Keeping the Wonder: An Educator's Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning

by Jenna Copper, Ashley Bible, Abigail Gross

Embarking on your first solo road trip. Receiving a special surprise that arrives out of the blue. Finding a sudden flash of inspiration that sets you on a wondrous new path. When we think about the moments that stand out in our memory, it’s clear that our minds hold onto the unusual or unexpected. By tapping into students’ innate curiosity, you can design memorable, meaningful learning experiences that captivate their interest and ignite their imaginations.

Structured around four key elements that fuel engagement—surprise, curiosity, freedom, and inspiration—Keeping the Wonder offers practical strategies and abundant inspiration for K-12 educators to create lessons that are fun and compelling. Combining enchanting anecdotes, real-world experience, and a wealth of research, the authors share their collective expertise as educators and founders of the innovative Keeping the Wonder workshop. In this dynamic handbook, Jenna, Ashley, Abby, and Staci offer a fresh approach to learning through the lens of wonder. By providing creative ideas for switching up standard lesson plans in ways both subtle and profound, they show us how to recapture our fascination with the world by employing all of our senses, and enhance engagement and critical thinking for students and teachers alike.

Before reading Keeping the Wonder, I saw my social studies classroom for what it brick walls, desks, and a few colorful posters. Today, I see magic seeping through the cracks of every space. Keeping the Wonder reignited my assion for student engagement and learning with every turn of the page. —Dr. Jacob Bauer Zebley, high school social studies teacher and 2015 Cecil County Teacher of the Year



From personal stories, practical advice, and research-based strategies, Keeping the Wonder is a book you will reach for time and again. After reading, you’ll start looking not just at your own classroom and curriculum through the lens of wonder, but the world around you. A must read for any teacher who is looking to bring that sense of curiosity and love of learning back into their classroom. —Caitlin Mitchell and Jessica Cannata, cofounders of EB Academics and bestselling authors of The Empowered ELA Teacher



Abby, Ashley, Jenna, and Staci have written the book that all educators have been waiting inspiration to (re)invigorate their classroom instruction while providing rigor, depth, and synthesis with their approach to specific lessons. From the awesome workshops they have conducted for years, drawing educators from around the nation in droves, these amazing educators have proven they are rock stars. Reimagining how we teach and engage our students is a priority, and Keeping the Wonder gives practitioners permission to create wonder, curiosity, and, yes, fun, in the classroom! —Dr. Angelyne Collins, library media specialist, Brookwood High School, 2021 Gwinnett Media Specialist of the Year, and 2020 Georgia Library Media Association Exemplary Media Program



If there ever were “perfect timing,” it might be right now for this practical yet truly inspirational book! Whether you are beginning a career in teaching, or just returning after long periods of “virtual” practice, this book has a spark for everyone. From ideas for catchy repurposed furniture to provide an engaging atmosphere to instructional strategies grounded in research-based practices, consider “the wonder” of this new book! Become a Wonder Maker and bring curiosity, surprise, freedom, and inspiration to your teaching practice! —Nate Ridgway and Dr. Angelia Ridgway, coauthors, Don’t Ditch that Differentiation in a Digital World

Genres: Teaching, Education, Professional Development, Nonfiction, Audiobook

266 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 23, 2021

Reviews

[Stefanie McCleish · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as PD books goes this one is a true winner. I loved all of the tangible examples and ideas that can be immediately applied to the classroom. I loved all the anecdotal stories the writers shared. The authors’ voices were fun and I truly enjoyed reading this. This was such a great reminder that we can add the wonder in even the smallest of ways. I have already been so inspired by this book and it’s reflected in my classroom!

[Rylen Lemons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be begging every educator in my life to read this book. There are so many wonderful (no pun intended) ideas in here that make me even more excited to get in the classroom.

If you’re a K-12 educator, PLEASE READ THIS.

[Kelli Potts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great teacher read! I was encouraged to be more creative in my classroom’s assessments, lesson plans, etc. There were a lot of ideas that I can take and use this school year.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed this book to restructure the blah I'm feeling teaching this year. It includes many quick things to try as well as bigger ideas to consider and implement- things that can bring joy back to the classroom for me and the students and things that remind me that teaching will not always be survival teaching. I think the only thing that brought this down a star is on me in the length of time it took me to read.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this PD book. It is organized well, has plenty of research to support its ideas, and provides many idea starters that can be easily applied to my classroom. I'm going to do a second reading to tab the ideas that sparked my own planning wheels turnings. Good purchase! I follow these ladies on IG, and I was excited that there was much more than has already been shared.

