twitter (@englishcomp) where he is ranked in the top 100 educators to follow at the top within the online English teacher community. Jim serves on several national commissions related to adolescent literacy and standards, including the Advanced Placement English Literature and Language Course and Exam Review Commission with the College Board and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) where he serves on the Content Technical Working Group, which advises PARCC on the national assessments being developed for the Common Core State Standards. In addition, he is a senior author on the Holt McDougal Harcourt Literature series. Jim has received numerous awards, including the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award, the NCTE Conference on English Leadership Award, and the California Reading Association Hall of Fame Award. He served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Committee on Adolescence and Young Adulthood English Language Arts Standards. Through his work in the class and on such commissions, Jim Burke seeks not only to clarify but reimagine what English should be, honoring the past even as he works with others to create the future of the discipline he loves so much. Visit his website (www.englishcompanion.com) for more information.

Review :
-Expert teacher Jim Burke offers readers an important model for understanding student success. Through personal vignettes, letters from former students, and references to some of the best texts on teaching, Burke explores the skills and habits students need to develop to thrive in today's school systems.--Denise Clark Pope, Author of -Doing School-: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students. -How many people are there in public schools these days who, like Jim Burke, teach as well as Jaime Escalante and write as well as Andy Rooney? There are not enough of them, and parents like me often fight to get our kids into those teachers' classes. Burke's new book, School Smarts, gives us all a chance to step inside his classroom and soak up the insights of a master educator who will not only help our children, but teach even us a thing or two.--Jay Mathews, Education Columnist, The Washington Post -Jim Burke is already known as a restless visionary in the field of English teaching, but in School Smarts he . . . cuts to the core of basic principles of teaching and learning. . . . At a time when standardization is being confused with excellence, Burke's new book is a bracing reminder of what it really means to think big.--Tom Newkirk, Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, Author of Misreading Masculinity -Jim Burke provides a framework for understanding what teachers can do to help transform the academic experience of learners who struggle with the rules and logic of the school game. Eminently useful, deeply moving, and chock full of innovative ideas, this book and Jim Burke are gifts to the profession.--Sam Intrator, Assistant Professor of Education and Child Study at Smith College, Author of Tuned In and Fired Up -School Smarts provides a concrete, engaging, and inspiring guide for teachers and other educators committed to the hard work of facilitating the kinds of shifts in academic identity and competence that are necessary to create life-changing learning for their own students.--Ruth Schoenbach, Coauthor of Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms ?Expert teacher Jim Burke offers readers an important model for understanding student success. Through personal vignettes, letters from former students, and references to some of the best texts on teaching, Burke explores the skills and habits students need to develop to thrive in today's school systems.?-Denise Clark Pope, Author of "Doing School": How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students. ?How many people are there in public schools these days who, like Jim Burke, teach as well as Jaime Escalante and write as well as Andy Rooney? There are not enough of them, and parents like me often fight to get our kids into those teachers' classes. Burke's new book, School Smarts, gives us all a chance to step inside his classroom and soak up the insights of a master educator who will not only help our children, but teach even us a thing or two.?-Jay Mathews, Education Columnist, The Washington Post ?Jim Burke is already known as a restless visionary in the field of English teaching, but in School Smarts he . . . cuts to the core of basic principles of teaching and learning. . . . At a time when standardization is being confused with excellence, Burke's new book is a bracing reminder of what it really means to think big.?-Tom Newkirk, Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, Author of Misreading Masculinity ?Jim Burke provides a framework for understanding what teachers can do to help transform the academic experience of learners who struggle with the rules and logic of the school game. Eminently useful, deeply moving, and chock full of innovative ideas, this book and Jim Burke are gifts to the profession.?-Sam Intrator, Assistant Professor of Education and Child Study at Smith College, Author of Tuned In and Fired Up ?School Smarts provides a concrete, engaging, and inspiring guide for teachers and other educators committed to the hard work of facilitating the kinds of shifts in academic identity and competence that are necessary to create life-changing learning for their own students.?-Ruth Schoenbach, Coauthor of Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms "Expert teacher Jim Burke offers readers an important model for understanding student success. Through personal vignettes, letters from former students, and references to some of the best texts on teaching, Burke explores the skills and habits students need to develop to thrive in today's school systems."-Denise Clark Pope, Author of "Doing School": How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students. "Jim Burke is already known as a restless visionary in the field of English teaching, but in School Smarts he . . . cuts to the core of basic principles of teaching and learning. . . . At a time when standardization is being confused with excellence, Burke's new book is a bracing reminder of what it really means to think big."-Tom Newkirk, Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, Author of Misreading Masculinity "Jim Burke provides a framework for understanding what teachers can do to help transform the academic experience of learners who struggle with the rules and logic of the school game. Eminently useful, deeply moving, and chock full of innovative ideas, this book and Jim Burke are gifts to the profession."-Sam Intrator, Assistant Professor of Education and Child Study at Smith College, Author of Tuned In and Fired Up "School Smarts provides a concrete, engaging, and inspiring guide for teachers and other educators committed to the hard work of facilitating the kinds of shifts in academic identity and competence that are necessary to create life-changing learning for their own students."-Ruth Schoenbach, Coauthor of Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms "How many people are there in public schools these days who, like Jim Burke, teach as well as Jaime Escalante and write as well as Andy Rooney? There are not enough of them, and parents like me often fight to get our kids into those teachers' classes. Burke's new book, School Smarts, gives us all a chance to step inside his classroom and soak up the insights of a master educator who will not only help our children, but teach even us a thing or two."-Jay Mathews, Education Columnist, The Washington Post