Adolescent Success

The world is changing – and rapidly. If we want to foster young people’s ability to learn, live, lead and work in that changing world, the way we approach education and leadership in schools must change too.  In Game Changers: Leading Today’s Learning for Tomorrow’s World, Philip Cummins and Adriano Di Prato distil years of professional practice and research into a roadmap for leadership that changes the game of school. Centring the character and purpose of leaders in education, Cummins and Di Prato make the case for leadership that strengthens, informs, orientates, focuses, aligns and enriches – courageous leadership that prepares the young people in our care for the world they will inhabit tomorrow.  Featuring insights from dozens of game changers innovating the character, purpose and future of education, Game Changers: Leading Today’s Learning for Tomorrow’s World will challenge, inspire and change you.

Leading with the Social Brain in Mind puts relationships front and centre of the important work that educators do. The number and different types of relationships that educators maintain on daily basis can be undervalued and underestimated. Specifically, it challenges system and school leaders to investigate how social brain theory affects the unintended results of collaborative interactions in their own complex organisational environments. Designing environments for collaboration in schools is a complex task and requires a lot of skill, especially in those where many institutional practices and structures are so widely accepted that they are rarely questioned. This book discusses the importance of collaboration in schools, explores silo mentality and asks educators to reflect on how their decisions are impacted by implementation barriers. It is an invaluable read for educators who want to understand associations among cognition, complexity and collaboration in leading change initiatives in schools.    

Developing the critical and creative thinking skills of students in our classrooms is a necessary culture that all teachers should foster. Not only does it underpin the syllabus outcomes and content indicators, but the ability to think critically and creatively, and to articulate that thinking to others, is a hugely valuable skill in today’s world. Supporting students to be critical and creative thinkers requires us as educators to be willing to build our capacity, to make small consistent shifts towards embedding practices and fostering a ‘thinking’ environment that welcomes questions, that celebrates multiple perspectives and is comfortable working in a space that requires depth of understanding. This book was written with the teacher and leader in mind and is a mix of foundational theory and practical strategies with tools you can take away and apply in your classroom or with your teams tomorrow. It is divided into five parts, with each component delving into key areas of embedding critical and creative thinking into practice.

Deborah Patterson shares her trials and tribulations gleaned over decades of being in schools, the education system and leadership roles. This book provides teachers, educators and principals with a collection of tips, tools and strategies to help them become the best they can be and the leader that they want to be. Knitting together stories and providing a whole lot of sound advice, Deborah provides a real insight into principalship and how to be a successful unconventional educational leader.

Educational Publishing Awards Australia 2023 Shortlist - Secondary Teacher Resource Practical Writing Strategies is the perfect guide for educators looking to take their students' writing to the next level. This book balances the process and product of writing with a clear Writing Cycle in six stages: Purpose, Exploration, Ideas, Skills, Collaboration, and Publication. Each stage includes engaging activities to help students understand and value the writing process. Practical Writing Strategies teaches genuine writing not just as an assessment task, but as a means of self-expression, exploration, creativity, and knowledge building. With Practical Writing Strategies, you will learn how to guide your students to become confident and successful writers.  

Practical Reading Strategies introduces teachers to six highly effective strategies that every reader uses when grappling with texts. Through a range of engaging classroom activities, students will be introduced to Making Connections, Visualising, Questioning, Inferring, Summarising, and Synthesising as a way of making meaning and understanding what they read. Activities range from focused close reading to group work and discussion, and are broken down into teacher and student instructions, clear examples, and the underlying theory. With Practical Reading Strategies, all teachers can develop confidence in building their students’ abilities to read and understand.   Templates from the Appendix are available to download here 

Dr Timothy O’Leary is a firm believer that decisions about improvements, whether they be for a teacher or school, need to be based on fact, not fancy. In Classroom Vibe he uses data to demystify why some classrooms are primed for learning while others aren’t and explains why strategies for change in schools often fail. In breaking down the atmosphere of the classroom as experienced by the students – the ‘classroom vibe’ – he gives teachers practical steps for improving theirs. The author argues that when teachers focus their improvement efforts on the ‘vibe’ in each of their classrooms and school leaders focus on supporting their teachers in this endeavour, everyone benefits. He provides a clear framework that highlights how the culture of a classroom can determine whether important teaching strategies will succeed or fail.

