It Doesn't Take A Genius: Five Truths to Inspire Success in Every Student

by Randall McCutcheon

Two award-winning educators give you strategies to reach out and instill skills for success in your kids or students

With multiple teaching awards to their credit, Tommie Lindsey and Randall McCutcheon have taught every type of student--from the underprivileged to the ordinary. It Doesn't Take a Genius gives you first-hand access to the strategies that have inspired students to succeed, even in impoverished districts.

Entertaining and packed with practical advice, this motivating narrative is organized into five principles, each composed of "bite-size" lessons and testimonials from the teachers' greatest success stories.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2005

Reviews

[Lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent stuff... energizes my teaching and coaching mindset. Focus is on students, student learning, and student success - and the educator role in that process.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nearly fifty years ago, JFK warned, 'A child miseducated is a child lost.' Clearly, we have lost far too many children since then." It Doesn't Take a Genius was a book filled with tips, examples and--above all--HOPE for today's educators. A commitment to educating properly requires a proper mindset and it seems that McCutcheon and Lindsey are of the school of such a mindset. It's just so easy to complain about how hopeless and ridiculous the state of education is in, so it's nice to see when educators set themselves above the obvious stance. Well done.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed having the 'case studies' in the book, they weren't really case studies so much as former students writing about how they finally understood some idea about life. There were too many of them for my taste, actually, and some of them were too soppy/dedicated to the former teacher rather than actually discussing some idea they finally 'got.' I liked the idea of the five principles to teach by, but I would have liked actual case studies, and a shorter, more streamlined book.

[Samuel Lubell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an inspirational book about two debate (also called forensics) coaches and the students they helped. Much of the book are quotes from former students about how influential these coaches were to them. But there's not much here about the so called five truths compared to stories about the students and the coaches. This is inspirational, but low on actual content that could help teachers.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of motivational messages, good stuff.