Bringing Joy Back Into The Classroom

Aimed at motivating teachers to create a welcoming and challenging environment for their students, this professional book is told through a series of anecdotes and stories. It will remind teachers of the intrinsic rewards of teaching (to teach children to love learning) and the powerful role they play as models in this endeavor.

"Start with Joy is a guidebook describing ways teachers can make joy and purpose the center of their teaching and students' literacy learning. Organized by seven pillars, based on the science of happiness, this book offers reasons why students' happiness matters now more than ever, providing lessons, strategies, resources, and children's literature suggestions for how to make sure joy and purpose are at the heart of all instruction"--

K-12 teachers and administrators will : read about classroom teachers who have successfully implemented joy ; gain ideas for how to make classrooms joyful learning environments ; examine education jargon that negatively impacts school culture ; learn how to create a sense of community in school among teachers and students ; discover the importance of wonder and inquiry in engaging students.--Publisher's description.

Would you want to be a student in your own classroom? In Passionate Learners: How to Engage and Empower Your Students, author Pernille Ripp challenges both novice and seasoned teachers to create a positive, interactive learning environment where students drive their own academic achievement. You’ll discover how to make fundamental changes to your classroom so learning becomes an exciting challenge rather than a frustrating ordeal. Based on the author’s personal experience of transforming her approach to teaching, this book outlines how to: • Build a working relationship with your students based on mutual trust, respect, and appreciation • Be attentive to your students’ needs and share ownership of the classroom with them • Break out of the vicious cycle of punishment and reward to control student behaviour • Use innovative and creative lesson plans to get your students to become more engaged and intellectually-invested learners, while still meeting your state standards • Limit homework and abandon traditional grading so that your students can make the most of their learning experiences without unnecessary stress • And much more! New to the second edition, you’ll find practical tools, such as teacher and student reflection sheets, parent questionnaires, and parent conference tools, available in the book and as eResources on our website (http://www.routledge.com/9781138916920) to help you build your own classroom of passionate learners.

Presents a collection of essays and practical advice, including lesson plans and activities, to promote writing in all aspects of the curriculum.

Wouldn’t it be great if your child could exercise, have fun, and build concentration skills all at the same time? In 2006, the Little Flower Yoga program was developed by teacher and certified yoga instructor Jennifer Cohen Harper, when her successful use of yoga in her kindergarten classroom led to requests by other students, teachers, and administrators for yoga programs of their own. Harper slowly began to teach more and more yoga classes, and eventually recruited other yoga teachers with education backgrounds to continue growing what had become a flourishing program. Little Flower Yoga for Kidsoffers this fun and unique program combining yoga and mindfulness in an easy-to-read format. Written specifically for parents and kids, the book aims at teaching children to pay attention, increase focus, and balance their emotions—all while building physical strength and flexibility. Based on a growing body of evidence that yoga and mindfulness practices can help children develop focus and concentration, the simple yoga exercises in this book can easily be integrated into their child’s daily routine, ultimately improving health, behavior, and even school achievement. The book details the five main components of the program: connect, breath, move, focus, and relax. Drawing on these components, Harper shares practical activities that parents can use with their children both on a daily basis and as applied to particularly challenging issues. And while this book is targeted to parents, teachers may also find it extremely useful in helping students achieve better attention and focus. For more information about this innovative program, visit www.littlefloweryoga.com.

Adam Saenz's The Power of a Teacher is the result of years of research and professional development conducted in school districts nationwide. In this book you will be able to take the 50-item Teacher Wellness Inventory to identify strengths and weakness in the occupational, emotional, financial, spiritual, and physical areas of your life. It's also filled with discussion questions to create interaction and dialogue between colleagues. Read the stories of real people whose lives were changed by real teachers.

Employ cognitive theory in the classroom every day Research into how we learn has opened the door for utilizing cognitive theory to facilitate better student learning. But that's easier said than done. Many books about cognitive theory introduce radical but impractical theories, failing to make the connection to the classroom. In Small Teaching, James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of modest but powerful changes that make a big difference—many of which can be put into practice in a single class period. These strategies are designed to bridge the chasm between primary research and the classroom environment in a way that can be implemented by any faculty in any discipline, and even integrated into pre-existing teaching techniques. Learn, for example: How does one become good at retrieving knowledge from memory? How does making predictions now help us learn in the future? How do instructors instill fixed or growth mindsets in their students? Each chapter introduces a basic concept in cognitive theory, explains when and how it should be employed, and provides firm examples of how the intervention has been or could be used in a variety of disciplines. Small teaching techniques include brief classroom or online learning activities, one-time interventions, and small modifications in course design or communication with students.

"A writer needs wide latitude so she can bring all her intelligence to the task," Ralph observes. "Assigning a particular format -- a hamburger essay, for instance -- would curtail this play, if not eliminate it entirely." That's why, instead of teacher-driven assignments, Joy Write shares the whys and the how of giving students time and autonomy for the playful, low-stakes writing that leads to surprising, high-level growth. First Ralph makes the case for carving out classroom time for low-stakes writing, despite pressure to focus on persuasive essays and test prep. Then he shares five big ideas for choice-driven, authentic, informal writing -- deeply engaging work that kids want to do. He also provides numerous suggestions for helping students build and flex their writing muscles, increase their stamina, and develop passion for expressing themselves with the written word. -- Provided by publisher.