The Extreme Principle is to do what matters most and to do what works best. When educational decisions and actions are guided by The Extreme Principle, results improve. The Extreme Principle helps teachers, school administrators, superintendents, school board members, and politicians make decisions and take actions that improve schools because the decisions and actions are based on what matters most and what works best. This book gives the reader a critique of the typical, bureaucratic, mandated education reform efforts which often fail and which often lead to another education reform effort which also is likely to fail. This book shows a better way to improve what is done in classrooms, throughout a school, in an entire school district, and at the state or national levels of education policy development. The better way is guided by application of The Extreme Principle. The reader of this book_teacher, school administrator, political leader, citizen_will find that the common sense ideas and real world examples from this book lead to a very obvious conclusion: that the way to improve education is to do what matters most and to do what works best.

In recent years, educators have become increasingly concerned about the writing skills of students in elementary, middle, and high school. They wonder what can be done to build proper writing skills, particularly in a generation of students who may consider text messaging to be the only writing a person needs to do. Extreme Writing describes how teachers can build upon the eagerness and skills that students apply to recreational, social, and friendly writing, bringing enjoyment back into writing for students. The Extreme Writing approach is not a precise formula for student achievement; rather, it is a shared discovery of the process, the adventure, the wonder, and the liberation inherent in writing.

Education works better when teachers can concentrate on teaching and on students instead of concentrating on meticulous implementation of ever-changing political reforms of education or on laborious implementation of increasingly bureaucratic, mechanical procedures which are mandated by the education hierarchy. This book explains realistic, practical, genuine ways to improve schools. This book also examines ways not to improve schools including some of the common political, bureaucratic, top-down efforts. The book emphasizes that one significant factor in actions that actually improve education is that teacher input is sought and is applied. Teachers, based on their experiences, know what works in the classroom with and for students. Nothing else in education matters more.

Education works better when teachers can concentrate on teaching and on students instead of concentrating on meticulous implementation of ever-changing political reforms of education or on laborious implementation of increasingly bureaucratic, mechanical procedures which are mandated by the education hierarchy. This book explains realistic, practical, genuine ways to improve schools. This book also examines ways not to improve schools including some of the common political, bureaucratic, top-down efforts. The book emphasizes that one significant factor in actions that actually improve education is that teacher input is sought and is applied. Teachers, based on their experiences, know what works in the classroom with and for students. Nothing else in education matters more.

The middle school years are a maze of academic duties, human growth and self-development, discovering self identity, and increasing social interaction with other people. This maze can be an adventure of achievement and opportunity, or it can be a struggle of difficulty and disappointment. As these experiences are the impetus or foundation for many later achievements in academics, careers, and personal life, it is imperative that educators maximize these formative years by helping middle school students successfully travel through this maze despite its ups and downs, its twists and turns, and its new challenges to master and the old issues to resolve. For instance, educators must support students who have fallen behind, so as to thwart their reduced likelihood of turnaround in high school. Likewise, educators must challenge exceptional students, in order to perpetuate their enthusiasm for learning and prepare them for college studies. By discussing the comprehensive roles and duties of school administrators, counselors, and teachers, The Power of Middle School addresses how to maximize middle school curriculum and extra-curricular activities for the academic, personal, and professional benefits of all students.

The middle school years are a maze of academic duties, human growth and self-development, discovering self identity, and increasing social interaction with other people. This maze can be an adventure of achievement and opportunity, or it can be a struggle of difficulty and disappointment. As these experiences are the impetus or foundation for many later achievements in academics, careers, and personal life, it is imperative that educators maximize these formative years by helping middle school students successfully travel through this maze despite its ups and downs, its twists and turns, and its new challenges to master and the old issues to resolve. For instance, educators must support students who have fallen behind, so as to thwart their reduced likelihood of turnaround in high school. Likewise, educators must challenge exceptional students, in order to perpetuate their enthusiasm for learning and prepare them for college studies. By discussing the comprehensive roles and duties of school administrators, counselors, and teachers, The Power of Middle School addresses how to maximize middle school curriculum and extra-curricular activities for the academic, personal, and professional benefits of all students.

