Teaching that Matters: Engaging Minds, Improving Schools

Product Description Teaching that Matters invites principals and teachers to make changes that will allow all students to succeed. Thoms urges administrators and teachers to reconsider traditional practices in light of today’s media-driven culture and digitally wired students. While sensitive to the challenges schools face Thoms is relentless in offering strategies to meet these challenges. Rather than focus on improving test scores, Teaching that Matters advocates that teachers teach to a child’s whole symphony, not only to one note. If students only learn to succeed on bubble tests, they will not have opportunities to discover their true potential. Thoms sees the teaching process as a joint venture between teacher and student where the teacher brings learning to the student and, at the same time, brings the student to the learning. This process demands at least as much listening as talking, a new habit that teachers and principals need to learn. By meeting innovative principals and teachers who engage students, this book will help you to learn to change traditional classroom practices into exciting alternatives. Review Teaching That Matters is a delightful concoction of philosophical and psychological reflections and provocations on the art of teaching. Creative teachers will find Frank Thoms’s book highly engaging and his practical teaching recommendations enormously useful. -- Paul Reville, Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration, Harvard University Graduate School of EducationIn education, we have a choice. We can continue to educate students the same deadening way they have always learned or we can follow innovative teachers, like Frank Thoms, and make a better choice. He presents a vision of schools where teachers want to teach and classrooms where students want to learn. This invitation is refreshing at a time when educators feel overwhelmed by the demands of standards and testing. Thoms, a seasoned teacher himself, paints compelling pictures of teachers who show us there is a better way––a way to learn alongside students, engage students in creative and thoughtful work, and bring liveliness into the classroom. An inspirational book to read if you want to breathe new life into your classroom or school! -- Jenn David-Lange, author of "The Main Idea"Frank Thoms presents thoughtful, challenging ideas that demonstrate respect for teacher, student, and the subject matter itself. Well done!! -- Vin Rogers, professor of education emeritus, University of ConnecticutFrank Thoms provides an ocean of experience-based ideas. He puts them in a context of what teaching and learning can be or ought to be, rather than what, in too many classrooms, they have deteriorated into. His ideas and settings are married well and stated in vivid language that relates educators at all levels. His Table of Contents should make educators salivate! -- Bob Milley, assistant superintendent Sudbury MA, retiredWhat makes a favorite teacher, the one you remember and thank for your whole life? Teacher Frank Thoms was one of them, and as he explains, it requires moving beyond conventional ideas, adapting your teaching to individual students, and listening to them. This book is a page turner of new ideas and effective strategies. -- Susan Page, author, "Why Talking is Not Enough"Frank Thoms understands that teaching is an enormously complex activity. A career classroom teacher, he knows that teachers teach best and students learn best when they create learning communities in their classrooms and schools. His book puts teaching back into the hands of teachers and learning back into the hands of students. He advocates for schools to foster safe communities and rigorous teaching that will nourish student’s gifts and strengths. -- Hugh Silbaugh, dean and teacher, Northfield-Mount HermonI feel your energy and commitment and can also hear your voice, literally, as I read. Your book feels like a personal convers