Differentiation for Gifted Students in a Secondary School aims to provide secondary school teachers with a raft of ideas and strategies to differentiate teaching, learning and the curriculum for gifted students. Interweaving theory and research with everyday practice, this book offers guidance and suggestions from Australian experts who work every day with gifted students. With appropriate strategies to support gifted students in a variety of classes, subjects and situations in a secondary school, this book considers a range of known and emerging concerns relating to the education of gifted children from differentiating the curriculum, wellbeing, creativity, transitioning between school settings, the science classroom and STEM projects. Differentiation for Gifted Students in a Secondary School is a unique resource that will help new and experienced teachers with inspired and practical strategies to respond to the needs of their gifted students. The inclusion of several case studies helps exemplify these for readers.

As educators we all recognise the power of using data to inform our work. A key piece that is often missing is how we engage students in their data story. When we use data with students they become data-informed learners. They have a better understanding of their ability as a learner and can articulate their goals and challenges more clearly. We can support our students through targeted conversations, working in partnership to help them improve. There are three main purposes for using data with students: goal setting, learning dispositions or behaviour, and the quality of student learning or understanding. There are five main modes by which we do this: data walls, success criteria, student-generated assessment, deliberate conversations and data on walls in classrooms. In this book, Dr Selena Fisk unpacks these purposes and modes, giving practical ideas for implementation in schools and classrooms. She offers guidance in having constructive data-informed conversations with students, while building a culture of psychological safety where data use is productive and transformational.

Data are everywhere. Countries are compared based on how their students perform in international testing. Schools are compared using standardised testing and school-leaver data. Students are tracked using their individual data and that of their peers. But while there is much already written about leadership styles, leading change and the benefits of being data informed, transferring an understanding of educational research and change leadership literature to a data-informed context is not always easy or seamless. Selena Fisk, EdD, author of Using and analysing data in Australian schools, believes that data should be used to support learning in a way that develops thriving learning communities where students are engaged and motivated. This invaluable resource introduces a 10-step process for leading data-informed change comprising measurable steps for action supported by connections to relevant literature and practical examples showing what the process looks like in schools. Fisk also introduces the 12 key elements required for a leader to prime the environment or build a culture that will enable them to lead data-informed change. Leading data-informed change in schools offers teacher team leaders, principals and administrators a practical guide on how to collect, analyse and use data to help school communities and the students they serve flourish.   Download the Appendix with all the templates here. 

We know that data can be a powerful force for student learning and achievement, but what data should we be collecting, how should it be analysed and what does it really mean? Without answers to these big questions, making use of data in the classroom can end up being an afterthought – even a source of stress and confusion. In this expanded second edition of Using and analysing data in Australian schools, Dr Selena Fisk offers a practical guide for bringing data to life. Learn how data from a range of sources – formative and summative assessment, standardised testing, informal reflections and more – can empower everyone, from teachers to school leaders to students. Featuring over thirty relevant in-school examples, this essential resource is filled with customisable templates, strategies and tips you can start using today to build a culture of learning and trigger real data-informed change in your classroom. Using and analysing data in Australian schools will deepen your understanding of your students’ achievements and abilities and, in inviting students to take ownership of their data, transform how they see themselves as learners.   Download the templates here. 

Good thinkers are 4P thinkers. The international bestseller, Become A Better Thinker, focuses on ways of improving the 4Ps. Positivity for better attention to a task Pattern seeking for identifying key elements Probing for asking yourself helpful questions Picturing for summarising key words and their connections Become a Better Thinker contains examples, strategies, and tests for improving the 4Ps. Aiming to examine, support and improve the creative and critical thinking skills of teachers and their students in order to help all learners think better in our rapidly evolving world. Revised and updated, this book is now in its fourth edition.     Download PDF of the tests from this book to use: The Langrehr Test of Creative ThinkingThe Langrehr Test of Critical ThinkingThe Langrehr Test of Early Childhood Thinking

