Teaching Vol. I: Chapters 1, 2, 3

Hi everyone! Are any of you looking for good summer reading for yourself, or for someone who turns to you for book recommendations?

This week I'm featuring my first self-published book, Teaching: Education and Academics at the Turn of the Century. I'll give a brief discussion of the first three chapters.

"Classroom Shadows" was the first published column that I wrote for Phi Kappa Phi's National Forum. In this article, I try to encourage teachers returning to their classroom after a summer vacation to be 'present' in the space, and to be aware of all the others who will be present with their students. I give a brief description of many issues that students and their families may be experiencing: elder care that disrupts sleep and causes worry, friendships that require mutual support, undiagnosed learning differences that affect the emotional investment students can make in their education, and several other scenarios that will distract students from the task being presented. I refer to these distractions as 'shadows' and encourage teachers and parents together to shed some light on the shadows, and dispel some of the distractions.

"Morning Meeting, Part One: The People" introduces the reader to three significant people in a student's life. Three people must come to the table with the student's best interest in mind, and in hand. The teacher, the guidance counselor, and the parent all come to the table with their own histories, and their own perspectives. Before the age of fourteen, students are not considered equal partners in an educational team meeting. Nevertheless, the student is the one who will be most impacted by the decisions of this team. 

"Morning Meeting, Part Two: The Time" is the description of how time and "the times" play into an educational meeting. Looking back to the middle of the twentieth century similarities and differences are easy to spot. Homework then and homework now ... book bags then and now ... grading and accountability then and now ... each of these and more are considered within this chapter of Teaching: Education and Academics at the Turn of the Century. 

I'll give brief summaries of more from this book in the blog later this week. But if what I've shared so far nudges you to buy the book, you'll want to go the CreateSpace and be ready to enter the discount code 6W3N3BW2 to receive a 40% discount of the book. And if you have a kindle and want instead to download the e-book, you'll find that the kindle edition is also at a reduced price at Amazon.com

Thanks for reading here ... think about people you know who are teachers ... or who are recent graduates considering teaching as a career ... or people who are retiring from this career ... and give them a copy of this book. They will find it valuable, affirming, and very, very real.