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Powerful Classroom Stories from Accomplished Teachers

By: Adrienne Mack-Kirschner

Foreword by Cathy Owens

Inspiring stories from everyday classrooms to move your head, heart, and soul . . .

Touching head, heart, and soul, these 70 wonderful, inspiring stories remind us that we are not only teachers, but also parents, mentors, friends, and leaders. Through compelling and moving narratives, accomplished classroom teachers reach behind the statistics to highlight the art, craft, joys, and challenges of teaching in today's classrooms.

Allow these National Board Certified Teachers to open their classroom doors and invite you to witness, first-hand, essential teaching and learning moments in the lives of individual children, while offering examples of meaningful activities that have made a difference in their students' lives.

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9780761939122
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2003
Page Count: 216
Publication date: March 06, 2014

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Description

"We must improve schools from within, utilizing our expertise as teaching professionals and placing ourselves at the center of the education reform movement. As Adrienne Mack-Kirschner informs us all in this important book, 'These stories represent what is happening in tens of thousands of classrooms. They hold within them the power of what could be if all teachers and schools provided opportunities for all children to experience powerful teaching and learning.'"
--From the Foreword by Cathy R. Owens, NBCT
Director of Teacher Leadership Initiatives

The National Board for Professional Teaching StandardsInspiring stories from everyday classrooms to move your head, heart, and soul . . .

In an increasingly rigid educational world dominated by standards, lock-step scope and sequence, and strict, scripted lessons, we can sometimes lose sight of why we chose to become teachers in the first place. This important book puts the heart and soul back in education, reminding us that we are not only teachers, but also parents, mentors, friends, and leaders. Powerful Classroom Stories from Accomplished Teachers contains 70 wonderful, inspiring stories told by accomplished classroom teachers, all of whom have achieved or are candidates for National Board Certification. These stories reach behind and around the statistics to highlight the art, craft, joys, and challenges of teaching in today's classrooms, breathing fresh life into the countless students we face every day.

Creative, caring teachers invite you into their classrooms as they relate compelling and moving narratives, allowing us to witness, first-hand, essential teaching and learning moments in the lives of individual children. The stories offer examples of instructional activities that are real, student-centered, meaningful, and most of all—lasting! Stories are grouped in harmony with the Five Core Propositions of accomplished teaching, as defined by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards:

Teachers are committed to students and their learning
Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students
Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning
Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience
Teachers are members of learning communities

All of us have been touched in some way by the teachers we've encountered in our lives. This incredibly moving tribute to the artistry and love of teaching opens classroom doors and lets us look inside to find out what really makes a difference in the lives of our nation's students.

Key features

For all teachers, teacher leaders, school administrators, educational policy planners, parents, and community members who care about schools and education today.
A "page-turner": 70 compelling and fascinating short stories about children, education, hope, and possibility.
Supported by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
All contributors are National Board Certified Teachers or certification candidates.
The author is a National Board Certified Teacher who has successfully trained and mentored > 600 NBCTs

Author(s)

Adrienne Mack-Kirschner

Adrienne Mack-Kirschner, Ed.D., NBCT, is an education consultant and speaker with vast experience as a classroom teacher, mentor, writer, literacy coach, and support provider for candidates applying for Certification throught the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). She developed and directed NB support programs at the University of California, Los Angeles, and for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. She has personally supported more than 700 teachers in the certification process, enjoying one of the highest success rates in the country.

Adrienne’s publications include The Teacher’s Guide to National Board Certification: Unpacking the Standards (2003), The National Board Certification Workbook: How to Prepare Your Portfolio (2003), and A+ Parents: Help Your Child Learn and Succeed in School (1998). Her website is www.accomplishedteaching.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Contributors

Introduction: The Power of Story

It's Okay Not to Be Perfect

As Loud as Thunder

Resource

National Board Core Proposition 1: Teachers Are Committed to Students and Their Learning

Making a Difference

Christopher and Clarence

The Hook

Oh No, Not Her!

Invisible

His Words, His Way

What Dog?

