Resources from ASCD for Creating a Positive Classroom Culture

Alexandria, VA (6/17/2014)—ASCD, a global community dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching, and leading, is pleased to present a variety of professional development resources that support educators in creating a positive classroom culture. The collection of ASCD books and online resources supports all educators in improving their school culture and furthering their school’s continuous growth and achievement.

A positive classroom culture is essential to supporting the whole child and ensuring that each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. By using these resources, educators can set the standard for comprehensive, sustainable school improvement and create long-term student success.

Professional Development Books

How to Create a Culture of Achievement in Your School and Classroom—Teacher leaders Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Ian Pumpian believe that no school improvement effort will be effective unless school culture is addressed. Drawing on their years of experience in the classroom, they identify five pillars that are critical to building a culture of achievement. In addition, they provide 19 action research tools that will help educators enable success for all students.

Simply Better: Doing What Matters Most to Change the Odds for Student Success—McREL expert Bryan Goodwinpresents a practical, research-based framework for improving student achievement and identifies five essential practices that can vastly increase students’ chances of succeeding in school. Whether at the district, school, or classroom level, educators will find a valuable blueprint for turning knowledge into visible results.

PD Online Courses

Bullying: Taking Charge, 2nd edition—In this second edition PD Online Course, educators will learn practical tools for confronting and preventing bullying. Through video examples, in-depth readings, and problem-solving scenarios, users will learn how to recognize and detect bullying, address bullying with the bully as well as the victim, discuss bullying with students through classroom activities, and implement a communitywide bullying intervention program.

Embracing Diversity: Effective Teaching, 2nd edition—Through this PD Online Course, participants will consider the importance of building respect for racial and multicultural diversity, as well as how to combat gender and sexual bias through curriculum activities. Educators will explore ways to build learning environments that embrace diversity and learn practical tools for building respect for all students.

PD In Focus

The Art of Science of Teaching—This PD In Focus® channel presents a comprehensive framework for effective teaching that consists of three major focus areas and ten design questions, all of which are powerfully interconnected as part of the art and science of great teaching. 

Visit www.ascd.org/pdinfocus to browse all PD In Focus channels.

To learn more about ASCD’s professional development offerings that support classroom culture, visitwww.ascd.org/pd. For more information on ASCD’s other programs, products, and services or to join ASCD, visitwww.ascd.org. 

Making the Most of Your Online Professional Learning in the Digital Age

“Most successful teachers learn from a combination of resources, including local communities, virtual communities, and research,” writes Kristen Swanson in her new book Professional Learning in the Digital Age: The Educator’s Guide to User-Generated Learning. In other words, educators learn from the communities to which their are connected, and having the tools to make those connections are truly vital in the digital age. That’s where Swanson’s book comes in. Packed in only 109 pages, she gives readers the process and tools to become a connected educator in the 21st century, and engage in “user-generated learning.” Professional Learning in the Digital Age is a must read for educators who want to fine-tune the process of building and maintaining professional learning networks. And, for those have yet to venture out and begin the process of becoming a connected educator, this book gives them clear straightforward advice on how to do it, and a Tool Repository at the back of the book with which to get started.



Swanson begins by defining what is meant by “user-generated learning” which she defines as “learning acquired through active curation, reflection, and collaboration to a self-selected collaborative space.” In other words, user-generated learning is a very deliberate process of carrying out three specific actions that can transform an educator into a connected one, and by default transform his or her educational practice. These three actions that bring about the kinds of learning fostered through online connections include:

• Curating: Process or action of carefully collecting relevant resources. In this case, these are resources entirely associated with our professional practice. There are online tools that aid in the process of curating the content and information on which learning is based.
• Reflecting: Process or action of making sense of this newly curated information and determining what it all means for professional practice. Reflecting is vital to assimilating our new learning. Tools such as blogging assist educators in reflection.
• Contributing: This is the final process of action of user-generated learning. It consists of giving back to the community of learners to which we are now connected. Contribution fosters connections.

In simple terms, engaging in these activities result in fostering and growing as a connected educator. Swanson gives readers a powerful formula for fostering “user-generated learning” through connectedness, capitalizing on one of the most powerful professional development tools educators have in the 21st century.
Professional Learning in the Digital Age: The Educator’s Guide to User-Generated Learning, Eye on Education,  is powerful-succinct guide for all educators to learn 21st century style.

6 Key Personal Learning Network Literacies Every Educator Needs

“We now live in a world where even twelve-year olds can create their own global classrooms around the things about which they are are most passionate,” writes Will Richardson in an essay entitled “Navigating Social Networks as Learning Tools.”  Richardson adds this about our students, “Most of them have no adults, neither teachers nor parents, in their lives, who can help them see and employ the learning potential at hand.” With this lack of adult involvement, there is no wonder why our kids get into trouble online with cyberbullying and other forms of web mischief. Our children need to have adults in their lives that know and understand the art of developing personal learning networks and connecting with others. In other words, they need adults who are “network literate.”

