Structure and Spark

In Structure and Spark: A Flexible Framework to Manage Every Classroom Curveball, authors Heidi Van Natter and Emily Stephenson, hosts of the popular and beloved Teacher Approved podcast, provide practical guidance on maintaining student engagement and learning by balancing structure and novelty throughout the school year. This sister duo helps readers face challenges that arise during different times of the school year, like spring fever or testing time, enabling them to anticipate and prepare for predictable patterns of student behavior and cultivate a better classroom experience.

This book offers:

• Practical Strategies: Concrete, actionable tips and techniques for managing classrooms throughout the highs and lows of the year.
• Seasonal Focus: A unique approach that addresses the specific challenges and opportunities of each season, like students being excited for impending holiday and school breaks, as well as unexpected disruptions, like a bee flying into the classroom on the same day.
• Alignment with Current Trends: A flexible, adaptive classroom management plan that bolsters the social, emotional, behavioral, and academic needs of students.

Structure and Spark earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of all educators, especially elementary teachers, seeking a roadmap to plan lessons, manage behaviors, and align activities with the rhythms of the academic calendar.

Heidi Van Natter, M.Ed., and Emily Stephenson, B.S., are the sisters and former elementary teachers behind Second Story Window’s educational resources and the popular Teacher Approved podcast. They are on a mission to help teachers work smarter through every season of the school year. After years of figuring out what actually works in a classroom (and what definitely doesn’t), they turned their experience into strategies thousands of teachers rely on. They still get excited about a good seating chart and believe that with a little planning, most classroom problems can be solved before they start.