This book provides an introduction to the theory of positive psychology and a practical guide on how to implement the theory in (primarily secondary) schools.

A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection

Jonathan Kozol, National Book Award-winning author and one of America’s foremost writers on social issues, offers a passionate and provocative critique on the role of the teacher in America’s public school system. Writing as a teacher, Kozol advocates an approach to education that is infused with ethical values: fairness, truth, and integrity, and a driving compassion for the world beyond the classroom. Kozol not only sheds light on what it means to be a teacher, but gives constructive suggestions on how teachers can work conscientiously within the system to foster these values in concert with parents, students and fellow teachers.

Psychologist Madeline Levine, author of the New York Times bestseller The Price of Privilege, brings together cutting-edge research and thirty years of clinical experience to explode once and for all the myth that good grades, high test scores, and college acceptances should define the parenting endgame. Parents, educators, and the media wring their hands about the plight of America's children and teens—soaring rates of emotional problems, limited coping skills, disengagement from learning and yet there are ways to reverse these disheartening trends. Teach Your Children Well acknowledges that every parent wants successful children. However, until we are clearer about our core values and the parenting choices that are most likely to lead to authentic, and not superficial, success, we will continue to raise exhausted, externally driven, impaired children who believe they are only as good as their last performance. Real success is always an inside job, argues Levine, and is measured not by today's report card but by the people our children become fifteen or twenty years down the line. Refusing to be diverted by manufactured controversies such as "tiger moms versus coddling moms," Levine confronts the real issues behind the way we push some of our kids to the breaking point while dismissing the talents and interests of many others. She shows us how to shift our focus from the excesses of hyperparenting and the unhealthy reliance on our children for status and meaning to a parenting style that concentrates on both enabling academic success as well as developing a sense of purpose, well-being, connection, and meaning in our children's lives. Teach Your Children Well is a call to action. And while it takes courage to make the changes we believe in, the time has come, says Levine, to return our overwrought families to a healthier and saner version of themselves.

In The Path of the Mindful Teacher, Danielle A. Nuhfer introduces educators to a process that will help them positively manage stress, find work-life balance, lessen symptoms of burnout, and increase classroom job satisfaction. Teachers walking this path will be able to determine their own needs and the needs of their students, so they can successfully and sustainably do one of the most important jobs in the world: teaching the future of our planet. Drawing on Danielle’s experience as a teacher, mindfulness practitioner, and teacher wellness coach, The Path of the Mindful Teacher will: • Explain the basics of mindfulness and how it can inform teaching practice. • Illustrate a simple step-by-step path that will help teachers choose calm over chaos and serenity over stress. • Provide ways to integrate mindfulness practice into the classroom and beyond. • Offer mindfulness activities that can be adapted to an individual teacher’s needs. • Present tools to balance the ever-changing landscape of teaching.

All teachers at all grade levels in all subjects have speaking assignments for students, but many teachers believe they don't know how to teach speaking, and many even fear public speaking themselves. In his new book, Well Spoken, veteran teacher and education consultant Erik Palmer shares the art of teaching speaking in any classroom. Teachers will find thoughtful and engaging strategies for integrating speaking skills throughout the curriculum. Palmer stresses the essential elements of all effective oral communication, including:, Building a Speech: Audience, Content, Organization, Visual Aids, and Appearance, Performing a Speech: Poise, Voice, Life, Eye Contact, Gestures, and Speed, Evaluating a Speech: Creating Effective Rubrics,' Guiding Students to Excellence Well Spoken contains a framework for understanding the skills involved in all effective oral communication, offers practical steps and lesson ideas that any teacher needs to successfully teach speaking in a variety of situationsfrom classroom discussions to' formal presentationsand includes a set of tools for studentsfrom how to grab the audience's attention to how to use emphatic hand gestures and adjust speed for effect. Discover why, year after year, students returned to Palmer's classroom to thank him for teaching them how to be well spoken. You may find, after reading this book, that you have become a better speaker, too.

What does it mean to teach well? In short, it means a willingness to do anything that helps students learn. Teaching Well investigates the fundamental principle of what teaching effectively entails by exploring the key dynamics of a learning-centered classroom. Based on interviews with renowned scholar Stephen D. Brookfield, this book covers a wide range of topics – such as classroom democratization, critical thinking and reflection, race and power, and more. Each chapter is framed by key questions meant to hone teachers’ crafts and encourage important conversations. Further, this engaging book examines the crucial steps of bringing educators’ identities and backgrounds into practice by soliciting and responding to student feedback, negotiating power dynamics, and the ways institutional constraints, students, and self-concepts can sabotage efforts. A timely text, Teaching Well is the ideal companion for all college and university educators and experienced practitioners across the globe who continue to reflect critically about their teaching practice.