Publisher's Synopsis
We are a group of retired teachers who would like to share with other teachers some things we found very effective in the classroom. When I would attend seminars, "Teacher Days," Training Sessions, Retreats, or get new professional reading materials, I would demand to know if this was all theory developed in some rich private school in suburbia or will there be something shared with me over these vast hours that I can take back to my classroom and use TOMORROW! Something that will help my kids cope with a system not designed for them to succeed, something that will help them understand better, something that will motivate them to want a ticket for the big show, or something that will sharpen a skill in an enjoyable way. Hopefully, this book will show you not only how the activities, games, competitions, and contests evolved that helped my kids; dirt poor, inner-city kids, usually 90% minority, 85% free and reduced lunch, and proudly illiterate. Almost all of these kids hated school, hated Reading, and were trapped in a peer level that hated and distrusted anything academic or intelligent. So, as you can see, teachers in this kind of classroom are trapped by the administration who wants "the curriculum strictly adhered to," the parents who want a miracle performed but don't want to get involved, the boyz who don't want to date any "smart girls." Their teacher wants to help them win this battle. Teachers also must compete for the attention and talents of our children offering only hard work in class and hard work at home at night in an arena against the Titans of TV and Video. Billion dollar television production budgets which produce HD, 3D and CGI programming about dream lands and superheroes of the future who solve all their problems. They also must fight against an addictive hypnotic video game industry with billions of dollars available for developing video games with International Assault Teams, games of mass murder, games of mass destruction and games of sexual abuse as rewards in mind numbing international wars right on their TV screens. Addictive video games which are so hypnotic and marvelous that adults are also getting hooked on them. All of this and much more battling against a Teacher who wants to work hard, help the kids, and enjoy their job. A teacher armed only with a textbook, whiteboard with assorted color markers and an overhead projector to do battle with HD, 3D, CGI, a cool high tech world of gadgets and games for the hearts and minds of America's youth, America's future. Well, hopefully this book will provide our teachers with some new ammunition to do battle with. A way to improve the attitudes of the kids and make them "wanna" come to your class.
