A Must Read

This is a must read for all teachers!!

Run, don't walk to your local book store or library to get your copy :)

My new partner teacher lent me this book:  

  

I haven't been able to put it down all day, until I just finished the last page.  Then, I rushed to the computer to tell my teacher-blogger friends about it!  I'm guessing a lot of you have already read this.  It must be a popular book.  I don't know how I hadn't read it already!  I was laughing within the first two pages and crying soon after that.  Rafe Esquith is an incredibly dedicated and inspiring teacher, not to mention an entertaining writer.  He is known for teaching and producing Shakespearean-Rock plays with the students at the elementary school where he has taught for many years.  The students in his classroom go on several trips and he does a great job explaining what his students learn from these experiences.  He wants his students to become Level 6 thinkers, which is when people have a personal code of behavior and they follow it.  He calls this the Atticus Finch Level.  He has been awarded many prestigious awards including the National Medal of the Arts.  He is the only teacher in history to ever receive this award!  Now that's impressive!       

Among many other things, he gives his students the opportunity to learn how to problem solve, manage money, become musicians, perform, and serve their communities.  I am so glad I read this book, you should read it too!

Has anyone already read this book?  What did you think?  Have you been successful at using what you have learned from it in your classroom? 

I made this little, tiny, mini-poster of the steps of problem solving that are in the book by Rafe Esquith.  I also used these steps with the Saxon math program!  

This is an excellent resource to teach your students the steps to problem solving.  Use it as an anchor chart, during small groups or at any teachable moment!

{Click on the picture to grab your copy for free!)

Fonts and graphics are from Diane J. Hook, djinkers.com