Walton Burns’ easy-to-use book can help teachers find creative ways to accomplish the necessary and often mundane tasks that come with the start of school. Renee Bogacz notes most of often engaging activities can be adapted for any subject area or grade level.
Teacher Kathee Lamberies finds High Expectations Teaching by Jon Saphier a good read for teachers looking to better themselves professionally and learn about how to impart the growth mindset to students. Also a book study candidate for a PLC or staff development.
Resilience is the ability to effectively handle pressure and to overcome failure. It’s a characteristic that many of our struggling students do not bring to the classroom, yet it is one that we can teach. Barbara Blackburn shares five strategies that can help.
The authors’ step-by-step formative assessment approach, along with a wealth of detailed resources, gives teachers and administrators the tools to implement a system of shared assessments with the power to transform a school. Erik Kreutner has just one reservation.
The professional wisdom of teacher educator and consultant Barbara Blackburn shines through in “Motivating Struggling Learners,” writes 7th grade math teacher and coach Karen Bloom. Blackburn’s clear advice and multiple resources make the book “fantastic.”
Most educators use praise in their classrooms. However, students can interpret praise positively or negatively and teachers need to know the difference. Author and consultant Barbara Blackburn looks at six characteristics of effective praise that can motivate students to strive and thrive.
If demoralizing teachers worked, then our educational system would already have reached a state of perfection. Instead, says reviewer Jenni Miller, policymakers can find a true roadmap for change in Richard DuFour’s “In Praise of American Educators And How They Can Become Even Better.”
Your first year? Now’s your opportunity to create a welcoming classroom where students will feel secure, valued and successful in the days ahead. Veteran teacher Cheryl Mizerny shares ideas that have helped her realize a “shiny, happy” place to learn.
Former teacher Paddy Eger offers detailed training guidelines to prepare adult assistants for the classroom, says reviewer Karen Linch. “I spent many years learning to be a teacher, so it makes perfect sense that parents and volunteers need to be trained.”
What can our students possibly learn if we only give them easy tasks? How can we motivate them to accept a challenge if they doubt their own ability?