[Sheila McCombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve had this book forever and I haven’t taken the time to really look through it till now! Super interesting and a lot of fun stuff I could see myself doing in my classroom. It feels weird to log a book I read for work but we have a goal to meet lol

[Katy Sanderlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first professional development book that I really enjoyed! I will certainly be drawing from this text when I lesson plan.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good inspiration for teachers! I love the focus, that we need get students curious, engaged and excited to learn! Made me excited to start teaching and implement some good practices. Would love this book as a hard copy to reference often.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This….this is the book I’ve been searching for. Here is a guide to the way I teach, to the way I approach the classroom, to my philosophy of education. To find like-mind teachers has made it feel like Christmas. The number of additional strategies I’ve learned here and added to my toolbox has made this purchase worth every single penny. I’m currently begging my administrator to allow me a professional day to see these authors speak at Phipps Conservatory in May. Five gold stars.

[Addie Healy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Contrary to common beliefs, creativity is not the inherent gift to make something out of nothing. Instead, it’s the freedom to create something out of anything” (p.174).

In addition to filling my teacher brain with TONS of inspiration and ideas for my classroom teaching, this book really spoke to me on a personal level. Until I became a teacher, I never saw myself as particularly creative; I am not good at drawing, painting, or music, and rather than building something new from scratch, I’ve always turned to the existing ideas of others. But this book helped me see that idea integration IS creativity, and, in fact, I might identify as a creative person after all. Keeping the Wonder has given me permission to delve into that side of myself more fully so that I can inspire and engage my students in learning.

[Danielle Rentz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very compelling and creative. Since I follow these teachers on social media, I am familiar with the strategies/lessons they discuss and refer to throughout the book. However, I wish there were more concrete examples within the book showing how to do the activities. The ones they described seem very fun and engaging, but difficult to replicate in the classroom. I can tell they all put a lot of time, effort, and research into this, just wish they added student examples! If possible, I would read this from your local library or just check them out on Instagram Or teacher pay teacher.

[Syd L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an excellent read for bridging out of the crazy first years of COVID because if COVID taught me anything, it was that a lot of the things I thought were important maybe weren't as important as I thought. I'm learning to be more flexible and to give both my students and myself more grace.

Keeping the Wonder reminds us teachers that education should be joyful, and there are significant learning benefits that come from sparking curiosity and creativity in our classrooms. The moments that we may consider to be a waste of time may be what is most important to our students. It's hard to put a price tag on student engagement.

I appreciated that the authors balanced low-stakes and effort recommendations for teachers with research to explain why they could work. Sometimes, these recommendations were repeated multiple times (start your class with music! Or ambiance!), I was actually okay with that because it was a reminder that it could be as simple as that.

I developed some new lesson ideas while reading this book-- ones that weren't directly suggested in it. To me, that suggests that Keeping the Wonder helped remind me of my wonder and pushed me to expand my thinking. That was its goal.

This is a warm hug of a pedagogy book and a worthwhile read across divisions and subjects.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though the school year started, making it take me too long to finish this, I still enjoyed it. I found it inspiring yet fairly practical, which isn’t always the case with PD. The organized list of ideas at the end of the book is what earned this book its fifth star. I realized that I would sticky note so much of the book that it wouldn’t be overly helpful, so I was happy when I discovered the “Wonder Kit” at the end.

Now, if they could somehow create more time in the day so that I can better think about and implement their ideas, that would truly be magic! 😄

[Mara Ihrcke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve followed many of the authors on Instagram for a while, and I’ve even purchased some of their materials on TpT, so I was excited to get this book. In addition to being well researched and well written, it was actually helpful (ahem, how many professional development books can you say that about). I really appreciated the wealth of activities and ideas, in additional to a conventional framework for planning engaging lessons. Honestly, this is just what I needed after a year of stale hybrid/remote/pandemic teaching.

[May LeadStone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational Read!!

