Creating Joyful Classrooms is a practical response to the malaise in America’s schools created by high stakes testing, disrespect for the teaching profession, and resources being redirected to charter schools and private school vouchers. Classroom teachers feel helpless and students feel hapless. Joy has left the building. This book offers the antidote to return joy and passion to teaching and learning. Whether a beginning teacher or a seasoned veteran, this book shows the way back to timeless child-centered best practices that engage young children and increase academic achievement. As joyful classrooms multiply, their success will drive out the poisonous rancor of cynicism and despair to become beacons of hope for children everywhere. This book also makes the case for changing the status quo in the elementary school. The standard traditional grade school is failing to meet the needs of children growing up in the information age. Elementary schools must evolve into multi-grade, multi-dimensional safe havens that challenge children academically, while remembering to cherish childhood. Based upon the theory of invitational education, this book provides specific strategies, along with classroom management tools, to create highly engaging classrooms for young children. It also offers inspiring stories of heroic teachers who beat the odds to bring joy back to school. It’s not too late for a better tomorrow.

Students learn more—and with more joy—when lessons connect with their lives and interests while challenging them to stretch and grow. In this book, you'll find practical, ready-to-use strategies for creating active and exciting lessons. You'll learn about: Partnering and grouping students for optimum learning Using interactive learning structures such as Maître d' and Swap Meets to support active learning Incorporating acting, drawing, debating, and more into daily lessons while still meeting rigorous learning goals Infusing lessons with choices in what or how to learn to increase students ownership of their learning Incorporating student self-assessment tools to help children monitor and evaluate their own work and identify ways to improve their learning Filled with lesson plans, precise directions for interactive learning structures, planning guides, and more!

The best-selling book of easy-to-implement classroom lessons from the world’s premier educational system—now available in paperback. Finland shocked the world when its fifteen-year-olds scored highest on the first Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a set of tests evaluating critical-thinking skills in math, science, and reading. That was in 2001; even today, this tiny Nordic nation continues to amaze. How does Finnish education—with short school days, light homework loads, and little standardized testing—produce students who match the PISA scores of other nations with more traditional “work ethic” standards? When Timothy Walker started teaching fifth graders at a Helsinki public school, he began a search for the secrets behind the successes of Finland’s education system. Highlighting specific strategies that support joyful K–12 classrooms and can be integrated with U.S. educational standards, this book, available in paperback for the first time, gathers what he learned and shows how any teacher can implement many of Finland's best practices. A new foreword by the author addresses the urgent questions of teaching, and living, in these pandemic times.

Pose, Wobble, Flow presents an exciting, liberatory framework for disrupting the pervasive myth that there is one set of surefire, culturally neutral best practices. In this new edition, the authors update and expand their pedagogical model to support lifelong success for teachers of all subject areas and grade levels. Providing six different teaching stances or “poses” that teachers can use to meet the needs of all students, this popular resource offers guidance for teaching and learning in today’s challenging sociopolitical climate. The authors describe how teachers can expect to “wobble” as they adapt instruction to the needs of their students, while also incorporating new insights about their own positionality and preconceptions of teaching. Readers are encouraged to recognize this flexibility as a positive process or “flow” that can be used to address challenges and adopt ambitious teaching strategies like those depicted in this book. Each chapter highlights a particular pose, describes how to work through common wobbles, incorporates teacher voices, and provides discussion activities for collective teacher inquiry. PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION— “In Pose, Wobble, Flow, Garcia and O’Donnell-Allen remind all of us that teaching is not about following directions: it’s about listening to our students and paying attention to the social forces that shape their lives; about learning how to navigate department, school, district, and federal rules to benefit our students so we can keep a job while we continue to honor our core beliefs about education.” —Linda Christensen, director, Oregon Writing Project, Lewis & Clark College “Antero Garcia and Cindy O’Donnell-Allen have written a book about teaching that I’ve been hoping someone would write. They deftly provide a clear and insightful framework from which any thoughtful teacher can build a vital practice, while also inserting a wealth of examples to ground the framework in working classrooms. It’s a must-have for preservice and inservice teachers who care about their teaching.” —Bob Fecho, professor and department head, University of Georgia

