Customer Reviews

Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students By Their Brains

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've already used some of the methods I found in Ms. Johnson's book, and share much of her general philosophy of working with kids from difficult backgrounds. Even after 10 years of being fairly successful at teaching "at-risk" kids, I found that seeing the logic and reasoning of her approach on the page clued me in to many of the principles behind a successful classroom which I already used, but never saw fully articulated on the page. It sounds a bit bizarre, but I now have a better understanding of the "hows and whys" of what I do from reading her work. These are the tips that you didn't get in college regarding working with challenging older kids; it's both an intellectual and visceral approach to teaching that will help you avoid many confrontations with kids before they ever happen, and give you the understanding of how to handle the battles you can't avoid. Holding kids to high standards of behavior sends the message to your students that you believe that they are capable great things, but it can take years to build the skills a teacher needs to get to that point. This book is the blueprint for building a successful classroom.

There is also a lot here about understanding kids that have to return everyday to very difficult lives at home. Many teachers of kids with tough home lives fail because they never really understood the lives of the young people they were dealing with. Understanding the reasoning and emotions behind unreasonable classroom behavior is the key to minimizing it and surviving as a teacher, and this book reminds us that these behaviors have roots in what these kids have to go through everyday. There is much here to remind you of the positive and long-lasting effects a caring teacher can have, and that the balance of positive reinforcement with a tough determination for high standards is key to getting the best out of our kids.

I've always been struck by the fact that a greater community hasn't been built by the teachers that work with challenging students, but maybe that comes from the fact that we're cut from a different cloth. The unfortunate aspect of this lack of community is that many of us build our approaches from scrap, taking the best of what we see in our coworkers, and trying methods that we come up with on the fly. There's just so little accumulated knowledge on our curious line of work passed down from one generation of experienced teacher to the next. Also, there are many aspects of working with tough kids that will never make it into the education school textbooks, a manifestation of the great and ridiculous divide between educational research and classroom practice (don't even let me get started on that topic). The helpfulness of educational academia's theories can be said to be directly correlated to the years they've spent teaching in difficult circumstances. You may be able to quantify the number of kids that respond to a reading program that your district will never have the money to buy (and you will never have time to teach), but they will never fully comprehend the necessity of learning to deliver a warm and sincere compliment, or chillingly-cold stare, at just the right moment. This book delivers the goods to those that wish to help the kids that most people have given up on, to work for little more than the knowledge that they did something that needed and deserved to be done.

I followed Ms. Johnson's story ever since the movie based on her books and experience, DANGEROUS MINDS came out in 1995. I have had different careers, including secondary teaching. I have taught students with the same characteristics that she describes in MY POSSE DON'T DO HOMEWORK, GIRLS AT THE BACK OF THE CLASS and TEACHING OUTSIDE THE BOX.

Out of all of the resources about methods of teaching, TEACHING OUTSIDE THE BOX tops my list of the greatest. 95 percent of the other resources like Harry Wong's THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL always assume that every teacher has no more than 20 students in the class and that most students are highly motivated and respectful of all of their teachers. Ms. Johnson, on the other hand, addresses the "what if your methods do not work"? She describes endless specific examples of what exactly a teacher could do if a teacher has more than 40 students in a class and it seems like no one is listening or on task.

While Ms. Johnson offers some of her fabulous lesson plans like on ROMEO AND JULIET, she also explains psychological theories of possibilities why difficult kids and even difficult adults behave the way they do.

I also love how this terrific resource includes the letter that Ms. Johnson sends to all of her students. She further printed actual letters from kids and adults asking her for her advice, which I found both entertaining and tear jerking. The question that 10 year old "Big Momma" wrote and Ms. Johnson's reply was hilarious!

Even if you are not a teacher, counselor, or other educator, I highly recommend TEACHING OUTSIDE THE BOX. I wish that I would have had this book when I worked in business management because then I would understand more why some adults behave the way they do; Ms Johnson's theories have lots of implications for working with adults. The chapter on "Twenty Years From Now" will bring back memories of your life experiences for anyone, no matter how old you are!

AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ!!

Oh, and just yesterday, I contacted Ms Johnson via e-mail after discovering her website. I was not expecting her to respond because she must receive e-mails and letters from all over the world. Ms Johnson responded with just amazing advice! This shows her ongoing dedication!

This book is a must for beginning teachers and for pros who need new ideas. It combines street smart practicality with the creative thinking we need to reach kids today. I plan to use it immediately in my university level teacher training courses and recommend it highly to the teachers I work with in the field. We do need to teach outside the box to make education meaningful for today's adolescents. LouAnne Johnson understands that and her book will make it possible for more teachers to get there.

I had high hopes when I purchased this book but was sadly disappointed. It really is a good book for either new teachers or those who work in urban settings. I am not new to teaching nor do I teach in an urban area so I was not able to put my reading to good use. I think there is an abundance of great advice for those new to profession so I would recommend this highly to them. If you have taught for several years you probably already implement the recommendations in the book. While some of the book could be applied to any grade level, most of it is geared toward middle or high school. This also was contrary to my personal needs but may be quite useful to others. So, new teachers, urban teachers, and teachers of grades 6-12 will probably find this book rather useful. Others might want to keep looking for something else that targets their needs more directly.

