Teaching Teens Without Losing Your Mind!

[CHERYL]

I would love to read a few books with messages similar to yours that target teachers. Do you have some favorites to recommend? I have taught junior high math for 16 years. I still love it, and I am always looking for better ways to educate and respond approprately to this age group and their issues. Many of the techiniques in your book can be modified for the classroom, but I would like more teacher specific information.
In the classroom I try to model appropriate adult behavior, apologize when I don't, and use learning techniques that are supported by the new brain research. (I love Patricia Wolfs information.) Yesterday I screamed and lectured at a group of students for not working only to find out that their graphing calculator and motion detector was malfunctioning. The differece between the classroom and at home is that I have now lost my temper in front of 25 teens not just my children My sons are 9 and 12 and just now beginning to explore their identity.
Thanks for your thoughts!

[Mike Bradley]

Dear Cheryl,
Not being a teacher I'm afraid I don't have any other book suggestions for you, although I wonder if this is something that you might want to write yourself? The classroom is certainly a metaphor for a family, and you certainly have grasped the essential aspects of respect based parenting and teaching. I can tell you that this issue is on the forefront of many educationally-focused minds who are grappling with the critical notion concerning teacher/student relationships which are prerequisite to teaching children. Keep us all posted on your search and/or your own intent to write.
Mike Bradley

[sandyk]

Dear Cheryl,

As a former secondary school teacher, I want to applaud your efforts. I found out early in my teaching career that the students would follow me just about anywhere as long as I was honest with them, including apologizing when I was out of sorts or just plain wrong. You're doing great, Cheryl. Thanks for setting an excellent example for your students and for other teachers.