Teacher Believed in Me: The Science and Heart of Making a Difference in Students' Positive Well-Being

From the bestselling team behind classics like The Leader in Me comes a supremely practical and inspiring guide to making a profound difference in students’ positive well-being and reigniting teachers’ passions for teaching.

In this inspirational guide, FranklinCovey Education’s global thought leaders Dr. David K. Hatch and Muriel Summers reveal seven leadership skill sets that enable teachers to profoundly impact students’ positive well-being and academic success. Drawing upon extensive research and their decades of experience in helping to transform more than 8,000 schools across the globe, the authors provide practical best practices for connecting with students and empowering them to achieve their full potential.

Teacher Believed in Me equips teachers with tools to:
-Accept students as they are, building a foundation of belonging
-Teach meaningful life lessons that resonate beyond the classroom
-Inspire students to discover and develop their unique strengths
-Entrust students with responsibilities that build self-worth
-Support students with empathy and optimism when they face challenges
-Empower students to take ownership of their learning and growth
-Provide correction and feedback in positive, constructive ways

Packed with simple, actionable, evidence-based practices, Teacher Believed in Me demonstrates how forging authentic connections, nurturing wellness, and meeting core psychological needs can reignite students’ engagement and unlock their innate greatness. Whether teachers and administrators are looking for a fresh perspective or simply seeking renewed motivation for working with students, this book is grounded in the current, everyday realities of teaching.

Dr. David K. Hatch earned a bachelor’s in psychology from California State University, Long Beach, and a doctorate in social-organizational psychology from Brigham Young University. His work in schools began at a public school for students with special learning needs. He then taught for the University of Maryland’s European Division in Germany, prior to working in corporate education with Dr. Stephen R. Covey. His consulting work has taken him to over forty countries, and his leadership workshops and assessments have been utilized by more than a million leaders.

Muriel Summers, from the minute she stepped into the classroom, has always viewed teaching as a calling. As a principal, she twice guided her school, A.B. Combs Elementary in Raleigh, North Carolina, to being named the top magnet school of America. The school also became the original leadership school featured in FranklinCovey’s Leader in Me. The vision and strategies she and her remarkable staff developed are now being replicated in over 7,000 schools and more than fifty countries. She bears the honor of having received several awards, including teacher of the year, principal of the year, and an honorary doctorate. She was awarded the William and Ida Friday award for Leadership in Innovation, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine given by the Governor of North Carolina (the state’s highest honor given to a North Carolinian), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Award for Leadership in Education, and the Ralph Kimmel Award, North Carolina’s highest honor for principals. She now serves as the Global Ambassador for the Leader in Me and keynotes at conferences across the US and abroad.