Robyn R. Jackson

Claire Lambert

If we want our students to succeed, we cannot afford to leave to chance what happens when they do not learn. In this guide, Robyn R. Jackson and Claire Lambert take you step by step through the process of providing proactive and progressive learning support—what great teachers do to ensure that all students receive the right kind of assistance and to get those who are struggling back on track before they get frustrated and give up. Here, you'll learn how to * Support students before instruction through acceleration practices, including activating background knowledge, providing advance organizers, and focusing on key vocabulary. * Support students during instruction by distinguishing between productive and destructive struggle, establishing "red flags" to alert you when a student's learning is headed off course, and delivering targeted interventions that quickly put struggling students back on the path to mastery. * Support students after instruction by providing appropriate remediation for the few students who have not achieved mastery. * Create a comprehensive, progressive support plan tailored to your classroom content and the students you teach. About the series Every teacher can become a master teacher with the right kind of practice and support. Each how-to guide in the Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching series focuses on one of the seven mastery principles introduced in Robyn R. Jackson's best-selling Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching. The guides' self-assessments, worksheets, planning templates, process outlines, checklists, links to online resources, suggested activities, and prompts for reflection help teachers of all experience levels apply the principles to address everyday classroom challenges and build their overall mastery mindset.

(Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching series)

How to Support Struggling Students

Is great teaching a gift that only a few of us are born with, or is it a skill that can be learned? In Never Work Harder Than Your Students, Robyn Jackson makes a radical assertion: Any teacher can become a master teacher by developing a master teacher mindset. The master teacher mindset can be achieved by rigorously applying seven principles to your teaching until they become your automatic response to students in the classroom. The more you practice these seven principles, the more you begin to think like a master teacher: 1. Start where your students are. 2. Know where your students are going. 3. Expect to get your students to their goal. 4. Support your students along the way. 5. Use feedback to help you and your students get better. 6. Focus on quality rather than quantity. 7. Never work harder than your students. Using these principles, Jackson shows you how to become a master teacher no matter where you are in your practice. Each chapter provides a detailed explanation of one of the mastery principles, the steps you need to take to apply them to your own practice, and suggestions for how you can begin practicing the principle in your classroom right away. Jackson offers stories from her own teaching practice, as well as from other teachers she has helped, to show you how each principle works. Teaching is a hard job, but using Jackson’s principles will help you and your students reap the rich rewards of that hard work.

Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching

HOPE IS ON THE WAY! “I firmly believe that what will make you a master teacher is not the advice I give you; what will make you a master teacher is that you figure out how to solve those challenges on your own, in your own way.” —From the Preface As a new teacher you face numerous challenges. Right from the start you must learn how to manage a class full of restless students; develop productive relationships with fellow teachers, administrators, and parents; and design engaging lesson plans that will meet ever-increasing levels of accountability all while building a life for yourself in the process. It can be overwhelming and sometimes you can feel like you’re all alone. And yet, you came to this profession because you want to make a difference. How do you juggle the demands of the profession and find your own voice, your own teaching style, your own teaching self? The good news is that you can do this. In this down-to-earth, inspirational book, bestselling author Robyn Jackson offers encouragement and real-world advice for navigating those difficult years as a beginning teacher. Sharing stories from her own humbling first years as a new teacher, Robyn helps you tackle challenges such as motivating students, planning effective lessons, building relationships with parents, bouncing back from embarrassing mistakes, and finding your own authority as a teacher. She also helps you find success outside the classroom with practical pointers for living on a teacher’s salary and carving out time to have a life of your own. With candor and a good deal of wit, she gently guides you to develop your own teaching style and, ultimately, to find your own path toward mastery. Robyn speaks to new educators as a trusted mentor, one who knows how to navigate the tricky terrain of “new teacherdom”—and knows how rich and rewarding the payoff will be. If you’re new to the profession or know someone about to embark on a teaching career,You Can Do Thisis the essential roadmap to succeeding as a new educator both inside and outside the classroom.

