Developing Expert Learners

Finally— a roadmap for growing students’ confidence and competence in learning.

We strive to empower our students to lead their own inquiry, discover knowledge, and construct approaches to solving real-life challenges. Often, though, we make the mistake of designing learning experiences that burden students with the unrealistic expectation of expertise that hasn’t yet been developed. The solution: proper scaffolding for surface, deep, and transfer learning. 

Building upon the groundwork from Michael McDowell’s book Rigorous PBL by Design, this new resource provides practices that strategically support students as they move from novices to experts in core academics. You’ll learn high-impact strategies that ensure students develop ownership and confidence in their learning, plus essential tools to build your own efficacy and support your colleagues in building collective expertise. Chock full of mission-critical guidance, this book 

• Provides an actionable framework for developing student expertise
• Offers practical strategies, tools, and routines for creating a culture that cultivates expertise and builds student efficacy
• Gives a simple, effective unit and lesson template that clarifies the steps students must take to build, deepen, and apply core content knowledge and skills
• Ensures your students’ progress in their learning through a process for selecting instructional, feedback, and learning strategies 
• Includes strategies for improving your professional expertise individually and collectively

"As educators, we are challenged to prepare our students for college and career readiness as they go into the real world. Developing Expert Learners addresses the intentional moves of the teacher to prepare students for challenging work at their level of learning, resulting in students reaching their fullest potential as experts in their own learning."

Elizabeth Alvarez, Chief of Schools
Chicago Public Schools