Description
‘I connected with the text at every level. I laughed and cried with each teacher’s wisdom. The sections and chapters evoked emotions ranging from ‘yep, that’s right,’ at the beginning, to ‘Wow! Cool ideas!’ in the middle, to ‘Oh my gosh, I feel their pain,’ and finally to ‘Okay, I can tackle the world’s problems, one at a time,’ in the end….Gives teachers great ideas and validates what they are doing in the classroom. The five examples of extraordinarily grounded teachers are priceless’ – Stacey B. Ferguson, Teacher North Bay Elementary School, Bay Saint Louis, MS This sequel to Dom Belmonte’s acclaimed Teaching From the Deep End takes beginning teachers from their first year of classroom teaching into years 2 through 5, the most difficult years for teacher development and retention within the profession. Moving from the novice teacher’s earliest concerns about standing at the Big Desk, the author now addresses the beginning teacher’s instructional issues, offering guidance on 15 teaching topics, including student learning groups, instructional pacing, open-ended questioning, grading, motivators, keeping an ear to classroom tone (and undertone), and more. Five sample lessons are offered and analyzed in core curriculum areas to illustrate teaching methods as practiced by master teachers, and the book closes with a variety of challenges critical to the emerging teacher’s resilience and success. The author’s tone throughout is engaging, humorous, and encouraging, with a focus on the rewards of having chosen the teaching profession, making this an ideal resource for teacher induction, mentoring, and support programs. Dominic Belmonte taught at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, for twenty years as an English teacher and chairman of the English Department. He is now President and CEO ofthe Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. A member and past chairman of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, in 1989 he co-created the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program, a pre-induction teacher preparation experience that is now the Golden Apple Foundation’s largest program, named by Harvard University as one of 15 programs out of 1,200 nationwide as a finalist for its Innovations in American Government award. In 1996 Belmonte also co-created the GATE (Golden Apple Teacher Education) program, an alternative pathway to teacher certification for mid-career adults wishing a career in teaching secondary math or science or teaching elementary school children. Foreword by Martin J. and Patricia Koldyke Acknowledgments About the Author 1: Becoming and Celebrating Yourself as a Grounded Teacher: Five Requisite Precepts Precept 1: Recognition and Belief That the Quality of Your Work is a Matter of Life and Death to Your Students Precept 2: Immunity From the Toxic Cynicism of Your Colleagues Precept 3: Recognition That Your Words Matter Precept 4: Recognition That You Must Have a Reason to Be in Front of Your Students Precept 5: Give Them Hope, Rather Than Love 2: Fifteen Indicators of a Grounded Teacher: Classroom Nuances and Other Cues First Indicator: Avoiding Classroom Wheel Spinning Second Indicator: Being Comfortable With Time and With Questions Third Indicator: Attending the Lecture’s Funeral Fourth Indicator: Mastering the Art of Asking Questions Fifth Indicator: Planning Student Group Work Carefully Sixth Indicator: Being a Non-Contributor to Classroom Disarray Seventh Indicator: Knowing Speed Kills Everywhere, Even in the Classroom Eighth Indicator: Avoiding the Rudderless Class Ninth Indicator: Keeping an Ear to the Tone of a Classroom Tenth Indicator: Beware of Your Own Undertone! Eleventh Indicator: Avoiding Topic or Grade as Threat Twelfth Indicator: Using Compliments Adroitly Thirteenth Indicator: Prodding Gently (but Prodding Nonetheless!) Fourteenth Indicator: Holding Students Responsible for Their Own Learning Fifteenth Indicator: Holding Students Responsible for Their Own Behavior: “We Don’t Baby Our Babies Anymore” 3: Model Techniques of Exceptionally Grounded Teachers The Socratic Seminar Method for High School English Classes: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Tom Anstett, Lincoln-Way East High School, Frankfort, IL Getting Students Hooked Through the Power of Inquiry Science: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Jim Effinger, Naperville North High School, Naperville, IL Presenting Poetry To the Recalcitrant and Suspicious High School Student: The “Search for the Central Experience” Method The Magic Math Box and Elementary Math Approach: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Sr. Raeleen Sweeney, PBVM, Golden Apple Foundation, Chicago, IL Literacy Travels: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Jim Sorensen, Chippewa Middle School, Des Plaines, IL Lessons in Loving Science and Children: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Carolyn “Mama C” Cyriaque, Golden Apple Foundation, Chicago, IL 4: Further Nuances and Challenges for the Grounded Teacher When Tragedy Affects the Classroom Teacher Burnout: What It Is, Why It Is, Why You Must Combat It, or Leave Teaching Now State and Federal Testing and the Fight for a Teacher’s Soul Bridging the Achievement Gap With Your Minority Students: A Conversation With Gloria Harper and a Summary of the National Study Group for the Affirmative Development of Academic Ability Epilogue: A Teacher’s Poem, the Subjects of Fear and Resilience References Index