Words cannot truly express how much I’m inspired by this book! My husbands ELA department read it a year ago, and it has been on my TBR. Well I got hired as an ELA teacher and I have picked it up and it has given me a lot to think on! This book is full of ideas and vignettes about how educators used the strategies in their classrooms throughout the states! I have decided after reading this guide, I would use tagline #LetsGetCurious for my 1st year in ELA. If your stuck and need inspiration, even if your not ELA, pick this book up to find it!

[Kaleigh Gibbons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Truthfully, I didn't gain much new content from the book as I follow two of the authors on Instagram. Some ideas presented I found intriguing, and I liked the emphasis on simplicity - sparking wonder and curiosity doesn't have to be a giant production. Since I don't align with many of their teaching philosophies, I was turned off by large swaths of the text. Ultimately, this book didn't provide anything robust to add to my teaching practice.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and practical

This book has not only inspired me to be the teacher I have always dreamed of being, but given me practical advice on how to get there. I am bursting with excitement as I move into a new school year. I am looking forward to reading this one again and again!!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro ameno y con muchas ideas, en las que descubres que una educación diferente es posible. No le doy las 5 estrellas porque está más encaminado a secundaria y yo pensaba que era para primaria. Pero las ideas que da te sirven adaptadas. Pretende que los maestros descubramos nuestra creatividad interior para organizar las clases. Lectura muy agradable.

[Kylie Coffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Keeping the Wonder girls got me through my first few years of teaching. I stumbled upon them before I started teaching and centered my teaching philosophy around their ideals and pedagogy. Their ideas and resources have gotten me through teaching in a Pandemic. This book completely cements my perspective on how teaching in the 21st century should be.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was delighted to learn that a few of my favorite ELA educators and influencers had collaborated on this book. Definitely inspired and given a new vision for my classroom and students. Only disappointment and reason for 4 stars instead of 5 was that I had hoped for more ELA specific content considering the 4 authors are all secondary ELA people.

[Angel Boucher · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who is pretty experienced, I was hoping to get a lot of new ideas from this book. Unfortunately, I didn't gain too much from this book. It's similar to Teach Like a Pirate. I did appreciate the connections this book gave in terms of Twitter/Instagram accounts. I feel like that's important to stay up-to-date with those who actually have the input for this book.

[Bechard’s.middle.mania of the · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooooooo many wonderful teachery ideas. Love it!!! With all of my classes (okay well two classes) this summer, this helped me put all of the brain science and the art of learning together. They are all wonderful human beings and I would LOVE to be in their classroom someday. Even as an adult hahaha loved all of the strategies. Thanks girls!!!

[Jill VanWormer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ There were a lot of great strategies in this book, but there weren’t a lot of new strategies. Similar ideas have been shared in other popular education books. There was a lot of research shared, so it’s clear the authors did a great deal of work for this book. It didn’t really fire me up like I was hoping.

[Jaquelyn Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great ideas, inspirational concepts and anecdotes to emphasize the topics. A great back-to-school read! I'm feeling super inspired to take a look at my scope and sequence and flip it as much as possible.

[Lynsey Mize · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it in a single sitting the week before reporting back to school. It turned me around 100%. I’ve been dreading the end of summer and this book actually got me excited again about being back. Thanks, ladies. I’m not even surprised as they each inspire me regularly through their IG pages. ❤️

[Laura McDonell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved the vast number of ideas in this book. It was perfect for a secondary teacher (in particular English) as well as for any level teacher or parent. So many awesome ideas that work with what I teach. The authors are great and very approachable on social media as well.

[Deidre Bradford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks for reminding a veteran teacher to find joy for herself and her students in the classroom which helps them retain what I teach! The first small section of the book is meant more for newbie teachers, but the rest is a phenomenal resource I plan to turn to for ideas and inspiration!

[Maggie Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a solid read! I think it would be especially helpful for younger teachers who are new to the profession and looking for ideas. (A lot of what I already do is "in here", just specifically named and categorized).

[Ms. Ballister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly pleased. Delightful read providing so many practical ways to weave a little more wonder into my practice. I felt like my brain had permission to open up a little bit and I felt encouraged and inspired by these teachers' bright voices. Thank you!

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate the authors' generous sharing of their ideas and materials and I love that these strategies and elements are easy and fun to implement in my classroom! Stuff like this just makes learning more fun... and that makes more learning.