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When Teaching Gets Tough: Smart Ways to Reclaim Your Game
Are you overwhelmed by unruly students, difficult parents, and never-ending classroom distractions? Are you tired of scavenging and pleading for basic school supplies? Do you wonder if anyone notices or cares how much effort you put into teaching every day? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this book is for you.
When Teaching Gets Tough offers practical strategies you can use to make things better right away. Veteran educator Allen Mendler organizes the discussion around four core challenges:
Managing difficult students.
Working with unappreciative and irritating adults.
Making the best of an imperfect environment.
Finding time to take top-notch care of yourself.
When Teaching Gets Tough is there when you need help to reclaim and sustain your energy and enthusiasm for teaching. Written with a deep understanding of the issues that teachers face every day, the book also includes sections for administrators who want to help teachers stay at the top of their game.
When Teaching Gets Tough offers practical strategies you can use to make things better right away. Veteran educator Allen Mendler organizes the discussion around four core challenges:
Managing difficult students.
Working with unappreciative and irritating adults.
Making the best of an imperfect environment.
Finding time to take top-notch care of yourself.
When Teaching Gets Tough is there when you need help to reclaim and sustain your energy and enthusiasm for teaching. Written with a deep understanding of the issues that teachers face every day, the book also includes sections for administrators who want to help teachers stay at the top of their game.
189 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 2, 2016
I stumbled upon this book in the staff room last month and it just "spoke to me." I know, I know! It makes me sound cheesy, but I think that I NEEDED to read this book right now. Especially the chapter on dealing with conflict and uncomfortable situations in the workplace. The author makes a lot of sense and tackles both the teacher and administrator roles that arise within the school environment. A real genuine teacher resource!
May 4, 2012
This is a solid read for teachers and administrators. I would say that there is nothing in here that shocked me or is something that I hadn't heard before, but my goodness it is super important that we hear about this as educators repeatedly. It is so easy to enter the vortex of doom and end up feeling unappreciated and burn-out.
Great reminder that teachers are the most important and most effective teaching tool in a school.
Great reminder that teachers are the most important and most effective teaching tool in a school.
January 31, 2019
I identified with some of suggestions and have them already in my teacher tool belt. So I believe the book will be helpful to some more than others. This topic is not easily fixed or remedy, but all efforts, advice and perspectives respected.
June 8, 2018
Great.
Very well- researched book. Got a little dry at the end, but overall, it’s a great read for any struggling teacher.
Very well- researched book. Got a little dry at the end, but overall, it’s a great read for any struggling teacher.
December 6, 2018
"Tell me something I don't know" sums up how I felt while reading this book. This is best for newer teachers who have not been around the block.
February 27, 2019
Started out great... Loved the BEEP idea. However, the rest of the suggestions in the book are old hat to veteran teachers.
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April 24, 2012Favorite quotes:
The best way to learn responsibility is to practice making choices and decisions, and then experiencing the consequences of those decisions.
BEEP: belief, energy, emotion, passion
Changing behaviors is almost always very difficult.
How can I make this person's life better?
Get better than you were yesterday.
How did you get better than you were yesterday?
You can't control what the pitcher throws, but you can practice hitting different pitches.
Give class time for students to catch up on old assignments. If students are not behind, they can earn extra credit for helping students who are.
Readiness for change is usually promoted by asking for small things first. When seeking change, it is sometimes necessary to be satisfied with singles because home runs are a lot harder to hit.
If you make people look good, then they will make you look good.
Don't change your dream, change your strategy.
Your brain releases endorphins when you smile, whether you mean it or not.
Being mindful means paying attention to the experience you are having without trying to change it.
Because we might not always recognize a moment of importance to somebody else, make it a point to say or do something appreciative when someone does something thoughtful.
The key to moving on to step into the emotion rather than running away from it.
The best way to learn responsibility is to practice making choices and decisions, and then experiencing the consequences of those decisions.
BEEP: belief, energy, emotion, passion
Changing behaviors is almost always very difficult.
How can I make this person's life better?
