Never Finished: Continually Becoming the Teachers We Want to Be (and Staying Sane in the Process)

Ask any teacher you know why they became a teacher.

You'll hear lots of answers, but here are some you won't hear:

• I wanted to get great teacher evaluation scores!
  
• I was hoping to focus all of my energy on the test results of my students!

Yet how many of us sometimes feel like our jobs have been reduced to these things? 

It doesn't have to be this way

Even today, teaching needn't be a game with points and scores; it can still be a calling in which we daily invest ourselves in The Work.

I'm writing an e-book that unpacks a simple, three-tiered approach to the ongoing journey of the teacher.

The You Level 

In this element of my approach, I examine the key mindsets all great teachers develop. Throughout the section, I will continuously remind you that, as one Teaching the Core reader so aptly put it once, "Great teachers have great lives."

If we're doing this work in a way that costs us our families or our sanity, we are doing it wrong.

The Student Level

You could fill a library with the amount of books written about the intricacies of teaching, and rightfully so: teaching is complex. As Robert Marzano's book put it years ago, it's both an art and a science.

But my book goes a different route than most, opting instead to boil the great teacher's work in the classroom down to three components -- consistency, awesomeness, and relationships -- that can be leveraged toward two ends: the academic and character growth of our students.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've led teachers of every content area and grade level through this material. It's robust enough to build a career on yet simple enough to grasp in a single sitting.

The Adult Level

Too often, Hollywood portrays The Legendary Teacher as someone who bravely fights against the overwhelming forces of negativity in her school, including the negativity of a whole host of adults. Yet most school staffs aren't like this -- and all of them certainly don't need to be like this.

In this section of the book, I argue that our maximum amount of impact comes when we multiply the work we do at the You and Student Levels by developing authentic, positive relationships with our colleagues, administrators, building support professionals, and parents of students.

50+ practical, actionable strategies

This is far from a theory-only book, however; in addition to unpacking the three-leveled framework, I provide more than 50 tips that you can start playing with tomorrow.

I think Goethe had something going when he said that “boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin... now.” As a result, my book is rife with tips you can act on immediately, so that when you inevitably have to put the book aside, you can get straight to doing the work of becoming a better (and that means saner) teacher.

What people are saying:

"You are that necessary ray of sunshine and thunderbolt of logic that this community of teachers desperately need."

--Brooke from South Carolina

--Mary Kim from Missouri

--Kirthi from Maryland

Frequently Asked Questions:

What do I get when I click "Buy this?"

You get an email with a button in it. That button links to a page from which you'll be able to read ordownload the e-book.

Is this site secure?

Yes -- read more here.

Will I be able to print the e-book out?

Yes. The book is a PDF file, meaning you can read it on just about any device. I've read PDFs on Kindles, iPhones, iPads, and computer screens. Since I'm a little old school, I often print PDFs to read them as well. You'll be able to do that, too. And it's got lots of nice white space in it to write on.

What if I find out the book's not for me?

Refunds are easy. Just contact me through Twitter, Facebook, or this good ol' fashioned contact form. You can also just reply to the email you'll receive when you purchase the product.

I don't have a time limit on refunds -- if you're ever not satisfied with your purchase, just get in touch with me, and I'll refund you. 

Can I order a paperback version?

Not at this time. This is

a physical, traditionally published paperback book like

. I'm not opposed to that possibility someday, but for now, I just want to get this book out into the world in speedy fashion.