The dream of teaching is that a career in teaching can be fascinating, meaningful, inspiring, and rewarding. The reality of teaching is that a career in teaching can be exhausting, frustrating, heart-breaking, and disappointing. How can the dream endure and thrive while the reality is confronted and mastered? Keen Babbage guides prospective teachers through an analysis of the profession they are considering and of their match with that profession. For one who is already in a teaching career, this book gives the reader an opportunity to reflect on progress that has been made, problems that have been encountered, and how to hold onto the dream of teaching while facing the increasingly complex reality of teaching.

The Extreme Principle is to do what matters most and to do what works best. When educational decisions and actions are guided by The Extreme Principle, results improve. The Extreme Principle helps teachers, school administrators, superintendents, school board members, and politicians make decisions and take actions that improve schools because the decisions and actions are based on what matters most and what works best. This book gives the reader a critique of the typical, bureaucratic, mandated education reform efforts which often fail and which often lead to another education reform effort which also is likely to fail. This book shows a better way to improve what is done in classrooms, throughout a school, in an entire school district, and at the state or national levels of education policy development. The better way is guided by application of The Extreme Principle. The reader of this book_teacher, school administrator, political leader, citizen_will find that the common sense ideas and real world examples from this book lead to a very obvious conclusion: that the way to improve education is to do what matters most and to do what works best.

Have you ever left a meeting feeling that nothing had actually been accomplished? This book provides you with the keys to running a successful and efficient meeting. Babbage begins with a section on how to prepare effectively for a meeting, methods for running a concise meeting, and finishes with how to implement the key decisions made during the meeting. He also includes a section on how to maintain everyone's involvement, cooperation, and interest throughout the meeting.

In recent years, educators have become increasingly concerned about the writing skills of students in elementary, middle, and high school. They wonder what can be done to build proper writing skills, particularly in a generation of students who may consider text messaging to be the only writing a person needs to do. Extreme Writing describes how teachers can build upon the eagerness and skills that students apply to recreational, social, and friendly writing, bringing enjoyment back into writing for students. The Extreme Writing approach is not a precise formula for student achievement; rather, it is a shared discovery of the process, the adventure, the wonder, and the liberation inherent in writing.

What Financial future awaits the current generation of children and teenagers in the United States? Our children and teenagers did not cause the financial problems that confront the nation and impacts their families, but they will pay part of the price for these financial problems. What should children and teenagers know about personal finance? How can sound financial principles and money management be taught to these students? Extreme Economics identifies, through current research, what children and teenagers need to know about managing funds. It shows educators how to design instructional activities that enable students to learn about money management in fascinating and meaningful ways. Extreme Economics is not filled with complicated or confusing charts, graphs, and terminology. It is readable and immediately applicable. As education continues to advance, the school curriculum might consist of reading, writing, math, and economics and finance. This book is an important step to ensuring a solid base in this emerging area.

What Financial future awaits the current generation of children and teenagers in the United States? Our children and teenagers did not cause the financial problems that confront the nation and impacts their families, but they will pay part of the price for these financial problems. What should children and teenagers know about personal finance? How can sound financial principles and money management be taught to these students? Extreme Economics identifies, through current research, what children and teenagers need to know about managing funds. It shows educators how to design instructional activities that enable students to learn about money management in fascinating and meaningful ways. Extreme Economics is not filled with complicated or confusing charts, graphs, and terminology. It is readable and immediately applicable. As education continues to advance, the school curriculum might consist of reading, writing, math, and economics and finance. This book is an important step to ensuring a solid base in this emerging area.

Many people_political leaders, school administrators, school board members, interest group leaders, community leaders, parents/guardians_seek to impact education, but efforts to improve education will be enhanced if they are based on reality and the experts on the classroom reality are current teachers. Anyone who seeks to improve education must listen to teachers. This book explains why and shows how. This book is lively, interactive, practical and realistic. This book is based on research that asked current teachers to say what they would like for educational decision makers to know about the reality of teaching. These teachers expressed their dedication, their hopes, their concerns, their frustrations and their recommendations. Reading this book is one way to listen to teachers.