Get better than you were yesterday.
How did you get better than you were yesterday?
You can't control what the pitcher throws, but you can practice hitting different pitches.
Give class time for students to catch up on old assignments. If students are not behind, they can earn extra credit for helping students who are.
Readiness for change is usually promoted by asking for small things first. When seeking change, it is sometimes necessary to be satisfied with singles because home runs are a lot harder to hit.
If you make people look good, then they will make you look good.
Don't change your dream, change your strategy.
Your brain releases endorphins when you smile, whether you mean it or not.
Being mindful means paying attention to the experience you are having without trying to change it.
Because we might not always recognize a moment of importance to somebody else, make it a point to say or do something appreciative when someone does something thoughtful.
The key to moving on to step into the emotion rather than running away from it.
June 3, 2012
Reading this book was a good gut-check for me at the end of the school year. Most of the chapters have practical, specific suggestions rather than general philosophizing, but there were several pieces of advice that ran counter to what I believe are best practices in education. I would recommend this book to any teacher who would like a little guided reflection and help reframing. What's funny is that the best advice in the book as applied to adults is often what we do for students in the classroom. Why do we remember to treat students as people in process, yet forget to give ourselves and others the same benefit of the doubt?
August 17, 2013
When Teaching gets tough is a self help book to help teachers find ways to get through bad days, weeks or years. It gives suggestions on how to deal with troubled students, irate parents, other staff members who you may not get along with, or demanding administrators. I found some of the ideas helpful not just in ideas for the classroom but also irate fellow drivers, neighbors or family members. The book tells how to take things in stride and how to take care of ourselves. It does not tell the reader how to change others, For the most part it suggests ways of teaching them how to change and adjust their lives to take problems in stride.
August 14, 2012
The start of this book groups out into five sections: Annoying students, Annoying co-workers, Annoying Parents, Annoying Environments, and Taking Care of Yourself.
It has a section for administrators and teachers and as a coach has given me some great tips for enhancing the environment I work in through both my own actions, classroom management and how to interact with adults in a better fashion. I think as the new school year starts this will be a great resource.
It has a section for administrators and teachers and as a coach has given me some great tips for enhancing the environment I work in through both my own actions, classroom management and how to interact with adults in a better fashion. I think as the new school year starts this will be a great resource.
May 29, 2014
Allen Mendler gives a variety of helpful classroom and administrative tips for working in schools. I particularly like the strategies he offers in order to help those working with difficult individuals be it students, parents or colleagues. Mendler has provided tips that I feel I can use at my school. His writing is down to Earth and easy to follow. He comes across as someone I would get along with and I feel that I could work with him as a colleague.
April 28, 2012
I found this book to be particularly relevant to the challenges that I've witnessed in the past two years. I appreciated that it wasn't geared toward the philosophical debates and suggestions, but was rather full of the practical things that teachers and administrators can do. I walked away from the read with a list and plan on how to bring this focus to our staff. Great book!
November 17, 2013
Some very good recommendations. A few made me wonder about what the author was thinking. I dove right into working with difficult and unappreciative people, but the beauty of the book is the sequence doesn't matter, so you can read what you want to focus on, be it challenging coworkers, challenging students, challenging physical space and supplies, or maintaining wellness.
February 21, 2013
More validating than enlightening, this book would be great for someone just starting out in the classroom. Veteran teachers will find a pleasing list of techniques and ideas they have always known, but didn't remember for a bit. A nice good read overall with a few gems here and there. >^..^<
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May 19, 2012Really...a summoning up of essentials for teaching and learning to actually occur: says it like it is and focus is clear. Thumbs up
October 25, 2012
This like Chicken Soup for the Teacher's/Principal's soul, BUT with suggestions!
December 28, 2012
The first chapter of this book was full of promise, but the rest of it did not deliver.
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October 20, 2012After a bad year, reading this book was a life saving endeavor.
December 13, 2012
For me nothing "mind blowing" but good reminders of where to reground yourself as a teacher.
June 28, 2013
An excellent book for every teacher
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews