From Hawker Brownlow Education

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. 

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.

Creating an Australian School Literacy Policy: A Research-Informed Guide to Designing a Policy That Fits Your School by Dr Margaret K Merga is the new go-to guide for creating effective and holistic literacy policy. Drawing on extensive analysis of literacy policy documents from one hundred and sixty-six schools in Australia and the United Kingdom, Dr Merga evaluates in this essential resource what makes literary policies effective – and what can hold them back – to provide a comprehensive framework for developing or revising your whole-school literacy policy. Creating an Australian School Literacy Policy empowers K–12 school leaders, classroom teachers and library professionals to become literacy leaders and make a real impact on their school communities. With a focus on ensuring clarity, depth and quality in these crucial documents, Dr Merga’s ground-breaking guide offers you the opportunity to transform the teaching and learning of literacy with a whole-school literacy policy that meets your school’s unique needs and supports your students to achieve their goals.

In Interventions in Cases of Bullying in Schools: A Training Manual for Teachers and Counsellors, renowned bullying expert Dr Ken Rigby OAM draws on five decades of practice and research to help schools tackle the seemingly intractable problem of bullying. Designed to be deployed alongside policy development and preventive programs, this essential training manual sets out nine evidence-based methods of intervention. Using a series of role-plays and prompts for discussion, Interventions in Cases of Bullying in Schools supports practitioners in selecting and applying the most appropriate method for each unique case of bullying. It also features a practical framework for recording and evaluating the application of interventions in your unique context, as well as suggestions of dozens of resources that will further develop your understanding of bullying. Practical, easy to use and focused firmly on solutions, Dr Rigby’s Interventions in Cases of Bullying in Schools is your indispensable guide to addressing one of the most vexed issues facing educators today.   Download Appendix B: Recording Form reproducible here. 

Now is the time to change your habits and take control of your study – and Your high-performance guide to study and learning will show you how! Authored by secondary school teacher Scott Francis, with additional insights from Associate Professor Michael Nagel, this book will guide you through twenty key practical strategies to get the most out of the time you spend studying. This book acknowledges that success in study requires a holistic approach. You will explore mindset and attitudes, planning and routines, high-impact study techniques and brain-based learning strategies, and you will also look beyond conventional understandings of study to explore the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and positive attitude on academic results. Whether you are looking to adopt a few new habits or overhaul your whole study philosophy, this easy-to-read and accessible resource will help you to actively participate in your learning experiences and dominate your study.

The pressures of our job as teachers are enormous. Often time-poor, overworked and underappreciated, we must also manage complex relationships with students, parents, and colleagues. These are human problems – and human problems require human solutions. Gratitude Practices for Teachers is a guide for educators and leaders navigating the daily challenges of teaching. Far from recycling simplistic gratitude platitudes, Dr Kerry Howells and Dr Jo Lucas offer a series of deep gratitude practices educators can use straightaway to create meaningful change. With chapters addressing problems such as exhaustion, toxic staff relationships, perfectionism and angry students, this book is a go-to guide to support educators through everyday difficulties.  Whatever your challenges are right now, discover how you can grow your resilience, nurture robust and respectful relationships, and replenish your joy and passion for education by practising deep gratitude. 

Would you like maths with that? Improving numeracy in the primary years guides educators and school leaders through numeracy improvement with a focus on deeply understanding the difference between mathematics and numeracy, their relationship and the implication on teaching and pedagogy. Author and expert Thelma Perso takes a holistic approach to mathematics teaching, supporting readers to transform low-level learning into higher-order thinking in their classrooms to ensure all students can tackle mathematics with confidence. With a thorough and knowledgeable approach, Thelma lays the foundations for teachers, school leaders and school communities to enhance their numeracy pedagogies and, in turn, improve the numeracy capabilities of their students. Starting with numeracy definitions and how to teach mathematics for numeracy attainment through to intervention, extension and assessment, the chapters support readers through the whole numeracy improvement journey. Would you like maths with that?, along with the online resources developed for individual educators and schools to assess their current numeracy positions, show how it is not only possible but necessary to improve student numeracy achievement regardless of educator, subject area and student capability. Would you like maths with that? will empower educators to teach mathematics in engaging and effective ways that teach students to use mathematics confidently to meet the needs of their everyday lives.   Download the resources and templates from the book here.

Help your primary students develop a deep appreciation for the natural world with Life in a garden: Activities and projects for the outdoor classroom. In this practical handbook, permaculture expert Dr Ross Mars guides teachers through the basics of garden design and maintenance, while providing opportunities for students to explore and contribute to a thriving ecosystem. The easy-to-implement investigations and hands-on projects included in this book allow students to observe and understand the dynamic processes that take place in the garden environment and encourage them to consider sustainable solutions to keep their plants healthy and productive. Using this resource, readers will find: tips for effective garden design, including establishing basic garden beds and deciding on effective planting strategies advice for seasonal planting and harvesting produce sustainable solutions for managing common pests flexible activities aligned to the Australian Curriculum. You’ll love watching your students learn to love gardening as they make a positive impact on their local environment. Access more resources and templates from the book here.  