Hope and Help for New Teachers

You Can Do This

HOPE IS ON THE WAY! “I firmly believe that what will make you a master teacheris not the advice I give you; what will make you a master teacheris that you figure out how to solve those challenges on your own,in your own way.” —From the Preface As a new teacher you face numerous challenges. Right from thestart you must learn how to manage a class full of restlessstudents; develop productive relationships with fellow teachers,administrators, and parents; and design engaging lesson plans thatwill meet ever-increasing levels of accountability all whilebuilding a life for yourself in the process. It can be overwhelmingand sometimes you can feel like you’re all alone. And yet, you came to this profession because you want to make adifference. How do you juggle the demands of the profession andfind your own voice, your own teaching style, your own teachingself? The good news is that you can do this. In this down-to-earth, inspirational book, bestselling authorRobyn Jackson offers encouragement and real-world advice fornavigating those difficult years as a beginning teacher. Sharingstories from her own humbling first years as a new teacher, Robynhelps you tackle challenges such as motivating students, planningeffective lessons, building relationships with parents, bouncingback from embarrassing mistakes, and finding your own authority asa teacher. She also helps you find success outside the classroomwith practical pointers for living on a teacher’s salary andcarving out time to have a life of your own. With candor and a gooddeal of wit, she gently guides you to develop your own teachingstyle and, ultimately, to find your own path toward mastery. Robyn speaks to new educators as a trusted mentor, one who knowshow to navigate the tricky terrain of “newteacherdom”—and knows how rich and rewarding the payoffwill be. If you’re new to the profession or know someoneabout to embark on a teaching career,You Can Do Thisis theessential roadmap to succeeding as a new educator both inside andoutside the classroom.

What we call "motivation" in school is really a decision students make to invest in our classrooms. It's our responsibility to show students the value of investment and guide them toward behaviors that will support learning. In this guide, Robyn R. Jackson takes you step by step through the process of motivating reluctant learners what great teachers do instead of relying on elaborate rewards systems or creative tricks to reach students who actively or passively resist investing themselves in the classroom. Here, you'll learn how to * Identify the classroom investments to ask for by considering the motivated behaviors you most want to see and ensuring that what you're asking for is specific, meaningful, observable, realistic, worth the effort, and small. * Create a classroom worth investing in by removing "demotivating" practice- and procedure-based barriers and giving students more opportunities for autonomy. * Understand and address students' resistance and respond with instructional strategies that minimize perceived risk and maximize immediate benefits. * Ask for and shape an investment by reaching out to students in a nonconfrontational way and providing a clear path toward motivated behavior. * Create a motivation plan that's tailored to the students you teach and designed to be effective in the long run. About the series Every teacher can become a master teacher with the right kind of practice and support. Each how-to guide in the Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching series focuses on one of the seven mastery principles introduced in Robyn R. Jackson's best-selling Never Work Harder Than Your Students . The guides' self-assessments, worksheets, planning templates, process outlines, checklists, links to online resources, suggested activities, and prompts for reflection help teachers of all experience levels apply the principles to address everyday classroom challenges and build their overall mastery mindset.

How to Motivate Reluctant Learners

In the much anticipated follow-up to Never Work Harder Than Your Students, Robyn R. Jackson turns her attention to how school leaders can help any teacher become a master teacher.

Instructional Leadership for Excellence in Every Classroom

Never Underestimate Your Teachers

Any teacher can be a master teacher. So says Robyn R. Jackson, author of the best-selling Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching. In this book for school leaders, Jackson presents a new model for understanding teaching as a combination of skill and will and explains the best ways to support individual teachers' ongoing professional development. Here, you'll learn how to meet your teachers where they are and help every one of them—from the raw novice to the savvy veteran, from the initiative-weary to the change-challenged to the already outstanding—develop the mindset and habits of master teachers. Real-life examples, practical tools, and strategies for managing time and energy demands will help you build your leadership capacity as you raise the level of instructional excellence throughout your school. To move your school forward, you must move the people in it. If you want a master teacher every classroom, you must commit to helping every teacher be a master teacher. That work begins here.

Some great teachers are born, but most are self-made. And the way to make yourself a great teacher is to learn to think and act like one. In this updated second edition of the best-selling Never Work Harder Than Your Students, Robyn R. Jackson reaffirms that every teacher can become a master teacher. The secret is not a specific strategy or technique, nor it is endless hours of prep time. It's developing a master teacher mindset—rigorously applying seven principles to your teaching until they become your automatic response: Start where you students are. Know where your students are going. Expect to get your students there. Support your students along the way. Use feedback to help you and your students get better. Focus on quality rather than quantity. Never work harder than your students. In her conversational and candid style, Jackson explains the mastery principles and how to start using them to guide planning, instruction, assessment, and classroom management. She answers questions, shares stories from her own practice and work with other teachers, and provides all-new, empowering advice on navigating external evaluation. There's even a self-assessment to help you identify your current levels of mastery and take control of your own practice. Teaching is hard work, and great teaching means doing the right kind of hard work: the kind that pays off. Join tens of thousands of teachers around the world who have embarked on their journeys toward mastery. Discover for yourself the difference that Jackson's principles will make in your classroom and for your students.

Robyn R. Jackson

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