Simple Tools explores the use of technology in the classroom and offers a considered, student-centric and foundational approach. In this book, teachers will be introduced to the selection of simple digital resources that have a clear purpose and do one thing well. They will be able to identify suitable technology that is quick and easy to set up for classroom use, as well as a host of strategies that will help make learning clear for both teachers and students. Along with recommendations and advice, Simple Tools includes activities for teachers to develop the confidence to select and embed digital resources that have a purposeful fit within an existing practice. Find out how using the Simple Tools approach can be beneficial in your classroom. Finally a book about technology and the classroom that is insightful about both topics. Simple Tools offers teachers practical strategies that they can use to maximise their impact in the classroom immediately.Glen Pearsall, author and education consultant

People Interacting is an extensive resource of interactive games that can be used to help students develop a breadth of social skills. The 150 activities have been designed for a range of abilities, ages and levels of maturity. Each activity is clearly set out with a focus, time, materials, the procedure and points for discussion. The selection of activities cover warm ups, self development and responsibility, communication and relationships, and problem solving and decision making. Each procedure, variation and discussion topic has been tried and tested and chosen specifically because of the value it provides to students. Combining the activities with conversational prompts to encourage reflection and discussion, People Interacting aims to encourage and aid the development of the student as a total person by exploring mind, body, emotions, values, and attitudes. The activities enable students to make sense of what they experience in terms of their own needs – their ability to solve problems, to develop a positive self-concept and to develop their social and interpersonal skills more broadly.

Outdoor Education at School contains sets of practical activities and problem-solving lessons for primary school students. Designed to be done completely within the school grounds and with minimal amount of equipment, these lessons and activities will appeal to the teacher who has little experience in outdoor education and will act as a valuable resource to the experts in the field. The contents are based not only on learning in the outdoors but on learning about and for the outdoors. Specific topics covered include: Environmental studies Initiative games Navigation Bushcraft Mapping Students will enjoy the variety of topics covered while learning skills in personal development, self-esteem, resourcefulness, independence, leadership and cooperation. The lessons are not organised in year levels but in developmental progression from simple and introductory to complex.  

Do you want to engage students, prevent disruption, and maybe even teach a decent lesson? The Teaching Game offers a very practical approach that can be applied immediately. You’ll discover how to manage a classroom, deliver curriculum, provide effective feedback, use data, plan for the next unit, write an assessment piece, teach students on the spectrum, and care for your own wellbeing. This book is for those who are: About to embark on their teaching career Thinking of joining the teaching ranks Wanting to further develop their teaching skills Mentoring early-career teachers    

In Talking Sex, Vanessa Hamilton fearlessly explores the complex topic of human sexuality. Drawing from extensive experience and contemporary research, this groundbreaking book challenges readers to reconsider outdated beliefs about sex and sexuality education. It’s packed with conversation starters, tips and strategies to empower adults to provide the accurate, comprehensive, age-appropriate information children need for a fulfilling and safe journey through life. Talking Sex covers a variety of topics including sexual safety, diversity, reproduction, pleasure, consent and sexual health — because, after all, most conversations about human sexuality have hardly anything to do with what we commonly think of as ‘sex’.   Your children are getting a sexuality education every day from the world around them. But is it the one you want them to receive? Who do you want to tell your child about each topic related to sex, human sexuality, consent and respect? Hopefully the answer is you. Children don’t need ‘sex ed’, they need sexuality education, information and conversations. Become the askable and tellable adult that children need you to be.

What’s really going on inside the head of a boy?What can neuroscience teach us about educating and raising boys? This engaging book takes a close look at the male brain – how it develops, and how it is different – and the crucial role it plays in how a boy thinks, learns and engages with the world. Moving past the ‘boys will be boys’ dictum, neuroscientist Dr Michael C. Nagel gives us a guided tour of a boys’ brain, and explains how differences in structure and neurochemistry impact their behaviour, learning, emotions and bodies. Exploring aggression, learning difficulties, behaviour, emotional problems, toxic masculinity and the challenges of technology, Nagel offers solutions and ideas for parents and teachers. Drawing on the latest research, Nagel applies neuroscientific insight to the common problems boys face, and argues that by understanding why boys do what they do, we can better work with them to increase their wellbeing and educational outcomes.  

