Frank Thoms writes with passion to invite principals and teachers to make changes that will allow all students to succeed. In this book he urges them to reconsider traditional practices in light of today's media-driven culture and digitally wired students. Exciting Classrooms is sensitive to the challenges schools face and is relentless in offering strategies to meet these challenges. Schools must do better. Rather than focus on improving test scores, this book 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.

Listening is Learning: Conversations Between 20th and 21st Century Teachers is a unique approach for meeting the challenges of today's teachers. In sixteen chapters of conversations between veterans and young teachers, readers will discover engaged teaching from the previous century that captures the attention of students. The classroom is the perhaps the last vestige of hope where children will discover the joy of being together without intermediary devices. Conversations invite reflection. Listening to respectful discussions between young and older teachers allows readers to slow down and take stock of their own positions and beliefs. Young teachers will come away with not only rich ideas but also a sense of encouragement to meet the challenges of digitally driven students. Face-to-face classrooms are the best hope for students to discover their best selves, without distractions so prevalent in social media. If teachers choose to show students from the first day that they care about them and are willing to listen to their lives, they will build trusted relationships--essential for students--and for teachers.

Frank Thoms writes with passion to invite principals and teachers to make changes that will allow all students to succeed. In this book he urges them to reconsider traditional practices in light of today's media-driven culture and digitally wired students. Exciting Classrooms is sensitive to the challenges schools face and is relentless in offering strategies to meet these challenges. Schools must do better. Rather than focus on improving test scores, this book 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.

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.

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.

Listening is Learning: Conversations Between 20th and 21st Century Teachers is a unique approach for meeting the challenges of today's teachers. In sixteen chapters of conversations between veterans and young teachers, readers will discover engaged teaching from the previous century that captures the attention of students. The classroom is the perhaps the last vestige of hope where children will discover the joy of being together without intermediary devices. Conversations invite reflection. Listening to respectful discussions between young and older teachers allows readers to slow down and take stock of their own positions and beliefs. Young teachers will come away with not only rich ideas but also a sense of encouragement to meet the challenges of digitally driven students. Face-to-face classrooms are the best hope for students to discover their best selves, without distractions so prevalent in social media. If teachers choose to show students from the first day that they care about them and are willing to listen to their lives, they will build trusted relationships--essential for students--and for teachers.

Frank Thoms went to the Soviet Union not to judge but to learn. As a result, he gained the trust and confidence of the people he befriended-and discovered much about himself. Behind the Red Veil recounts Frank's quest to understand the Russian people. He spent his initial twenty-five years as a teacher, during which time he pursued his understanding of Marxism, Russian history, and Soviet Communism. His first venture to the Soviet Union occurred in October 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev's first year as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In his following six trips, Frank served twice as a US-Soviet exchange teacher of English in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and on his own taught English in schools in Moscow and Alma-Ata (Almaty), Kazakhstan. His final journey, which was to the new Russia in 1994, three years after Gorbachev's resignation, took him to Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Through it all, Frank sought the love and respect of the Russians he came into contact with. Behind the Red Veil is the story of how they opened their hearts to him-and, in doing so, opened his.