Reach Before You Teach
Ignite Passion and Purpose in Your Classroom
- Paula Prentis - www.yourselfseries.com
- Chris Parrott - www.yourselfseries.com
- Amy Smith - Retired High School Teacher
Facilitating students’ unique paths towards identity development is the key to teaching young teens.
Students face pressures that undermine the development of a solid sense of self, jeopardizing success in school and in life: Family issues, economic concerns, media influences, social pressures, physical changes, and more influence how students feel about themselves.
When these go unnoticed, even the best teaching methods fall short. Reach Before You Teach shows educators how to form the nurturing, individualized connections that make students feel worthy, fulfilled, and ready to flourish as learners.
The book details:
- Practical, empowering information about how a sense of self comes to be, and what threatens it.
- Interventions that soften the myriad defenses students develop to protect themselves.
- How to address the often-overlooked connections between physical, social, and emotional health and classroom performance.
Packed with real-life examples and results-delivering exercises, Reach Before You Teach supplies educators with the all-important skills to connect with students so academic and life success feels more attainable.
“In our present education system that seems to be caught up with numbers and standardization, this book is a welcomed read. Education will never improve if we don’t make the social-emotional skills of children our first priority.”
—Peter DeWitt, Principal
Poestenkill Elementary School, NY
“This book is a must-read for all who want to encourage self-awareness and self-reflection during classroom instruction and help students feel more connected, curious, and confident! Students no doubt will achieve emotionally and academically with help from the strategies in this book.”
—Dr. Ann Marie Dargon, Assistant Superintendent of Schools
Westport Community Schools, MA
"This book is filled with useful material that will help educators better relate to their students and empower them to reach their full potential."
"This book is a must for all educators wanting to help students understand their emotional 'Self' and its impact on their academic and future success."
"With the growing focus on mental health issues in our communities today this book is a much needed publication and very timely. Thanks to the mental health professionals who worked to make this easily applicable to the school environment and to give school professionals guidance in how to structure our schools so that students develop a strong sense of self."
"This book is a must-read for all who want to encourage self-awareness and self-reflection during classroom instruction and help students feel more connected, curious and confident! Students no doubt will achieve emotionally and academically with help from some strategies in this book."
"In our present education system that seems to be caught up with numbers and standardization, Prentis’ book is a welcomed read. Education will never improve if we don’t make the social-emotional skills of children our first priority."