The Reading Warehouse

An essential resource for student and teacher clarity

With the ever-changing landscape of education, teachers and leaders often find themselves searching for clarity in a sea of standards, curriculum resources, and competing priorities. Clarity for Learning offers a simple and doable approach to developing clarity and sharing it with students through five essential components:

• crafting learning intentions and success criteria
• co-constructing learning intentions and success criteria with learners
• creating opportunities for students to respond
• effective feedback on and for learning
• students and teachers sharing learning and progress

The book is full of examples from teachers and leaders who have shared their journey, struggles, and successes for readers to use to propel their own work forward.

Dr. John Almarode has worked with schools, classrooms, and teachers all over the world. John began his career in Augusta County, Virginia, teaching mathematics and science to a wide-range of students. Since then, he has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on the application of the science of learning to the classroom, school, and home environments. He has worked with hundreds of school districts and thousands of teachers across the world. The work of John and his colleagues has been presented to the United States Congress, The United States Department of Education, as well as the Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House. John has authored multiple articles, reports, book chapters, and books. However, what really sustains John, and his greatest accomplishment is his family. John lives in Waynsboro, Virginia with his wife Danielle, a fellow educator, their two children, Tessa and Jackson, and Labrador retrievers, Angel and Forest.

John can be reached at www.johnalmarode.com.

Kara Vandas is an educator with an enduring passion for empowering learners. She began her career in education at an alternative school for youth at-risk. Kara spent several more years in the classroom in public education as a middle and high school educator and then transitioned to coaching and professional learning positions that allowed her to support teachers and leaders. Her current role as an author and consultant takes her around the world to partner with schools and school districts. She also presents nationally and internationally at conferences, with a focus on learner agency and efficacy.

Kara is the co-author of Partnering with Students: Building Ownership of Learning and holds a Master's degree of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Regis University. She has worked in K-12 education for nearly 20 years with a focus in instruction, curriculum design, using data to drive instruction, science education, learning environments, formative assessment, Visible Learning, and more. She also volunteers as a board member at her child's local school, where she and her family live in Castle Rock, Colorado. She loves the outdoors and spends much of her free time with family and friends.