When I got this book, I couldn't put it down! I stayed up late to read the entire book. I cannot wait to put some of the ideas into practice in my own classroom this fall. There are a few ideas that I don't agree with (not having seating charts, etc), but there are parts of every book that someone will not agree with. Overall, I would say that 95% of this book was extremely helpful. This book was an easy read and I would highly recommend it for any teacher, old and new.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. LouAnne Johnson lets the reader step into her mind and see exactly how she goes about her teaching practice--from classroom management to record keeping to unit design. Through doing this, teachers are provided with a successfully proven "framework" for organizing their classes. There is so much valuable and practical advice that I would definitely recommend the book to teachers of all experience levels. I have already told all of my teacher friends to read the book, so now I will say the same to you. You won't regret it!

This book was recommended by a professor in one of my classes for new teachers because she felt it had lots of common sense information and advise new teachers need to be successful. The author also wrote Dangerous Minds and seems to have a realistic take on teaching. I like her distiction between three basic flavors teachers come in - super, excellent and good. Being a super teacher may not be the best for all because throwing everything you have into each and everyday all day and into the night can lead to burnout. Johnson suggests that maybe aiming for excellent or good might provide a better balance to sustain a teacher's moral, motivation and job satisfaction because they are not giving everything up for the job; they have something left for themselves and their families. Strategies is a big word in education and this book is full of what I felt were useful ideas for new and experienced teachers covering everything from how to have a successful first day of school to effective classroom environments and planning ideas. I have not read it cover to cover, but jumped from chapter to chapter that interested me, but seems like a good book to have with me on my first day and beyond.

Are you a new teacher or a teacher-to-be? Get this book!!!!
Are you an experienced teacher who is having difficulty with organization or class management? Get this book!!!

The author was a high school English teacher in a challenging district filled with gang issues, drug issues, and attitude issues. Her advice is solid and can apply to teachers in any situation. I am currently studying to become an elementary teacher and I have no problem adapting her techniques and strategies for the elementary aged students. In fact, she often gives her own "how to adapt this technique for elementary teachers" advice throughout the book. I think I like this book even better than First Days of School by Harry Wong because it takes you step by step in detail through her strategies for organization and classroom management. But in truth, I would buy both this book and First Days of School just to get the maximum class management advice.

This book only had one class management strategy that I wouldn't use in my own class. The author actually reserves it for emergencies (the rude student folder)...I wouldn't use that one for elementary kids because they are too young (in my opinion) for that sort of thing... but that one strategy was the only thing that I had to ignore (and I don't believe she has to use it herself very often). I used all of her other advice in my plans for my new class.

She presents the information with appropriate humor and I laughed out loud more than once. My favorite "funny" quote: "Now you can create lesson plans that suit your classes, but don't get too specific just yet. If you plan your teaching days down to the minute, the administrative tasks and unavoidable interruptions will drive you crazy, and driving you crazy is your strudents' job. You wouldn't want to spoil their fun." (105)

Seriously though, LouAnne Johnson offers new teachers and struggling experienced teachers sound advice to use in any situation. She relates to the kids on their level while still maintaining her position as the head chief of the classroom. This creates an atmosphere of mutual respect and maximum learning.

Awesome book and highly recommended (I wish my own son's teachers would read this book!)

I am so happy I got this book when I did. I plan to use it extensively!

As an experienced elementary teacher, I especially appreciated the relatively novel features of this book. For instance, while discussing the layout of the classroom for effective learning, Johnson mentions the distracting effects of classroom odors, and recommends that the teacher invest in an air purifier. She notes that music being played can calm the children. And, when discussing children who have reading difficulties, she mentions scotopic sensitivity. This is the problem caused by the high contrast between black print on white paper, which is often aggravated by fluorescent lighting. One solution to this problem is the provision of transparent, colored overlays to cover the printed page.

Johnson opposes ability grouping. She also strongly opposes forcing children to read out loud who don't feel comfortable doing so. This only humiliates them.

She eschews the authoritarian approach of teacher-student relations in favor of one based on mutual respect. As an example, she mentions a cowboy (Craig Cameron) who trains horses to accept their saddles (pp. 112-114) instead of chasing them, confronting them, and forcing the saddles on them. She believes that all teachers should study Cameron's methods and apply them to children.

Despite respecting their students, teachers often still have difficulties getting respect from their students. Johnson (p. 25, 236) believes that this stems from the teacher, perhaps unconsciously, projecting an "I am here to fix you and save you" attitude. Children then get a sense of being inferior, stupid, or wrong, and react accordingly.

As for grading, Johnson comments: "Instead of dumbing down the curriculum when you work with unmotivated or underachieving students, try smartening them up instead." (p. 167). Also: "Ironically, the students who claim to care the least about school are the same ones who complain the most about the bad grades they earn." (p. 160). She is a firm believer in frequent progress reports. In some classes, students can earn at least a "C", regardless of how they do on tests, if there are no unexcused absences and all the assignments are adequately completed.

Her book ends with a list of useful websites (URLs) for teachers.

I have purchased and recommended this book for other teachers and for teachers of teachers. It has so many practical ideas to use in your classroom with students. Lou Anne has great insights into how students think, feel and work. There's a lot more to learn in this book than some of the ivory-tower stuff I had in education classes that made me wonder if the authors ever really taught in a real classroom before. I give this my most enthusiastic recommendation....and I am a Math teacher. Her ideas apply to all teachers and students, not just English. Try it. You'll like it.