5 REASONS READING TO CHILDREN IS A BIG FREAKIN' DEAL! 1) The average American watches 1200 hours of TV each year. Imagine how many books could be read in those 1200 hours. 2) Children's picture books have more complicated vocabulary than TV. Reading can lengthen a child's attention span. TV can shorten it. More books, less TV will help children become whatever they want to be.

I've found that de-mystifying reading and writing is a highly effective way to open the door to engage children in reading and writing. Before I read, I ask them, "What's reading? What's writing?"  After listening to and having a discussion around their ideas, I offer my definition: Writing is talking on paper. Reading is listening to what the author has to say.  After that, it's on! All of

Books Unbound: Unlocking the Power of a Children's Book to Meet Major LA and Common Core Standards! If you love books and love the idea of inspiring children to love books and read them well, then you won't want to miss Books Unbound at the 2014 Teaching and Learning conference, March 15. This presentation is brand new -- designed just for the conference -- and is one of just a few targeting

This theory is the basis of the Happy Teacher training and the Writing Superheroes workshops. I challenge you to try it when you face your next big challenge with children. And share.

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Profound insight on the role that expectations play in improving student performance From the paper: Greater Expectations to Improve Student Learning by Ross Miller, Association of American Colleges and Universities "In the U.S...innate ability is viewed as the main determinant of academic success. The role played by effort, amount and quality

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1) Keep books in a special place. 2) Show children how carefully to choose a book, and explain why you're taking such care with the covers and pages as you make your selection. 3) Always read the book from cover to cover, including the title, author, illustrator, and a discussion of the images. This reinforces the idea that every aspect of the book is important and needs to be treated in a

Another Happy Teacher True Story: Recently, a first grader had a meltdown, cried and begged not to go to an all-school recreational activity. When the teacher used Happy Teacher strategies, the child calmed down, opened up and told her he didn’t want to go home because he’s always a bother to his mother. The recreational activity was happening just prior to dismissal. The child's reaction

“As harmful as America’s tests and sanctions-driven “school reform” strategy is to teachers and students, and as much as it must be replaced by helping schools improve, there’s still a chance for teachers in low income schools to be effective and enjoy teaching.  In The Happy Teacher: 11 Rs Every Teacher Should Know Training Manual, Caroline Brewer and Joshua I. Smith show how that can

THE HAPPY TEACHER HALL OF FAME I will be forever grateful to have met 20 wonderful teachers in Ghana in late September at the Leapforghana.org literacy summit in Accra (top photo). These teachers helped us kick off the new & improved round of Happy Teacher seminars! We danced, sang, read, wrote, rhymed, played vocabulary games, rapped, toe-tapped, made promises, discussed the power of

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly" ~Langston Hughes~ That thought fits perfectly with our mission at The Happy Teacher movement. We want to help make the dreams of teachers and children and parents come true.  The child pictured here was not in the 3rd grade Konko Village, Ghana, class Kimmoly Rice-Ogletree and I taught. But as we walked

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What if there was a way to add joy and excitement -- every day -- back into the teaching equation?  What if there was a way to get on the ground of a new TEACHER-LED MOVEMENT to EMPOWER YOU and every teacher like you? The Happy Teacher Professional Development Training is all that, and much more! It's one of America’s best-kept secrets to revolutionizing teaching and learning and a new

Why teach?  Because of love? Because of hate? Because of doubts? Because of faith?  Because of all the surprises?  To be a rebel with a cause?  Because you need a job? Because the job needs you?  To receive? To live? To listen? To give - voice?  Why would anybody teach? Why would you?  We'll explore and read a book about it at the Happy Teacher Seminar. Nov. 11. D.C. All-day. Join us!

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First grader at The Alpha Beta School outside Accra reading to me Librarian at the Alpha Beta School outside Accra Me working with shy 3rd grader at school in Konko Village Children never cease to amaze and inspire me. I spent time in Ghana in West Africa from September 26 to October 6. I traveled there to lead training in the 11 Rs at LEAP for Ghana's first global literacy summit (See

Annie Murphy Paul, author of The Brilliant Blog, reminds us in her latest post of the power of singing to boost learning.  "The best way to remember facts might be to set them to music. Medical students, for example, have long used rhymes and songs to help them master vast quantities of information...," begins Paul. She next cites a survey by a British doctor who set asthma treatment

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Games are the secret ingredient to boost learning of all kinds. Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King's Dream Come True contains more than 60-sets of rhyming words, half of which you’ll find in the free vocabulary game we’re offering now. DOWNLOAD our FREE BINGO-STYLE Vocabulary Game with terms from Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King's Dream Come True. Help

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1) Don't Be Boring! Seriously. If we want to succeed at getting students to excel at reading and writing, we have to pump fun and excitement and surprises into every aspect of our instruction. It's going to make teaching and learning so much easier -- and so much more effective. Example: Teach a literacy lesson using song lyrics. Your students will get to sing, dance, snap their fingers, tap

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