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U-Turn Teaching

Strategies to Accelerate Learning and Transform Middle School Achievement

By: Rich Allen, Jenn Currie

Help middle schoolers engage in the classroom before it’s too late! The authors’ four principles of brain-based learning show you how to create strong, positive learning patterns.

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Product Details

Grade Level: 5-8
ISBN: 9781412996464
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2012
Page Count: 200
Publication date: September 04, 2012

Price: $39.95

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Description

Help middle schoolers engage in the classroom before it's too late!

The middle school years mark a critical point in a child's educational journey. For many educators, these years are the last chance to put in place strong, positive learning patterns.

U-Turn Teaching is founded on Rich Allen's "Green Light" education strategies, in which every activity is designed to proactively support learning. This book builds on what researchers have discovered about how the adolescent brain learns best, and shows how those discoveries directly relate to effective classroom teaching. Now you can engage all students, even unmotivated ones, and help them make a U-turn by applying these four principles of brain-based learning:

Build and maintain trust
Create a collaborative community
Take a TEAMing approach
Prime the positive environment

U-Turn Teaching demonstrates how to realistically accomplish these four principles in your classroom. When educators are able to embed positive, efficient, and effective patterns of learning in the middle years, students are far more likely to succeed in high school and beyond!

Author(s)

Rich Allen

Learn more about Rich Allen's PD offerings

Richard Allen is an international consultant with more than 25 years experience coaching trainers and educators. Cofounder and president of Education Illustrated, he has taken the TrainSmart strategies beyond the United States and Canada to such diverse countries as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Russia, Jordan, and Brazil. Allen is also a popular keynote speaker at international conferences, and he facilitates motivational and teambuilding workshops.

Allen started his educational career as a high school math and drama teacher. In 1985, he became a lead facilitator for SuperCamp—an accelerated learning program for teens—and has since worked with more than 25,000 students worldwide. He completed his doctorate in educational psychology at Arizona State University, where he studied how the human brain receives, processes, and recalls information—knowledge that informs all aspects of his training strategies.

Jenn Currie

Jenn Currie has been teaching in the Commodore Perry School District for over 15 years, working largely with adolescents in grades 4– 6. Since discovering brain-based learning strategies in 2005, Jenn has consistently helped ‘problem’ students achieve their first-ever academic successes. Her work has been recognized formally, as Teacher of the Year in 2008 and 2010, and informally through numerous letters from her students, their parents and administrators.

After seeing powerful results in her own classroom, Jenn has become a staunch advocate of supporting student success through best practices and brain research. She has taken an increased role in professional development: facilitating workshops for parents, mentoring beginning teachers, leading professional study groups, as well as running in-service trainings at various school districts, universities and state conferences. Since 2009, she has led a continuing education course entitled, “The Winning Combination: Linking Brain Research with Practical Classroom Strategies”.

Jenn earned her B.S. and M. Ed in Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, and is currently pursuing a doctoral program in Teaching and Learning. Despite having taught for nearly two decades, she continues to delight in the challenge of showing every student that they can succeed.

Along with her husband Scott and their canine companion Maggie, Jenn lives in the small, rural town of Greenville, Pennsylvania. Together, they enjoy cooking and spending time in the great outdoors hiking, four-wheeling, and horseback riding. She may be reached at jenncurrie@verizon.net.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Story of Jenn

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

1. Why Many Middle School Students Need to Make a U-Turn

2. Creating and Maintaining Trust

3. Create a Collaborative Community

4. Take a TEAMing Approach

5. Prime the Positive Environment

6. U-Turn Teaching in Action

Appendix

References

Index

Reviews

“Teaching middle school students can be and should be challenging and invigorating! This book describes some new strategies that teachers and students alike will enjoy!”

Ellen E. Coulson, Teacher
Sig Rogich Middle School, Las Vegas, NV

“This book is a great stepping stone for all teachers looking for new ways to connect to today’s middle school students.”

Gayla LeMay, Teacher
Louise Radloff Middle School, Duluth, GA

"Teachers buy books hoping to improve instructional strategies in their classroom. The books are read and evaluated with many clever and interesting ideas, but no answers for why the ideas work, or how to adapt them in their classroom. U-Turn Teaching is different. It provides clear and concise strategies and insight as to why they work. I watched Jenn as she studied brain based learning. Her classroom became a hive of renewed enthusiasm as she embraced the knowledge she presents in this book. This book will challenge you and renew your passion for teaching. It will be your U-turn experience!"

Darlene Waldorf, Elementary Teacher
Commodore Perry School District, Mercer, PA

"If you truly believe the number one factor affecting student achievement is the teacher, then you must also recognize the critical importance of continuing to enhance professional practice. U-Turn Teaching will become the guidebook for educators looking to boost student engagement through intrinsically motivating strategies. The utilization of U-Turn strategies will further unlock the potential in every student. The development of a true classroom community will increase student achievement and subsequently decrease disruptive behavior. Teachers must develop an in-depth understanding of how to bring their classrooms into the 21st century—this resource will transform middle school achievement!"

Shawn Algoe, Elementary Principal
Keystone Elementary School, Knox, PA

"Taken straight from the daily life of the students, I felt instantly immersed into the classroom. Chocked full of vignettes, the authors help the reader visualize the interactive environment, which leads to easy implementation. This book taught me techniques I did not learn in college, and thus, once applied, allowed me to start my teaching endeavor in the right direction. This is a great how-to book I will continue to come back to time and time again."

Jenna Malnar, Elementary Teacher
Hadley, PA

Other Titles in: Student Engagement & Motivation | Brain-Friendly Teaching & Learning | Middle School Teaching Methods

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