Reducing the Risk, Increasing the Promise

In their new book, Bergmann and Brough provide a clear path to follow for helping your at-risk students achieve success in and out of the classroom. Packed with classroom-tested, practical strategies and lesson plans for teaching respect, responsibility, resilience, reading, and other essential skills to at-risk students, this is a must-have book for educators at all levels.

Use the plans alone, or as part of a unit. Either way, the tools for success in this book will help you positively impact the lives of at-risk students every day. Each chapter is dedicated to a different skill and offers easy-to-implement activities and strategies based on achieving success in that essential skill.

For example:

• Strategies for establishing positive peer relationships
• Cooperative treasure hunting for resilience building
• Keys to structured role-playing for conflict resolution

Each chapter includes a component about what parents and caregivers can do to help their at-risk children achieve success, and provides a basis for effective communication between educator and parent, an important piece of the puzzle often overlooked.

Dr. Sherrel Bergmann has listened carefully to teachers and at-risk students her entire career as a teacher, counselor, parent, consultant, university dean, and professor. What she heard and experienced with these students and teachers motivated her to write this book and the activities in it. She is a Lounsbury Award winner from the National Middle School Association and has been recognized with many awards from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, The Association of Illinois Middle Schools, and the Connecticut Association of Principals for her leadership, publications, and presentations. She is a tireless advocate for students who could fall through the cracks if there were not someone there to catch them., Dr. Judith Allen Brough is Professor Emerita, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA. She is an award-winning teacher and advocate for children, especially for young adolescents and those students who are labeled “at-risk.” Her numerous publications and presentations offer practical strategies based solidly in educational theory, research, and experience. She has held leadership positions for the National Middle School Association (now called the Association for Middle Level Education), the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Her professional interest lies in motivating administrators, teachers, future teachers, and students to bring joy and meaningful work into every classroom.