A Student's Road to Success

Our Journey

You Just Never Know

From Cocoon to Butterfly: Up Close and Personal

The Pelican Way

First Comes Love

Success: Measured in Inches, Not Feet

Finding Miguel

A Gift of Cookies

Reflection

Resources

References

National Board Core Proposition 2: Teachers Know the Subjects They Teach and How to Teach Those Subjects to Students

Rembrandt Comes in All Sizes

Collect, Select, and Reflect

Elementary Artist Studies

Not Just Another Field Trip

Blueberry Stains

The Phone Call

The Forgotten Holocaust (Classroom Story)

The Forgotten Holocaust (Poem)

An Emotional Response

"Way Out" But Wonderful and Worth It

Even Comedians Need to Write

Getting to Know Gina

Poetry Lesson

Three Pigs

Grown-Up Language

Economics 101

Teaching Him to Read

Reflection

Resources

References

National Board Core Proposition 3: Teachers Are Responsible for Managing and Monitoring Student Learning

Role Model

One Meeting You Won't Mind Attending

A Gram of Truth

"Fair Is Foul, and Foul Is Fair"

A Gift of Progress

A Lesson About Diversity From Kyle

Jose

Hunger

Finding Freddie

The Power of Words

Carley

Reflection

Resources

National Board Core Proposition 4: Teachers Think Systematically About Their Practice and Learn from Experience

10 Powerful Consummations of Teaching and Learning From a Reflective National Board Certified Teacher

Quality Verbal Discourse

The Prodigal Stapler

A Message to Keep Close at Heart

We Are Writing

The "Unplanned" Lesson

What Holly Heard: R.L. Stine in the Classroom

Inspire

Our Story

Reflection

Resources

National Board Core Proposition 5: Teachers Are Members of Learning Communities

A Box is Not Just a Box

Teachers Are Students Too

Sharing What Works and What Doesn't Work

The Importance of Partnerships

Taking the Lid Off: Social Studies and the Arts

Opening the Door to Possibilities

No More Two by Four

Classroom Assignment: Get on the Oprah Winfrey Show

A Collegial Approach to Teaching Art Critique

Lyreesha

If I Can Think It, I Can Speak It

In Memoriam: Peijian, December 11, 1986 - May 5, 2003

Hamburger = America

Reflection

Resources

Conclusion: Those Who Can Teach, Do

David's Rose

Show Me the Money

Reference

Index

Reviews

"We must improve schools from within, utilizing our expertise as teaching professionals and placing ourselves at the center of the education reform movement. As Adrienne Mack-Kirschner informs us all in this important book, ‘These stories represent what is happening in tens of thousands of classrooms. They hold within them the power of what could be if all teachers and schools provided opportunities for all children to experience powerful teaching and learning.’"

From the Foreword by Cathy R. Owens, NBCT
Director of Teacher Leadership Initiatives, The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

"Thought provoking and powerful."

Mary Bell, Community Advocate
Sacramento, CA

"Adrienne Mack-Kirschner's book provides a welcome antidote to all the bad news about teachers that makes daily headlines. Reading these stories gave me hope. With such teachers in our classrooms, public education is in good hands."

Carol Jago, Teacher, Writer, Editor
Co-Director, California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA

"Warm, interesting, and informative. I recommend it not only to all teachers looking to hone their professional skills, but also to all parents who insist upon a quality educational experience for their children."

Gregory J. Vallone, Principal
James Monroe High School, Los Angeles Unified School District

"How clearly teachers, in their stories, articulate the importance of connecting students--either through first person anecdotes or experiential trips--to real life. Twenty years from now when asked about memories from school these students will remember these experiences that touched their lives--the results of accomplished teachers who touch our children's lives every day."

Kathy Duba, Deputy Superintendent
Pasadena Unified School District, CA

"Adrienne Mack-Kirschner's book lets us teachers know that indeed we do make a difference in the lives of the students in our classrooms. She has collected ‘our’ stories so that we can feel connected to our fellow educators, so that we can know beyond all doubt that what we do each day does mean something. That knowledge is what makes teaching worthwhile; that is what makes teaching a joy."

Brenda Culp Smith, NBCT
Newton-Conover High School, Newton, NC

"A must read for all teacher prep programs, with enriching ideas for ALL teachers, and vital to counter the effects of teaching for testing!"

Barbara Yvette LeWinter, NBCT
Los Angeles Unified School District

"Readers are reminded that teaching reaches beyond a child's academics to personal and emotional domains. Through the author's commentary, the volume reinforces the power of story to help us understand and learn from students."

CHOICE, September 2004

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