1. A New Direction
1.1 The Problem
1.2 Exploring the Curriculum Transfer Model
1.3 A Bedrock Philosophy: What School is For
1.4 From Doing School to Genuine Learning
1.6 The Danger of Merely Improving
1.7 The Paradigm Shift: Beyond the Curriculum Transfer Model
1.9 Building a Community of Self-Directed Learners
1.10 Bad Habits: What School is Not For
1.11 Addressing the Standards Problem
1.12 Transformation from the Inside Out
2. Creating the Classroom Culture
2.1 What Students (And All Humans) Need
2.2 Establishing Bedrock Beliefs
2.4 Instilling a Common Purpose: The Prime Directive
2.5 Creating a Sense of Community
2.6 The Art of Appropriate Socializing
2.7 Redefining Power in the Classroom
2.8 Making Rules
2.9 Giving Students Voice and Autonomy
2.11 Other Considerations
3. The Role of Student Work
3.2 Cultivating Metacognition Through Student Self-evaluation
3.3 Guidelines for Student Work
3.4 Designing Conceptual Work — Cultivating Conscious Reading
3.5 Designing Skills-based Student Work — Scaffolding Independence
3.6 The Question of Mandatory Homework
3.7 Guidelines for Assigning Homework
3.8 Setting the Stage for Homework
4. Study Groups: The Heart of Conversational Learning
4.1 The Benefits of Study Groups
4.2 Using Study Groups Throughout the Learning Sequence
4.3 Preparing Students to Participate in Study Groups
4.5 Other Considerations in the Design of Study Groups
4.6 Using Study Groups Effectively
4.7 Common Problem Areas and How to Respond to Them
4.8 Other Ways to Share the Wealth
5. Differentiated Learning: Building the Responsive Classroom (Under construction)
5.1 The Essential Role of Differentiation
5.2 The Importance of Student Agency: Differentiated Learning vs Differentiated Instruction
5.3 Learning in the Comfort Zone
5.4 Differentiation by Readiness
5.5 Differentiation by Learning Style
5.8 Above and Beyond
5.9 The Structure of Differentiation: Introducing Learning Contracts
6. Learning Contracts: The Structure of Self-Directedness
6.1 A Sample Learning Contract
6.2 The Benefits of Learning Contracts
6.3 The Scope of Learning Contracts
6.5 A Gallery of Minicontracts
6.8 Introducing Contracts to Students
6.9 Feedback and Learning Contracts
6.10 Fairness
6.11 Learning Contracts and Grading
7. Unit Contracts
7.1 The Benefits of Unit Contracts
7.2 The Building Blocks of a Contract
7.3 Protocontracts: A Steppingstone
7.6 Other Examples of Unit Contracts
7.7 Constructing A Unit Contract
7.8 Tips on the Use of Contracts
7.9 Finding the Rhythm of the Contract Cycle
7.10 Contracts Require Teacher Responsiveness
7.11 Designing Your Course as a Sequence of Contracts
8. Making Tests Meaningful
8.1 The Lure of False Positives
8.2 The Limitations of Testing
8.3 Redefining the Purpose of Testing
8.4 The Benefits of Formative Tests
8.5 Separating Concepts from Skills
8.6 The Functions of Remediation
8.9 The Remediation of Concepts
8.10 Other Considerations in Test Design, Evaluation, and Remediation
8.11 The Problem of Standardized Tests
8.13 Example: Reviewing for a Psychology AP Exam
8.14 Other Sample Exam Reviews
9. Grades Reconsidered
9.2 Exploring the Meaning of Grades
9.3 Separating Feedback From Grades
9.4 The Many Forms of Feedback
9.5 Other Considerations of Feedback
9.6 The Benefits of Self-Evaluation
9.8 Self-evaluating Learning Contracts
9.9 Implementing Student Self-Evaluation
9.10 The Benefits of Grade Conferences
9.11 Implementing Grade Conferences
9.12 Guidelines for Creating an Effective Grading System
9.13 Putting It All Together: A Grading System Example
10. Putting it All Together: Designing the Learning Process
10.1 The Building Blocks of a Learning Sequence
10.2 Design Rules: Choreographing the Learning Process
10.3 A Question of Agency
10.4 Sample Learning Sequences
10.6 Differentiation Throughout the Learning Sequence
10.7 The Role of Feedback in the Learning Process