For the past decade in the United States, elementary principals have faced increased scrutiny. Student performance regardless of student experiences, district funding practices, or societal factors have been the responsibility of the principal. In a similar fashion, teachers have been ridiculed and scorned. As a result, principals are left trying to create positive school culture, evaluate teacher performance, and guide and support professional development initiatives. In the meantime, teachers in many ways do not see themselves as professionals, do not feel that they have autonomy in their classrooms, and as a result may not have the same joy that they once had. The goal of this guide is to assist principals and school leaders to cultivate a school culture where the principal is positioned as the literacy leader. This guide will support principals to address, define, and create a literacy culture. Most importantly, provide insight to support principals in their quest to becoming primary individual responsible for bringing joy to teaching and learning as part of building school culture.

How teachers can unlock the power of inclusivity and joy to transform their classroom and behavior management In Rooted in Joy: Creating a Classroom Culture of Equity, Belonging, and Care, educational justice advocate and educator Deonna Smith delivers a unique blend of theory, academic frameworks, narrative, and digestible advice on impacting deeply rooted school culture challenges and managing the day-to-day classroom. This research-based book brings a friendly and accessible voice to a complex issue, making the subject matter easy to follow and apply in the real world. In the book, you’ll build your toolbox for cultivating a inclusive and joyful classroom culture throughhumanizing your students and acknowledging the role that culture and race play in the educational system.You’ll also: Find valuable, downloadable resources that complement and highlight the topics discussed in the book Discover resources suited to first-year teachers, as well as educators with decades of experience in the classroom Discover ways to improve learning outcomes for all students An essential and practical resource for teachers, administrators, principals, and other education leaders, Rooted in Joy will also benefit education policymakers, regulators, and other public officials seeking advice on how to shape the next generation of school policy.

The ultimate new teacher's guide to surviving and thriving in the classroom, Smart from the Start is the springboard to help you establish and improve your practice in meaningful ways. Teachers have a wide range of responsibilities—not all of which can be addressed in teacher preparation programs—and for new and returning educators especially, it can be daunting to think about all that is required throughout the school year. This book provides more than 100 easy-to-incorporate tools spread across six major points of concern: * Beginning of the year: set up your classroom and establish rules and procedures. * Classroom management: establish a healthy learning environment. * Instructional planning: lead high-quality lessons and anticipate students' diverse needs. * Student engagement: motivate students and maintain their quality of learning. * Assessment: align assessment with curriculum and instruction and build rubrics and tests. * Teacher well-being: find the joy in teaching and take care of yourself. Your first few years of teaching don't have to be formidable or confusing. James H. Stronge, Jessica M. Straessle, and Xianxuan Xu have synthesized decades of research to identify and carefully consider the attributes of the job that especially relate to new teachers. With Smart from the Start, you can take your first steps into teaching with confidence and create a classroom environment that will benefit your students.

In this new book from Routledge and MiddleWeb, author Rita Platt shows how you can create a joyful classroom community in which students are determined to work hard, be resilient, and never give up. She describes how to help build students’ purpose, mastery, and autonomy, so they take ownership over their work and develop a growth mindset for success. Topics covered include: Why joy and effort go hand in hand How to build a classroom climate of caring and achievement Why mastery and goal setting are important How to work with differentiated instruction How to work with cooperative and collaborative learning Why parent-teacher connection is vital How to take your practice of joy and effort beyond the classroom And much more! Each chapter includes practical tools, tips, and ideas that you can use immediately to develop these skills in students, so they find more joy and success in the learning process.

Bring positive behavior to your school through strong, consistent, and positive discipline. In Responsive School Discipline two experienced administrators offer practical strategies for building a safe, calm, and respectful school-strategies based on deep respect for children and for staff. Each chapter targets one key discipline issue and starts with a checklist of action steps. For comprehensive discipline reform, go through the chapters in order. For help with a particular challenge, go right to the chapter you need.