Schools of Fish!

by Philip Strand, John Christensen, Andy Halper

It's two minutes to 8:00. Time to put on your tights and cape. As an educator, every time that bell rings, you face dozens of challenges. Students with overwhelming personal and academic needs. Creativity-stifling mandates. Administrivia. Cynicism. Apathy. The things that keep you from being the educator you want to be. The FISH! Philosophy -- four simple Be There, Play, Make Their Day, and Choose Your Attitude -- has helped educators around the world build more effective, fulfilling relationships that lead to better learning. It is also backed by tons (OK, about a hundred pounds) of research on classroom management. Schools of FISH! is full of inspiring and instructive stories about people just like you -- with hopes and challenges just like yours. It's about real-life heroes who give the best in themselves to help their students find the best in themselves . Schools of FISH! offers practical ideas on classroom management. It addresses the issues you deal with every dayimproving learning, respect and personal accountability, self-discipline and internal motivation, and finding ways to make learning more fun. Because youre not just teaching students to learn . . . youre inspiring them to want to learn.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am rating this 3 and a half stars. I felt inspired and refreshed by reading this book. I took away great reminders like looking at discipline as teaching opportunities, respecting and celebrating every student and diverse learning styles, creating a classroom where every child feels hopeful, and how a student's perception is often so different than the teacher's.
What I kept watching for was the "meat" of the philosophy; how schools actually changed their learning environment. While I appreciated the stories from educators practicing the philosophy, I was left with a lot of questions. I guess I will need to read another of the Fish! books to figure it all out :-)
P.S. Mindy's students' letters not only "made my day", they made my year so I AM diggin' the Fish! philosophy.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read through the book, I found myself reflecting on occassions that I had actually practiced what they were discussing, times that these suggestions might have helped one of my students, and agreeing that our school environment could improve with this philosophy. I even discussed this with my "daughter the teacher" and she asked, "What if you've tried all of this and it still doesn't change things?". I'm recommending that she read the entire book! These are not new concepts. They may be labeled with different titles and I agree that people get stale and need inspiration. This option is one that is well known. I hope that we embrace it, but even more, I hope that we practice this already - to some degree.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the FISH! philosophy! This book is full of stories, examples and ideas from the classroom. Success stories are shared. It is a book that helps you feel motivated about entering your classroom the next day! I may need to reread this book before the next school year for some reminders and great ideas!

[Clint · Rating 5 out of 5]

I use this philosophy in life and in work (teaching). A quick and easy read. I recommend it for anyone. This is an awesome book! I am a teacher and this book is about how to successfully run your classroom. The Fish Philosophy originates from the way of life the workers at the Seattle's Fisherman's Market have decided to choose to better their lives and their jobs. From the idea spawned at the Fisherman's Market, this philosophy has been used in some of the top Fortune 500 companies. Their are many different books based on this philosophy written for specific industries. Schools of Fish was written by teachers who have learned and studied the philosophy (some training is well in the $1000) and decided to share their personal and professional accounts and experiences from using the Fish Philosophy. I use it in my classroom and it does wonders.
It's my credo in life and in work. I highly recommend all professionals in the education field to read this book. Oh, by the way, its a very easy and short read!! A definite plus for a teacher (because we all know that teachers work way more than M-F, 8-3pm.)

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on the Fish Philosphy that began in a fish market & has been used to help build successful businesses with caring employees. The same is true of Schools of Fish! except this book is centered around, you guessed it, schools.
The ideas in the book are creative & the book gets you pumped up for the school year at hand. I have found myself going back through the book to re-read things I remembered.
On the down side a lot of the suggestions are difficult to keep tabs on or keep up with in the already jam packed school day.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Pike fish market video served as a better introduction to Fish Philosophy than this book does. I guess viewing the former first made me yearn for an action plan from the latter. Instead, it was a few hundred pages of inspirational tales of specific and narrow implementation. Not really the book's fault, but I was hoping for general systems for implementation.

[Shash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for an in-service I had for work. Wonderful stories of schools who used the FISH! philosophy.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is awesome, because despite the typos and unsubstantiated research, the pages are thick so you can read it in one day in between your meetings and getting your classroom ready. Neat!

[Marker · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this book! Will love it even more after I convince my wonderful principal and staff to implement this philosophy in place of A.C.E. :)

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book!! I would love to see the FISH videos and learn even more about it.

[Christa Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly refreshing outlook on education and running your day to day life! It takes me back to the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book, but you really needed the video to get the whole idea. I was left in the dark for a long time with this and gave up!

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me feel excited to get back to work. I am going to try it!

[Darci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great inspiration and thoughts for a new school year I loved the Fish philosophy and look forward to using in my classroom