44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes

Avoid classroom problems with this exciting new resource! When teachers experience problems in the classroom they reactively look for solutions. Often the solutions to the problems merely address obvious, apparent symptoms, overlooking the root causes of classroom problems. In 44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes, Orange provides insight into underlying causes of common classroom problems such as hurt feelings, power struggles, boring instruction, and low motivation. Rather than explain how to solve problems after they have occurred, Orange offers preventative, proactive strategies to help educators avoid the mistakes associated with classroom problems.   This book is a theoretically sound, fresh approach to classroom success. Based on the observations of more than 200 instructors, this dynamic, hands-on text presents finely honed strategies for creating flexible lesson plans, maintaining enjoyable classrooms that run like well-oiled machines, tips for motivating students, managing paperwork effectively, and much more to help teachers create an environment that is conducive to better teaching and learning. 44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes includes: Practical methods to plan for foreseen and unforeseen classroom circumstances Tips to inspire and motivate your students Useful techniques for maximizing students′ strengths and minimizing their weaknesses Advice on how to project a professional image Steps for developing exciting, energetic instruction Featuring expert advice from state Teachers of the Year, enlightening vignettes, activities and observations, this terrific resource will help you create the best classroom possible.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Acknowledgments About the Author Section 1: Expect the Unexpected Smart Strategy 1: Those Who Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail Smart Strategy 2: Develop Your Academic Sixth Sense Section 2: The Organized Classroom Smart Strategy 3: Create the Well-Oiled Machine That Runs on Its Own Smart Strategy 4: Harness the Paper Tiger Smart Strategy 5: Design Soul-Stirring Learning Environments Smart Strategy 6: Creative Minds Can Be Tidy Section 3: Become a Friend of the Family Smart Strategy 7: Seek Parents as Partners Smart Strategy 8: Promote Parent Involvement Through Active Interaction Smart Stragegy 9: Use a Sandwich Cookie Model of Parent Conferencing Smart Strategy 10: Make House Calls Section 4: Raise Your Nurturance Index a Notch or Two Smart Strategy 11: Love the Unlovable Child Smart Strategy 12: Seek to Understand All of Your Children Smart Strategy 13: Consider Special Ethnicity and Cultural Issues Smart Strategy 14: Respect and Celebrate Student Differences Smart Strategy 15: Avoid Academic Trauma Smart Strategy 16: Empower the Disempowered Smart Strategy 17: Practice Saying Yes Whenever Possible Section 5: Balance Your Personal Assets and Liabilities Smart Strategy 18: Develop Strategies to Maximize Your Strengths and Minimize Your Weaknesses Smart Strategy 19: Shelve Your Emotional Baggage Smart Strategy 20: Use All of Your Talents Section 6: Teach With a Slow Hand and a Gentle Touch Smart Strategy 21: Model and Expect Good Behavior From All Children Smart Strategy 22: Courtesy Is Contagious Smart Strategy 23: Make Punishment a Last Resort Smart Strategy 24: Be a Gentle Critic Smart Strategy 25: Treat Children the Way You Treat Adults Smart Strategy 26: Be a Promoter of Positive Behavior Smart Strategy 27: Use Logical Appeal as a Discipline Strategy Smart Strategy 28: Catch Bees With Honey Not Vinegar Section 7: Be an Edutainer: Educator + Entertainer Smart Strategy 29: Put Some Pep in Your Academic Step Smart Strategy 30: Pump Up the Volume of Student Participation Smart Strategy 31: Be Passionate About Pedagogy Smart Strategy 32: Strut Your Stuff Section 8: Do a Three-Step to an Instructional Beat Smart Strategy 33: Conduct Your Own Diagnostic Clinic: Ascertain and Assess Student Skills and Weaknesses Smart Strategy 34: Prescribe an Effective Personalized Action Plan Smart Strategy 35: Promote Implementation of the Plan and Self-Regulated Learning Section 9: Seek to Inspire and Motivate Smart Strategy 36: Start With Yourself: Self-Motivate Smart Strategy 37: Showcase Each Child′s Talents: Tap Into Multiple Intelligences Smart Strategy 38: Rewrite an Ineffective Classroom Script Smart Strategy 39: Avoid Burnout: Rekindle the Joy of Teaching Smart Strategy 40: Teach Children to Love Learning Smart Strategy 41: Move Your Class to Action Through Discovery and Inquiry Smart Strategy 42: Take Your Children to Water and Make Them Want to Drink Section 10: Do a Professional Makeover Smart Strategy 43: Project a Professional Image: Avoid the Blue Jeans and Sneakers Trap Smart Strategy 44: Perfect Your Teacher Voice and Educator Countenance: Develop a Get-Down-to-Business Demeanor References Index

About the Author :
Carolyn Orange is Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She teaches Psychological Basis of Learning, Learning and Development of the School Age Child, Human Growth and Development, and Psychology of Human Motivation. She has a PhD and Master of Arts degree in Educational Psycho logy from Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harris Stowe State College. She began her teaching career in the St. Louis Public Schools where she taught for a number of years. Her work as an educator has spanned about 25 years. That period includes some time that she worked for two corporations. She has worked as a researcher and educator in a variety of educational settings: elementary, secondary, English as a Second Language (ESL), Montessori, special education, adult education, art, and higher education. She has produced a video on self-regulation and has developed a Self-Regulation Inventory. She has published numerous articles in journals such as the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, The Journal of Experimental Education, The Roeper Review, Journal of Communi­cations and Minority Issues, The Journal of Black Studies, The NASSP: Curriculum Report, and The High School Journal. In 2001, she was appointed to the review board of the Journal of Communications and Minority Issues. She is on the Board of Directors for the Girl Scout Council of San Antonio. She was included in Who’s Who in the World for 2005; Who’s Who Among American Teachers for 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003; Who’s Who in America 2001, 2002, and 2003/2004. Her current research interests are envirosocial factors that affect student achievement. She is the author of 25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them (2000) and Quick Reference Guide to Educational Innovations: xiv FM-Orange.qxd 11/12/2004 4:21 PM Page xv About the Author xv Practices, Programs, Policies and Philosophies (2002). 25 Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make and How to Avoid Them is a bestseller and has gained worldwide popularity. It has been reviewed in India and translated into Thai, Chinese, and Slovenian. She was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2004.