Teach with Your Strengths: How Great Teachers Inspire Their Students [Hardcover]

Rosanne Liesveld (Author), Jo Ann Miller (Author), Jennifer Robison (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2005

Now, Discover Your Strengths introduced millions of Americans to the unique, personal strengths that they could use to succeed in life. Teach with Your Strengths expands upon the best-selling Now, Discover Your Strengths and shows how anyone who teaches — from classroom instructors to coaches to business executives — can get the most from their students. Focusing on the central insight that all great teachers make the most of their natural talents, Teach with Your Strengths shows teachers how to avoid the pitfalls that lead to mediocrity and work best with what they have. The book is written by two teachers with a combined 70 years of classroom and consulting experience, and it includes real-life examples of how great teachers use their strengths to solve problems, battle bureaucracy, and reach all of their students. For anyone who has ever wanted to be a better teacher, Teach with Your Strengths offers proven techniques to help readers get the results they want.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Defying the orthodoxy that teachers, to be more well rounded, should work to strengthen their weaknesses, this book, drawing on research by the Gallup Organization, maintains that great teachers are those who teach with their greatest talents and abilities. But how does one identify those talents, and how do teachers apply them day-to-day in the classroom? Liesveld and Miller use the Gallup research and interviews with teachers to define important characteristics of teacher strengths: creating flexible structure, showing emotion, and sharing control with students. Early chapters define talents as deeply ingrained personality aspects. Strengths are based on these talents but can be developed with a combination of skill and knowledge. Later chapters direct readers to a Web site to use the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment. The authors then describe the 34 varieties of talent measured by the test and suggest how to use them to increase teacher effectiveness. Though the book is directed at teachers and relies heavily on assessment testing, it offers basic strategies that would be of interest to parents as well. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Rosanne Liesveld began her career as a teacher over 30 years ago. She received a master's degree in adult education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and still lives in Lincoln. Jo Ann Miller has more than four decades of experience in education and has trained thousands of school leaders. She lives in Omaha, NE

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Gallup Press; First Edition edition (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595620060
• ISBN-13: 978-1595620064
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this book USED because ..., March 19, 2008

By 

Sunny California "Beeziemom" (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Teach with Your Strengths: How Great Teachers Inspire Their Students (Hardcover)

While the first part of this book speaks generally about teaching, the second half addresses your individual strengths as found through the website Strengthsfinder.com and how they apply to teaching.
In order to access this information you go to their website and type in the access code on the inside of the dust jacket. The access code can only be used ONE time, and evidently the person I bought the used book from had used the access code, so I was not able to find out my personal strengths. Consequently the book was of little use.
This book is one of a series of books which use the Gallup Strengthsfinder website and happily I had purchased Strengths Finder 2.0 (by Tom Rath) new and the access code was sealed inside the book so I finally had access to the website.
Once enrolled I took a preference test (about 20 minutes) and received information on my 5 strengths. These correspond for the most part with those listed in Teach With Your Strengths. This information on my strengths is not earth-shaking but it does support Gallup's contention that we shouldn't waste time or energy trying to "fix" our lesser talents but instead develop what we do naturally (172).
As with anything it is not a magic wand, but instead an interesting way of thinking about maximizing our individual potential.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book just makes sense, August 18, 2006

By 

James May (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teach with Your Strengths: How Great Teachers Inspire Their Students (Hardcover)

I was at first apprehensive about buying this book. After all, what would the Gallup Poll know about teaching? Well, it turns out that they know a lot. Being a "highly qualified teacher", i.e. having a license to teach a subject is not enough these days. Good teachers must also be able to "connect" to students. The authors are realistic and their findings are extremely helpful. For example, working on ones weaknesses won't work. If you are an introvert, taking classes in public speaking won't help that much; it certainly won't make you an extrovert. This book is an excellent read for anyone who works with or is interested in working with students.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teach with your strengths, November 29, 2005

By 

J. H. Donovan "buzz" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teach with Your Strengths: How Great Teachers Inspire Their Students (Hardcover)

Teach with your strengths is focused on a strategy of self-discovery first, teaching methodologies second. This may disappoint many who are looking for easy answers to becoming better teachers. However, I found it quite revealing and useful as an adult who teaches innovation and creativity in my professional life, and as an adult who teaches Christianity to adults in my personal life. The Gallup folks are trying to start a positive revolution in many people's lives by focusing on our strengths. Teachers are the prime movers and shakers in that revolution. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to even further materials from Gallup and these authors.