What do you do when you don't know what to do?
While Teaching School is a Scream! is a helping guidebook designed to fill a desperate need for substitute teachers in school districts all over America, the sound advice inside this work should also help new school teachers, parents, grandparents, homeschoolers, Scout Leaders, Sunday School teachers, and anyone wishing to deal intelligently with school-age children.
A second purpose of this book is to alert and educate anyone who wants to earn good/great money without giving up their life.
In memoir form, Scream follows the career path of a person unprepared for teaching above the kindergarten level. You will experience the stress, incompetence, joys, successes, and despairs of someone who had to teach since she spent their two sons' college fund on a house with a swimming pool.
The Appendix provide concrete ideas for art, music, games, seatwork, rewards, and corrections. An emphasis is devoted to a level-by-level exploration of "What to do when you don't know what to do.
In spite of the title, the author finds better ways to deal with her students in lieu of screaming. She discovers diffusion and develops many techniques which she shares in detail.
Every school district should have copies of Teaching School is a Scream! readily available for teachers and subs. This gave me a "shot in the arm" of enthusiasm and empowerment. It also brought back a lot of wonderful memories. Full of ideas, I can hardly wait to implement them. Estela Ohashi, Substitute Teacher since 1996
This engaging book is filled with Judy Woods-Knight's wisdom born of experience and practical ideas coupled with emphases on the importance of humor and above all, a genuine desire to serve young minds in need of the best any teacher can deliver. Gail C. Ferguson Psychologist, Author of Cracking the Intuition Code
Memoir/Education/Self-Help
About the Author: Judy Woods-Knight grew up in Salem, Oregon, where her father became Deputy State Forester. Her dad could "see into the souls of others," but Judy says that his overwhelming attributes were his generosity and his subtle sense of humor.
Her mother was a talented pianist, decorator, and cook. It was through 50 years of her weekly letters that Judy discovered the source of any writing skills she possesses today.
Her life as an Army wife and mother showed her the world and introduced her to a wide range of experiences, joys, stresses, and sorrows.
When reading this book, one can easily see the influences of her upbringing and her marriage and how they impacted her skills as a generous, flexible substitute teacher who always seemed to want to create win-win situations for her students and herself, regardless of how "naughty" or challenging any particular student may have been.
She now says, "If I were to sum up what I have learned in life it would be this: Everything is going to be okay in the end; and if it isn't, it isn't the end.
