How to Meet Standards, Motivate Students, and Still Enjoy Teaching!: Four Practices That Improve Student Learning

"How to Meet Standards, Motivate Students, and Still Enjoy Teaching! is a truly outstanding, practical resource that should be in every educator′s professional library. It succeeds beautifully with the complex challenge of defining a classroom in which standards come alive for teachers and students in a ′doable′ manner."
From the Foreword by Spence Rogers

"Learning is an exciting, interactive process. Barbara Benson′ s book provides educators with specific examples of how to teach and assess student achievement. Standards-based classroom strategies enable students to be successful learners throughout their academic journey. Benson′s book provides a road map for interactive instruction."
Joe Ann Hinrichs, Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Scotia-Glenville School District, NY

"This book takes the most important aspects of teaching in a standards-based classroom and puts it in a simple format for teachers to follow. It is a quick read with lots of examples and anecdotes."
Karen May, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction
Glens Falls City School District, NY

"With the emphasis on state standards, this book is a must for teachers and school systems. This book provides practical ways to ensure that all students succeed academically."
Susan Barnett, Curriculum Consultant
Caldwell County Schools, NC

Ensure that your students get the best opportunities to meet the standards for learning in your classroom!

Teachers have been given mandates but very few practical methods for implementing the national and state standards for learning in their K-12 classrooms. What can you do to help your students do their very best to meet the standards, while also taking ownership of their learning?

Give your students the best possible chance for success! How to Meet Standards, Motivate Students, and Still Enjoy Teaching! provides a clear perspective on what the standards for learning mean for daily practice in public education, offers teachers and administrators a four-part structure for organizing classrooms for teaching the standards, and gives teachers specific, usable strategies for helping students reach the higher requirements.

The four practices combine all the components necessary to meet the demands of standards-based instruction while also improving learning by

• Creating a community of learners through self-directed learning, interactive classrooms, and student cooperation
• Making reflection a routine part of the classroom for both teachers and students
• Teaching content and process
• Using more authentic student tasks and assessment methods

Create a powerful classroom structure to support your students meeting the necessary standards for learning, and achieving academic success by being active in their own learning!

Barbara Benson is a teacher and international consultant with more than 20 years of experience in middle school, high school, and university education. She works with school systems in various capacities such as helping align curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices with higher state standards, facilitating the development of performance assessment tasks such as student-led conferencing, and assisting teachers as they apply current theory and research to their classrooms. Her workshops are practical and classroom focused, covering many topics related to improving student learning. She has presented sessions at the national conferences of the National Staff Development Council and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. She has published numerous articles on classroom practice and a book, How to Meet Standards, Motivate Students and Still Enjoy Teaching (2003). As a full-time consultant, she missed working directly with students, so Benson returned to the classroom in 2004 and is teaching middle school in Ashe County, North Carolina.