"The authors cite a growing need for cognitive apprenticeship (in which learning is visible in real-life tasks) and guided inquiry to meet the challenges of Next Generation standards - and to truly prepare students for the type of work and citizenship of their future. Many teachers, however, have trouble designing lessons and units that meet these goals because they have been trained in more traditional direct instruction/knowledge-imparting methods. Planning Powerful Instruction provides teachers with a solution: a model for backwards planning and teaching that leads to deeply engaging and joyful learning. The EMPOWER heuristic the authors have developed walks teachers through a 7-step planning process, providing a model for planning units and individual lessons, as well as a cache of inquiry-oriented strategies to meet specific needs immediately. The EMPOWER acronym stands for the following planning and learning stages: Envision a destination Map the mental model and path to mastery Prime for the journey Orient the learning Walk through new skills Extend and Explore new territory Reflect on the journey"-- Provided by publisher.