Teaching on Solid Ground

Dominic Belmonte taught at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, for twenty years as an English teacher and chairman of the English Department. He is now President and CEO of the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. A member and past chairman of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, in 1989 he co-created the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program, a pre-induction teacher preparation experience that is now the Golden Apple Foundation's largest program, named by Harvard University as one of 15 programs out of 1,200 nationwide as a finalist for its Innovations in American Government award. In 1996 Belmonte also co-created the GATE (Golden Apple Teacher Education) program, an alternative pathway to teacher certification for mid-career adults wishing a career in teaching secondary math or science or teaching elementary school children.

Foreword by Martin J. and Patricia Koldyke Acknowledgments About the Author 1: Becoming and Celebrating Yourself as a Grounded Teacher: Five Requisite Precepts Precept 1: Recognition and Belief That the Quality of Your Work is a Matter of Life and Death to Your Students Precept 2: Immunity From the Toxic Cynicism of Your Colleagues Precept 3: Recognition That Your Words Matter Precept 4: Recognition That You Must Have a Reason to Be in Front of Your Students Precept 5: Give Them Hope, Rather Than Love 2: Fifteen Indicators of a Grounded Teacher: Classroom Nuances and Other Cues First Indicator: Avoiding Classroom Wheel Spinning Second Indicator: Being Comfortable With Time and With Questions Third Indicator: Attending the Lecture's Funeral Fourth Indicator: Mastering the Art of Asking Questions Fifth Indicator: Planning Student Group Work Carefully Sixth Indicator: Being a Non-Contributor to Classroom Disarray Seventh Indicator: Knowing Speed Kills Everywhere, Even in the Classroom Eighth Indicator: Avoiding the Rudderless Class Ninth Indicator: Keeping an Ear to the Tone of a Classroom Tenth Indicator: Beware of Your Own Undertone! Eleventh Indicator: Avoiding Topic or Grade as Threat Twelfth Indicator: Using Compliments Adroitly Thirteenth Indicator: Prodding Gently (but Prodding Nonetheless!) Fourteenth Indicator: Holding Students Responsible for Their Own Learning Fifteenth Indicator: Holding Students Responsible for Their Own Behavior: "We Don't Baby Our Babies Anymore" 3: Model Techniques of Exceptionally Grounded Teachers The Socratic Seminar Method for High School English Classes: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Tom Anstett, Lincoln-Way East High School, Frankfort, IL Getting Students Hooked Through the Power of Inquiry Science: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Jim Effinger, Naperville North High School, Naperville, IL Presenting Poetry To the Recalcitrant and Suspicious High School Student: The "Search for the Central Experience" Method The Magic Math Box and Elementary Math Approach: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Sr. Raeleen Sweeney, PBVM, Golden Apple Foundation, Chicago, IL Literacy Travels: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Jim Sorensen, Chippewa Middle School, Des Plaines, IL Lessons in Loving Science and Children: Exceptionally Grounded Teacher Carolyn "Mama C" Cyriaque, Golden Apple Foundation, Chicago, IL 4: Further Nuances and Challenges for the Grounded Teacher When Tragedy Affects the Classroom Teacher Burnout: What It Is, Why It Is, Why You Must Combat It, or Leave Teaching Now State and Federal Testing and the Fight for a Teacher's Soul Bridging the Achievement Gap With Your Minority Students: A Conversation With Gloria Harper and a Summary of the National Study Group for the Affirmative Development of Academic Ability Epilogue: A Teacher's Poem, the Subjects of Fear and Resilience References Index

"Provides motivation and a sense of commitment even to a veteran teacher (me!)...a book I will refer to often, as well as use for the teachers I mentor." -- Patricia Eggers "Offers encouraging, uplifting advice and support to help teachers remember the purpose and importance of their profession...The examples and vignettes offer a wealth of fresh, energizing techniques, along with ideas to pump life into stale and chalky routines. Thanks for the inspiration!" -- Sharon Elin "Provides a resource for developing teachers to reflect on their current practices and craft, identify areas of strength and needed change, and provides a beacon for knowing when they are becoming master teachers." -- Jayne Englert-Burns "I put down the book feeling proud to be a teacher...someone understands that I care more about my students than about politics, money, or prestige, and that my focus on students has inherent worth far beyond a paycheck!" -- Sharon Elin "Offers intellect, relevant statistics, human examples, teacher stories, witty analogies, practical solutions, and most of all, hope for those at any point in their teaching career...what I am most impressed with is that the author does not continually blame the system or others but gently reminds us, chapter after chapter, that just as our students come to the pivotal point of taking responsibility for learning, we as teachers must look inward and reflect upon our responsibility to really, really do the teaching." -- Sarah Earle, NBCT "Belmonte offers advice on how to become a grounded teacher by advocating discussions instead of lectures and profiling the techniques of teaching veterans." -- Class Notes, Spring 2006 "Teaching on Solid Ground really is an overall 'reader friendly' reference and guide for becoming an ideal and appropriate teacher, very strongly recommended to all teachers, new and experienced, for its exclusive ability to relate to its readers and its deeply accurate reasoning for taking its recommended approaches." -- Wisconsin Bookwatch, April 2006 "Both new and experienced teachers will enjoy Belmonte's humorous and heartfelt reflections on the rewards of teaching. The author focuses on 15 ways to master classroom pacing, outlines 5 sample lessons, and suggests reflective approaches to testing, bridging the achievement gap, and other challenges." -- Curriculum Connections, Fall 2006