Ever wondered what makes a girl tick? What's really going on inside the head of a girl? What can neuroscience teach us about educating and raising girls?This engaging book takes a close look at the female brain—how it develops, and how it is different—and the crucial role it plays in how a girl thinks, learns and engages with the world.Using the latest neuroscientific research, Dr Michael C. Nagel explores the neurological differences that exist between boys and girls, and how this shapes their behaviour, learning, growth and development. Exploring female aggression, self-esteem, relationships, emotional problems, peer-contagion and the challenges of technology, Nagel offers solutions and ideas for parents and teachers.Drawing on the latest research, Nagel applies neuroscientific insight to the common problems girls face, and argues that by understanding why girls do what they do, we can better work with them to increase their wellbeing and educational outcomes.  

Rachel Stewart is a parent engagement specialist and mother of three. In Creating Connections: Inspire your child to thrive in their learning, Rachel explores the vital role of parents (and carers) in their children’s education, in particular during the transition to learning at school. With touching anecdotes from her own life, Rachel describes how the adults who care for children can learn alongside them - with children, families and teachers forming a powerful learning team. With a focus on compassion - for self and for others - Rachel encourages parents to reflect on their life and grow their awareness of how their experiences might influence their parenting style. She encourages a close relationship between parents and teachers for the benefit of the child and invites parents to build a relationship with their children that encourages a love for learning and growth as unique individuals. Importantly, Rachel explains how to stay connected while letting go. Creating Connections provides the support and affirmation craved by any parent who has wondered if they are doing a good job.  

The transition from primary to secondary school is a big step, and it’s natural to feel a mix of excitement and nerves during this time. As you get ready for this new chapter in your life, it’s important to remember that you have the power to shape your own experience for the better.In Starting High School Leon Furze provides a comprehensive approach to help students confidently navigate the academic, social and emotional aspects of the transition. Learn how to set goals and manage expectations, build your confidence and resilience, and navigate the ups and downs of this exciting new adventure.Full of tips and tricks, this book covers important topics such as time management, communication skills and stress management. Whether you’re in Year 5, Year 6 or about to start secondary school, Starting High School can help you prepare for the changes ahead and give you the confidence you need to succeed.  

‘Life is too good for bad study.’ Whether academically aspiring or focused on passing, all students want to get the most out of their study time. Yet while many assume the amount of time we spend studying has the biggest impact on results, it is actually the intensity of our effort that reaps the greatest rewards. Aimed at high school students in years 7 to 9, Foundational Study Skills for High School Students reveals the 8 superhabits of study that will maximise the impact of your learning and take your performance to the next level. In this book, experienced teacher and author Scott Francis explores a range of high-performance learning strategies – from the power of purposeful planning and practice questions to the secrets of single-tasking and spaced practice – to supercharge your study and help you achieve your full potential. By putting these superhabits into practice, you will become more efficient as a student and have more time to enjoy the other great things in life. After all, life is too good for bad study!  

Reading is one of the most important skills. It is essential for success in not only high school, but life. Reading effectively isn’t always easy for students going through high school – including you, the reader – especially as students come across more difficult subjects. However, reading effectively doesn’t have to be complicated at all. In Reading Skills Handbook, Ben White provides a comprehensive approach to help students confidently unlock successful reading strategies and based on proven techniques and tips from years of teaching. Learn through the variety of reading skills, developing your reading comprehension, uncovering reading strategies for different types of texts, improving your reading speed and efficiency and, most importantly, developing a lifelong reading habit.  Filled with practical tips and activities, this book will help you practice and apply the skills you’ll learn. Whether you’re a struggling reader or if you’re keen on improving your reading skills, Reading Skills Handbook will help you reach your full potential.

Writing is essential for communication, landing a good job, expressing oneself creatively and solving problems. In today’s world, where technology is reshaping the landscape of communication, the ability to express oneself articulately through written words is more important than ever. Filled with effective techniques and strategies, Writing Skills Handbook is designed to help students confidently acquire high-performance writing techniques. This book will cover the basics of writing skills, ranging from grammar and punctuation, sentence structure, paragraph construction, learning how to revise and self-edit, and exploring different types of writing and the unique challenges and opportunities that each form of writing presents. Writing is a journey and by acquiring these writing techniques through time, patience and practice, you will become a proficient writer and effectively set yourself up for success!