Permaculture expert and educator Ross Mars is back with another collection of hands-on projects and investigations that provide students with opportunities to observe, understand and contribute to a thriving garden ecosystem. You learned the basics of garden design and maintenance through the first book in this series, Life in a garden. Now you can take that knowledge even further with Science in a garden: Activities and projects for the outdoor classroom, Years F–6. Students will follow the journey from theory to final product through the book’s six parts: understanding science in the garden, growth in the garden, changes in the garden, animals in the garden, human use of the garden and products from the garden. Each activity is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: Science and the Australian Curriculum: Technologies as well as the cross-curriculum priority of sustainability. Plus, teachers can use the handy index of curriculum links to assist with their planning. You will love watching your students deepen their understanding of the outdoor environment and apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios. Access more resources and templates from the book here.  

I don’t have any ideas.’ ‘How do I set the scene?’ ‘This is too hard!’ Heard any of those before? What if there was a way to nurture our students’ imaginations, confidence and creative problem-solving capabilities while building the essential writing skills that will set them up for success across the curriculum? In Time to Write: A Powerful Writing Practice for Your Classroom Beth Cregan calls on her own extensive writing and teaching experience to deliver a framework for a classroom writing practice that does just that. Supported by over thirty classroom-ready activities to power-up your writing program in fifteen-minute blocks, the strategies set out in Time to Write will enable you to meet students where they are, encourage reflective practices and build a community of empowered, independent writers. The result is a class that hums with creative energy. It’s time to flip the script on what it means to write and be creative – to maximise the creative potential of the students in your classroom and draw out the confident writers within. All you need is fifteen minutes, something to write with and a sense of curiosity. What are you waiting for? It’s time to write!   Access the resources and templates from the book here

Igniting STEM Learning: A Guide to Designing an Authentic Primary School STEM Program is a groundbreaking resource for teachers and leaders ready to take on the challenge of bringing robust and sustainable STEM learning to their primary schools. Having kicked STEM programs into gear around Australia, experienced educator, coach and consultant Dr Adrian Bertolini distils decades of practice into a book that has the capacity to empower and transform. In Igniting STEM Learning, you’ll find the support you need to establish the ways of thinking, structures and ongoing practices that develop students and teachers alike as learners and problem solvers. From delivering learning experiences to meeting curriculum requirements, designing authentic assessment and more, this comprehensive resource lights the way to a primary school STEM program that ignites curiosity and prepares students to thrive in a changing world. Access the resources and templates from the book here  

When you're dealing off-task student behaviour, you want teacher-tested strategies that work in real classrooms. You'll find a wealth of these tools in Classroom Dynamics by Glen Pearsall. Drawing from his experience helping schools address challenging student behaviours, Pearsall explores how to create positive learning environments, heighten engagement and maintain productive relationships with young people.  This book is ideal for K–12 teachers looking for concrete strategies that they can immediately implement in their classrooms. Incorporating recent research on effective classroom practice, Pearsall discusses how to quickly address low-level off-task behaviour before it becomes problematic – and how to de-escalate potential conflicts and address difficult behaviours when it does. Classroom Dynamics also helps teachers understand the reasons behind these disruptive behaviours, offering practical ways to quickly get to the heart of issues that might be affecting student learning. This revised edition includes a new chapter focusing on demand-avoidant behaviours where Pearsall guides educators in the subtleties of dealing sensitively with situations in which even low-level instruction might lead to an explosive response from the student.

‘The study of English introduces a student to other voices and other lives … and in doing so, helps them find their own voice.’ Whether you are planning to study a new text, looking for a fresh approach to teach an old favourite or simply seeking strategies to provide more variety in your teaching, this is an invaluable guide for all English teachers. The Literature Toolbox features over fifty activities for exploring text. Easy to implement and rigorously roadtested in real classrooms, these practical strategies foster engagement, deepen inquiry and model fluent and sophisticated essay writing.  

Great writers aren’t born, they’re taught! Unfortunately, the rules of written English can be difficult enough to remember, let alone teach. If you struggle to separate pronouns from prepositions, or are often left wondering whether to use “who” or “whom”, Australian author Dianne Bates comes to your aid with Writing Essentials, a welcome reference for teachers and aspiring authors. This handy guide offers concise explanations on the basics of grammar, punctuation and word usage, while also introducing fundamental techniques to help broaden your vocabulary and bring your writing to life. Packed with plenty of exercises to test yourself and your students, Writing Essentials provides all the support you’ll need to hone your own writing skills and pass on your knowledge to budding writers!

As classroom teachers know firsthand, it is critical for K–12 students to be able to extend their learning. But expecting all students to attain the same performance via generalized instruction is unrealistic. Educators must honor and leverage students’ unique learning strengths to support students and expand their possibilities for success. In Neurodevelopmental Differentiation: Optimizing Brain Systems to Maximize Learning, authors Andrew Fuller and Lucy Fuller explain that by understanding the brain’s eight information-processing systems—(1) spatial reasoning, (2) perceptual and motor skills, (3) concentration and memory, (4) planning and sequencing, (5) thinking and logic, (6) people smarts, (7) language and word smarts, and (8) number smarts—educators can help students apply their processing strengths to areas that challenge them using individualized learning plans. With this approach, learners’ growth is limitless. Readers will: Study the eight brain information-processing systems and understand how developing strengths in these areas increases academic success Discover how to identify students’ learning strengths and blockages Learn how to develop individualized learning plans to fit the needs of all students Review templates for recording and tracking student progress Contemplate reflective questions on the eight brain areas to determine next steps in their classrooms