As the debt of the U.S. government approaches $9 trillion, we must ask ourselves what sort of economic example is being set for our students. If this debt will be passed on to our current generation of students, what, then, should children and teenagers know about personal finance? How can sound financial principles and money management be taught to these students? Extreme Economics: The Need for Personal Finance in the School Curriculum identifies, through current research, what children and teenagers need to know about managing funds. It shows educators how to design instructional activities that enable students to learn about money management in fascinating and meaningful ways. Extreme Economics is not filled with complicated or confusing charts, graphs, and terminology. It is readable and immediately applicable. As education continues to advance, the school curriculum might consist of reading, writing, math, and economics and finance. This book is an important step to ensuring a solid base in this emerging area.

Results-Driven Teaching explores the reality that individual teachers have different perspectives on teaching. Some teachers perceive teaching as distributing textbooks, handing out worksheets, and giving tests on Fridays. While others might vary the activities in classrooms, they still have a predictable pattern of what is done and accomplished - some students learn and some do not. A results-driven teacher, however, leads every student to true learning. This standard is far above the written job description and requirements for a satisfactory performance evaluation, but the results-driven teacher's standard comes from ethics, conscience, and a personal dedication to results. Results-Driven Teaching is a lively, personal, and interactive exploration of the realistic demands and unlimited possibilities of teaching. This book will challenge readers and inspire teachers. Everyone benefits when teachers teach so well that every student learns.

Here, author Keen Babbage uses the term extreme students to describe successful, conscientious, dedicated, cooperative, scholarly, and exemplary learners and presents research-based insights into these characteristics. Being an extreme student is an opportunity available to every individual. The quality and quantity of academic success associated with extreme students is not limited to a select few. By establishing classroom conditions and experiences that create, encourage, nurture, challenge and develop the characteristics of an extreme student, more students can reach this level. This book is a powerful combination of bold ideals to ponder and practical, realistic actions to implement. It is a call to contemplation and a call to action. Keen Babbage, encourages students and teachers, parents, school administrators, political leaders, and citizens to remove the limits of thinking about student achievement and to remember the essential causes of their success.

When asked the question, 'Think of the best teacher you ever had. What did that teacher do to make you consider him or her your best teacher?' the answers are never 'My best teacher gave us lots of worksheets to do, ' or 'My best teacher covered a lot of material.' Instead, typical answers range from the teachers who challenged, to the teachers who cared and the teachers who loved their subjects. Babbage calls those teachers 'extreme teachers, ' whose ultimate goal for students is 'extreme learning'. In the 'extreme learning' classroom, the students and the teacher create learning experiences which connect the real-life knowledge, talents, and interests of students with what needs to be learned today in the standards-based school curriculum. School becomes relevant to the outside world, and working harder to learn at school becomes important, beneficial, and meaningful. Babbage uses anecdotes, both his own and hypothetical, to demonstrate 'extreme learning'. He shows the disparity between training and understanding, where students are trained in standards, but they begin to truly understand the real-life application. 'Extreme learning' creates a partnership between teacher and student, where all learn and improve from each othe

Excited students happy to be in class and learning from fulfilled and rewarded teachers. Sounds like a dream you say? Not if you apply the methodology described in Extreme Teaching. More than two decades in the classroom and careful research and reflection are the impetus behind author Keen Babbage's inspiring story. It is a call to action for all teachers to employ the recommended extreme solutions to make lessons real, worthwhile, meaningful, applicable, fascinating, and enjoyable. By connecting what students already know, already are interested in, and already are good at, with what students need to learn, extreme teachers can and will cause learning.

Watch many students in schools today and you see a range from total boredom to genuine fascination. Where does the apathy come from and could teachers make it disappear from their classrooms? Apathy and/or boredom should not come as a surprise when students are only given the responsibility to follow rules and complete assignments. This can all change in the blink of an eye if the teacher exercises their right and responsibility to make the learning process in his/her classroom fascinating and stimulating. This volume will help you to do just that, with real, practical examples and helpful hints for engaging your students and leaving a lasting impact on their lives.