Teaching on Solid Ground
Nuance, Challenge, and Technique for the Emerging Teacher
- Dominic Belmonte - Golden Apple Foundation, Chicago, IL
Foreword by Martin J. and Patricia Koldyke
Teaching Methods & Learning Styles
Find your footing and step into your future as a grounded teacher!
"I put down the book feeling proud to be a teacher."
-Sharon Elin, NBCT
Chickahominy Middle School, Hanover County, VA
"A book I will refer to often, as well as use for the teachers I mentor."
-Patricia Eggers, NBCT
Brown Deer School District, Glendale, WI
"Offers intellect, relevant statistics, human examples, teacher stories, witty analogies, practical solutions, and most of all, hope for those at any point in their teaching career."
-Sarah Earle, NBCT
Hampton High School, VA
Do you feel grounded at the "big desk" or are you still searching for your comfort zone? Join best-selling author Dominic Belmonte as he explores the essentials of instruction, curriculum, and classroom management. Using his trademark humor and encouraging style, and always keeping a clear-eyed focus on the rewards of teaching, the author discusses:
- 15 ways to master classroom pacing, tone, undertone, mood, and behavior
- 5 sample lessons using Socratic Seminar, inquiry science, Magic Math Box, and more
- Reflective approaches to important challenges, including high-stakes tests, bridging the achievement gap, and helping students deal with tragedy
"Provides motivation and a sense of commitment even to a veteran teacher (me!)...a book I will refer to often, as well as use for the teachers I mentor."
"Offers encouraging, uplifting advice and support to help teachers remember the purpose and importance of their profession...The examples and vignettes offer a wealth of fresh, energizing techniques, along with ideas to pump life into stale and chalky routines. Thanks for the inspiration!"
"Provides a resource for developing teachers to reflect on their current practices and craft, identify areas of strength and needed change, and provides a beacon for knowing when they are becoming master teachers."
"I put down the book feeling proud to be a teacher...someone understands that I care more about my students than about politics, money, or prestige, and that my focus on students has inherent worth far beyond a paycheck!"
"Offers intellect, relevant statistics, human examples, teacher stories, witty analogies, practical solutions, and most of all, hope for those at any point in their teaching career...what I am most impressed with is that the author does not continually blame the system or others but gently reminds us, chapter after chapter, that just as our students come to the pivotal point of taking responsibility for learning, we as teachers must look inward and reflect upon our responsibility to really, really do the teaching."
"Belmonte offers advice on how to become a grounded teacher by advocating discussions instead of lectures and profiling the techniques of teaching veterans."
"Teaching on Solid Ground really is an overall ‘reader friendly’ reference and guide for becoming an ideal and appropriate teacher, very strongly recommended to all teachers, new and experienced, for its exclusive ability to relate to its readers and its deeply accurate reasoning for taking its recommended approaches."
"Both new and experienced teachers will enjoy Belmonte's humorous and heartfelt reflections on the rewards of teaching. The author focuses on 15 ways to master classroom pacing, outlines 5 sample lessons, and suggests reflective approaches to testing, bridging the achievement gap, and other challenges."