Customer Reviews

101 Ways to Make Your Classroom Special: Creating a Place Where Significance, Teamwork, and Spontaneity Can Sprout and Flourish

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

 

 

This book is amazing and incredibly useful for teachers. It has a variety of ways to make your classroom unique and, as the title suggests, special. This book is easily read and can be used for wide ranges of classes. Concidering that the book is not subject specific, it deals with the children themselves. Chapter five in particular, "Accomplishing Classwork with a Flair", is useful for teachers wanting to focus on positive reinforcement rather than negative. Many of the ideas can be combined and altered to any aged children. I have already used many of the ideas given and there is a remarkable change in the students behavior. The methods work! This book is a great buy for new and experienced teachers!

Some previous reviewers have said that this book can be adapted for all grade levels. I must disagree. At least 90% of the ideas in the book are suitable only for elementary school use. It might be useful for the middle school level, but it definitely is not worth the money for a high school teacher.

This book is good place to start if you want to get some ideas in making your classroom more fun. It has ideas from teachers that are tried and true. If you're a seasoned teacher, you will notice a lot of familiar ideas. This is a great book for the beginning or veteran teacher to revamp your classroom management. There's lots of ideas, practical ideas, and doable. The descriptions of the activities are concise and brief. It's a quick read. The activities can be quickly implemented.

I recently switched from teaching third grade to teaching fifth grade. What a difference! I always considered myself a pretty good teacher, with classroom management being one of my strong points. My first few weeks in 5th grade had me feeling like a failure. Then I read this book, and started using some of the ideas in my classroom. There are management ideas, ideas for connecting with your students, teaching strategies, and ideas for communicating with parents and community. Things started turning around for the better in my classroom, and I am starting to feel successful as a teacher again. I recommend this book to all teachers; beginning and veteran, young and old, from pre-k to high school. We can all use fresh ideas to make our classrooms special.

I attended a conference where Dr. Sutton spoke and promoted this book a few years ago. I liked him and the book so well, I used to buy it for all of my student teachers! Dr. Sutton really knows his stuff! This year I am buying it for my daughter's classroom teacher for Christmas. I can understand where in some reviews, people do not feel this book was useful for high school aged students. I think that age group would consider some of the techniques corny. Otherwise, a useful book (parents could also employ the suggestions at home!)

Excellent book for a classroom teacher to motivate and encourage students to do their best. Good classroom management activities and techniques for noncompliant students.

What a great quick read! Even though I've taught for 28 years, I found several ideas to try in my classes. Great!

I was dupped by the title. I expected great ideas for the classroom. What I found were common sense thoughts that are a couple of decades outdated. Certainly not helpful for urban/ suburban classrooms - maybe Little House on the Praire.