U-Turn Teaching : Strategies to Accelerate Learning and Transform Middle School Achievement

Help middle schoolers engage in the classroom before it′s too late!

The middle school years mark a critical point in a child′s educational journey. For many educators, these years are the last chance to put in place strong, positive learning patterns.

U-Turn Teaching is founded on Rich Allen′s "Green Light" education strategies, in which every activity is designed to proactively support learning. This book builds on what researchers have discovered about how the adolescent brain learns best, and shows how those discoveries directly relate to effective classroom teaching. Now you can engage all students, even unmotivated ones, and help them make a U-turn by applying these four principles of brain-based learning:

• Build and maintain trust
• Create a collaborative community
• Take a TEAMing approach
• Prime the positive environment

U-Turn Teaching demonstrates how to realistically accomplish these four principles in your classroom. When educators are able to embed positive, efficient, and effective patterns of learning in the middle years, students are far more likely to succeed in high school and beyond!

Richard Allen is an international consultant with more than 25 years experience coaching trainers and educators. Cofounder and president of Education Illustrated, he has taken the TrainSmart strategies beyond the United States and Canada to such diverse countries as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Russia, Jordan, and Brazil. Allen is also a popular keynote speaker at international conferences, and he facilitates moti­vational and teambuilding workshops.

Jenn Currie has been teaching in the Commodore Perry School District for over 15 years, working largely with adolescents in grades 4 – 6. Since discovering brain-based learning strategies in 2005, Jenn has consistently helped ‘problem’ students achieve their first-ever academic successes. Her work has been recognized formally, as Teacher of the Year in 2008 and 2010, and informally through numerous letters from her students, their parents and administrators.

After seeing powerful results in her own classroom, Jenn has become a staunch advocate of supporting student success through best practices and brain research. She has taken an increased role in professional development: facilitating workshops for parents, mentoring beginning teachers, leading professional study groups, as well as running in-service trainings at various school districts, universities and state conferences. Since 2009, she has led a continuing education course entitled, “The Winning Combination: Linking Brain Research with Practical Classroom Strategies”.

Jenn earned her B.S. and M. Ed in Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, and is currently pursuing a doctoral program in Teaching and Learning. Despite having taught for nearly two decades, she continues to delight in the challenge of showing every student that they can succeed.

Along with her husband Scott and their canine companion Maggie, Jenn lives in the small, rural town of Greenville, Pennsylvania. Together, they enjoy cooking and spending time in the great outdoors hiking, four-wheeling, and horseback riding. She may be reached at jenncurrie@verizon.net.