There are still far too many educators shirking this responsibility of teaching children art of developing personal learning networks. Administrators and teachers create Twitter accounts and declare they are now connected and have a Professional Learning Network. District administrators and policy makers are so hung up on social media’ s negatives to see the potential of social media and personal learning networks as a 21st century learning tool. As 21st century educators,  we should be working to become network literate so we can be the adult guides for our students in using personal learning networks effectively.

But what does being “network literate” look like as it relates to personal learning networks? What are these abilities that we as educators need to be able to do in order to best teach, guide, and facilitate others, both educators and students, in their development of powerful learning networks?

Here’s my own short list of personal learning network literacies educators need to have.

Mechanics of Connecting: This involves, at the simplest level, knowledge of individual networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, wikis, and the whole list of tech tools that foster connections over the web. Educators need to understand the basics of establishing accounts with these tools, and a working knowledge that expands as the tools change. They also need to understand the potential and possibilities behind the use of each type of tool, and help students make wise selections about which tools to use in their learning situations. Being network literate means knowing both the personal learning network tech tools and the opportunities and potentials of those tools.

Basics of reputation management.  The basics of reputation management involve the ability to monitor online sources using simple tools to listen and follow the reactions that others have to what we say online. It also means using resources to monitor our digital footprint. Educators need to understand reputation management so they can guide students in making the kinds of online choices that enhance rather than detract from their future prospects. Being network literate means knowing how to use the web resources to shape our online reputations.

Verifying and Checking Credentials of Connections. To create effective personal learning networks, we need to be able to check and verify whether those with whom we are connecting are the experts they say they are. That can be difficult at times. Still, understanding the need to check and how to check the credentials of our connections is important. Being network literate means knowing how to verify the expertise and credentials of those with whom we are connecting.

Information management.  Educators need to understand how to manage all of the information flowing to them from their personal learning networks. Sorting and classification and being able to determine relevancy are all necessary skills to effectively manage information from personal learning networks. Also, knowledge of tech tools that help with the management of this information flow is important. Knowing how to use RSS feeds, note taking apps, and social bookmarking are important for effective information management.  Being network literate means being able to effectively manage the information flow from your personal learning network.

Personal learning network cultivation. Understanding that personal learning networks are organic and not static is key. Once we’ve begun connecting with other educators, the work of cultivating that network is never finished. Tasks like how to grow that network and maintain its usefulness is important. The art of sharing and reciprocity are also keys to effective network cultivation. And like pruning the branches back on a tree so that it will grow in a manner desired, we also need to understand how to best prune our personal learning networks so that they are effective learning tools themselves. Being network literate means knowing how to grow and shape our personal learning networks.

Netiquette and responsible web citizenship. Knowing and understanding the whys of responsible behavior online is important for educators too. Too often, when we hear in the news media of an educator posting something insensitive or inappropriate on a blog or Twitter, it’s because they did not fully understand some key elements of netiquette and web citizenship. Educators, of all people should be knowledgeable about responsible and polite online behavior and should be models of these behaviors for their students. They should know specifically what kinds of content is appropriate for online. Being network literate means knowing the rules of netiquette and web citizenship as we engage in the use of our personal learning networks.

By remaining network illiterate, educators are truly missing an opportunity to help students use one of the most powerful learning tools of the 21st century: personal learning networks. Teachers and 21st century school leaders need to begin taking responsibility for teaching kids how to effectively utilize personal learning networks by becoming network literate themselves. This list of six personal network literacies is an excellent starting point.

Ideas for Developing Your Global Professional Learning Network

My two favorite tools for engaging and connecting with others are Twitter and Blogging, which will be the main focus of a training session I will be sharing next week. With Twitter I have connected with educators as far away as Saudi Arabia, India, and Australia. In my "Life Before Twitter" these kinds of connections would have been impossible. This is quite a contrast from my first classroom where I did not have a phone. The only connection to the world beyond those four walls was the intercom system, which sometimes worked and sometimes did not. Now, with Twitter, I can message other people who share my interests no matter where they are. And Twitter has also enabled me to connect with leaders in education that I would not have been able to network with in the past.

Blogging has served to accentuate the connections in my professional learning network in many ways. First of all, after reading my blog posts, others have freely shared their own ideas, thoughts, and comments with me. This makes posting to a blog a two-way or many-way conversation, with others giving me feedback and ideas. Secondly, with blogging, I have found myself engaged in our international conversation regarding education reform and educational issues of the day. It is through these exchanges that my own passion for public education is kept alive.

There is a global conversation occurring about education and we only need to engage a few tools like Twitter and blogging in order to be a part of it.

Here's my Prezi for the presentation next week.