1st Edition
Teaching with a Strength-Based Approach How to Motivate Students and Build Relationships
Helping students improve doesn't have to mean remediating their deficits. In this important book, Steven Baron shows the benefits of a strength-based approach that instead emphasizes students' assets and capabilities, making them feel more connected to teachers and peers and more engaged in learning.
You’ll learn practical, research-backed ways to help students of all grade levels identify and celebrate their strengths, develop self-confidence and a growth mindset, build intrinsic motivation, overcome a fear of making mistakes, manage their feelings, focus on gratitude, and more. You’ll also discover ways to create a more strength-based Individual Education Plan (IEP), increase your own resilience as a teacher, and build a strength-based culture throughout your school and district.
The appendix provides a variety of exercises you can use to help students focus on their strengths, foster kindness, and understand the impact of bullying. Students spend approximately 1300 hours during the year with teachers; this resource will help you make this time as affirming as possible so students are ready to learn and grow.
About The Author Proverb Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction 1. What Unique Problems Do Teachers Face? 2. What Is the Impact of Teacher-Student Relationships on School Life? 3. What Is The Strength-Based Model? 4. How To Apply The Strength-Based Model In The Classroom 5. Additional Strength-Based Interventions For The Classroom 6. How To Become A Strength-Based Teacher 7. Implications For The Future: Where Do We Go From Here? A Final Thought Appendix 1: Class Bullying Exercise Appendix 2: First Day Exercise Appendix 3: How To Be A Good Friend Exercise Appendix 4: A Strength-Based Questionnaire Appendix 5: Show And Tell Of Strengths Appendix 6: Strength-Based Letter Writing Appendix 7: Kindness Activity Appendix 8: The Talk Show
Biography
Steven Baron served as a school psychologist at the elementary and secondary level for 30 years and continues treating children, adolescents, and their parents in private practice. Steve has worked closely with school community members to assess, design, and implement strength-based strategies in a school setting. Steve has presented at conferences for teachers, administrators, parents, and psychologists. For more information: www.drstevenbaron.com
"Baron’s warmth and affection for at-risk students resonates on every page. Readers continually view students through Steve’s positive, strength-based lens, and by the time we finish – we’re sold. Should be required reading for all educators." -- Charles Appelstein, MSW, author of No Such Thing as a Bad Kid
"This book is packed with wisdom embedded in compassion. Steven Baron is an avid scholar of the strengths-based approach in learning. He has 30 years+ of experience as a school psychologist. Every teacher, school psychologist, and administrator needs this book." -- David A. Crenshaw, Ph.D., ABPP, Board Certified Clinical Psychologist
"Combining fascinating research drawn from positive psychology with practical guidelines for application, this book is a must-have for teachers, school administrators, or anyone working in a school setting. Steven Baron has given us all a gift with this great book." -- Jonah Paquette, author of Happily Even After and Awestruck
