Resilience in the Classroom - 9781607141181

A Specialist in Child and Adolescent Development, Lisa Medoff has dedicated her career to helping a broad range of students with special needs, along with their families and teachers. Time and again, she has confronted the growing gulf between the ideal classroom and the real thing, observing that teachers facing critical situations usually don't want labels or theories---they need to know exactly what to do and say in the moment. With Resilience in the Classroom, Dr. Medoff makes her most effective dos and donts available to all in a powerful, accessible rescue manual.

Drawing on her many years of experience with children who face a wide range of challenges---from learning disabilities and ADHD to poverty, immersion in English as a second language, and the trauma of an abusive household---Dr. Medoff now shares practical, proven techniques for fostering resilience. "Resilience" is not about eradicating hardship; it's about learning to survive and thrive in the presence of adversity. With this in mind, she tackles the most significant problems in educating today's at-risk students, sharing an array of clear strategies for coping with bullying, disruptive students, math and reading problems, parental neglect, and other elements that can deprive special-needs students of learning. Packed with inspiring case studies of children you will not soon forget, this guidebook will inspire and invigorate all who have been entrusted with the care of our most vulnerable students.

For Many Teachers, struggling students are the exception. For Lisa Medoff, they're her specialty. Her official job title---Resilience Consultant---captures her guiding principle: kids with academic, behavioral, and socio-emotional difficulties can develop skills for success in even the most daunting circumstances, and the teachers charged with leading them need those skills just as much. With Resilience in the Classroom, she provides a trove of specific, realistic techniques for navigating the most troublesome classroom situations. Busting the myth that some students "just can't learn" or that disruptive children "just want attention," Dr. Medoff brings to light numerous strategies and effective key phrases, guiding teachers in precisely what to do and say to create an optimal learning environment.

From setting clear boundaries and high expectations to defusing bullies, .Resilience- in the Classroom reframes classic student-teacher, conflicts with approaches designed to enhance students' ability to process instructions, stay on task, and master material that would usually lead only to frustration and meltdowns. Other tips are designed to nurture the students' sense of empathy and caring, helping them to build friendships rather than thriving on aggression. Each chapter concluds with exercises for applying Dr. Medoff's advice, brought to life through compelling case studies, to suit your day-to-day needs.

At the heart of this book is a mandate for teachers to take care of themselves, building continual opportunities for renewal to prevent burnout. Dr. Medoff does not promise that teachers can solve all of their students' problems, but her approach ensures that teachers who turn their classrooms into safe havens are creating a training ground for resilience---raising a generation that can beat the odds.

Lisa Medoff is a consultant with the Cleo Eulau Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping youth rebound from adversity. In addition to leading workshops for elementary school teachers in high-risk schools and helping parents create optimal learning conditions for their children at home, she has devoted more than a decade to working with middle and high school students who have learning disabilities and emotional, disorders. She has-taught at Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, and Stanford University, where she earned a PhD. in child and adolescent development. Her weekly child psychology column is published at Education.com. She lives in Palo Alto, California.