Why YOU Need This Book!
Do you constantly repeat instructions? Are you fighting a never-ending paper battle? Strong classroom management is the cornerstone of effective teaching, and this book will help lay the foundation for everything you want to accomplish professionally:
* Turn needy, disorganized children into self-reliant, responsible students
* Develop and teach ANY classroom procedure
* Train the class to follow along, stay on-task, and work together
* Use fun teaching techniques that help you assess student learning
* Eliminate homework hassles and parent miscommunications
* Prevent burnout by enjoying and growing with students
* Construct a self-running classroom that frees you to teach
Using actual classroom photographs, forms, and dialogue examples,
The Cornerstone will show you how to design instructional routines that facilitate learning. It will guide you through each step of communicating and reinforcing your expectations. Learn how to create a vision for your classroom and TEACH for it!
The Cornerstone is an expansion of the ideas presented on my website, and provides a
tangible, more comprehensive resource for teachers to keep and reference in the classroom.
Take a look at the table of contents and introduction to see what you'll learn.
Sample chapter: "How to Teach ANY Procedure"
In just this single chapter (15 pages!), you'll learn:
-The importance of ongoing (distributed) procedure practice
- How to form precise expectations and figure out exactly what you want
-What not to do (how to phrase your expectations so kids will successfully meet them)
-Why you should be cautious about misusing the term 'we'
-How to use a variety of signals to facilitate routines
-The art of replacing nagging and criticism with performance feedback
-The 8 steps for teaching ANY procedure you want kids to follow
-How to play the Procedure Review Game as a FUN reminder for kids
-The key to revising your criteria without confusing kids or seeming incompetent
-What to do when kids don't meet your expectations (repeat the practice, not the command)
-The power of "Go back and try it again" (and how to get kids to do it without attitude!)
- Ways to accommodate special needs children
-How to avoid a slow descent into laziness and sloppily-done procedures
-Ideas for logical rewards and appropriate incentives that foster intrinsic motivation
Free PDF download of Chapter 9 "How to Teach ANY Procedure!"
(You will need Acrobat Reader 8 or higher for proper viewing.)
You can also search inside the book and read additional excerpts at Amazon.com.
The Cornerstone Format
In The Cornerstone, you'll learn how a positive teaching philosophy plays out practically in the classroom to create a calm, supportive environment that balances predictable routines with unpredictable teaching strategies and lessons.
The book is a comprehensive guide with 500 pages of resources that wil help you make this school year the very best possible, whether it's your first or your thirty-first. The Cornerstone will guide you to reflect on why you teach, what type of students you want to produce, and ways to run your classroom that fit well with your personal teaching style...all within the context of planning for specific procedures and routines. From the first minute you spend with your students in August to the final hectic week in June, this book will show you how to stay focused on what's really important, maintain your enthusiasm, and utilize all the resources you have available.
The Cornerstone is formatted to:
-include classroom forms and sample versions of reproducibles
-provide space in the margin for notes
-separate detailed information into small, easy-to-digest sections so you can easily skim
over or skip to the parts you need most
-utilize nearly 200 photographs to illustrate organizational tips, room arrangement ideas,
and instructional resources
-correlate with the new website, which will provide further resources and regularly updated
supplements
Click here to read more about the inspiration forThe Cornerstone, how it began online
through the provision of free teacher resources, and how the book and website can help meet
YOUR needs.
About the Book's Re-Release
The Cornerstone was originally published in July 2008 with Xulon Press using the ISBN 978-1606473672. It will be re-released under the author's own publishing company, Due Season Press, with an official publication date of May 1, 2009. No changes or revisions have been made to the book's content: only the publisher's logo, copyright date, and ISBN have been altered. Additional information about the decision to re-release can be found in this blog post by the author.
About the Publisher
Due Season Press is a small publishing house founded by Angela Powell. For more information, please send an email to info@due-season-press.com.
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