If you are like me, you find yourself looking back on "the good old days," yearning for simpler times. You feel challenged to understand the forces of destruction that have violated our country. You grieve for the peacefulness that seems suddenly to have been snatched away from life as we knew it. And you wonder how you can make an impact in a world that seems seriously out of control. Even in such disturbing times there can come desperately needed rays of hope to remind us of the importance of caring for every precious human being we encounter. Surely one of these blessings is Nelda Toothman's The Teacher Within: Recognizing the Best in Children.

Those of us who became educators entered this field to make a difference in the lives of children. Given today's context, many of us have come to question the very possibility of doing so. Over the past decade the media have characterized the Nation's schools as seriously declining environments: reports of bullying, racial tensions, and escalating violence have become commonplace. Most teachers trying to do their jobs despite these trends must battle another growing distraction: the high stakes test mania. There is increasing top-down pressure for performance--the state threatens the district office personnel, who in turn pressure the principals, who pressure the teachers, who transmit the stress to students. Given these strains, increasing numbers of teachers grow dissatisfied with their lack of autonomy and creativity and move to change careers. Also, more talented and effective school principals forsake their leadership roles through early retirements, and there are fewer candidates seeking these administrative positions. These are times when growing children must learn how to be resilient-how to emerge from the very dangers, setbacks and uncertainties that tend to cripple others, to lead healthy and productive lives. Studies of such resilient children have shown that the most important factor in nearly every case was a supportive one-on-one relationship with a caring adult. What can we do when by and large students across our country are not experiencing the care, attention and nurturing that school personnel wish they could be providing? One answer is to learn from a master, to study how such life-strengthening support was supplied magnificently in the past.

Nelda Toothman is one of those extraordinarily gifted influencers. Each of her simple, compelling stories illustrates a particular principle of effective teaching. Reading her self-searching analysis of why each intervention worked, we are reminded that positively impacting others is not a trick, but a commitment to bringing out their best. We ponder how we can refashion our own stories of influencing those we work with and care about.

The Teacher Within comes just in time to touch our complex and troubling days with its refreshing ray of hope. It should be required reading for all of us who need to get back in touch with our prime reasons for being. Whether we are teachers, managers, coaches or parents, Nelda Toothman's introspection motivates us to rethink our own lives and behaviors, to analyze how we will respond to the challenges we face individually, in our homes, in our classrooms and in our nation.

Dr. Marilyn Katzenmeyer
Teacher, Educational Consultant, Co-author,
Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders, 2nd Edition,
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2001

The fact that computers can do so much for students -- even write their papers -- creates a new incentive to ask questions about the diminishing human element in the teaching-learning process. When thirty-two commerce students submitted identical papers taken from the internet, there was a flurry of excitement about plagiarism in the local press, but not much interest in the teaching strategy that could have allowed this to happen.

The human exchange between teacher and student -- once thought essential to the teaching-learning process -- has disappeared from the very structure of educational systems beyond the primary level. Where is the human element to be found in education today?

In his signature book, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, the Canadian philosopher-theologian, Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) claims that human learning flourishes best when students experience their own minds at work asking questions and finding answers for themselves. As a long time student of Lonergan's work, I have mined his thought on human understanding to uncover a model of teaching and learning that suggests a new educational ideal for our times.

This book is written out of my own desire to make accessible to readers the freedom and capacity of their own minds to learn what is real or true or valuable. It is my own attempt to contribute the human element to the educational system of our time by engaging students in their own learning process. It has become the story of students yielding to my desire to engage them in their own learning and suggesting that I write it down!  

Every year millions of students are educated through our public school system. School is mandatory for both the educators and the students. Our government requires that all children receive an education. As more families have come to rely on dual incomes and single parent families become more common, we have seen changes in how both parents and students view the educational process.

A lack of discipline and respect on the part of students has placed an increasing burden on our teachers. Teachers are faced with a lack of support on the part of parents and administrators to provide solutions to social and scholastic problems.

We have come to rely on technology and money to solve the problems we face in our schools. We have a preconceived notion that all is right in our public schools. if you believe, as do, that we have serious problems in our public schools, that these problems need to be addressed, and you are searching for solutions, then, Our Public Schools - Who's Really in Charge?, is a book you need to read!

"We always have time for the things we put first." "Most people get ahead during the time that others waste." "Successful people try, practice, and wander down blind alleys. They pay their dues but don't give up." These are just a few of the thousands of quotes I have collected and used to inspire and challenge hundreds of students and educators during my thirty-year, teaching, career. I have compiled these quotes along with historical quotes and documents into a comprehensive book entitiled; A Touch of Class. This book is meant to be a tool and an asset to any classroom instructor. I envision this book as a resource for classroom banners and wall charts.

In an era of cultural changes and a need or quest for teachers to find tools to enhance character building in our young people, I believe using meaningful quotes to teach life-lessons was met with personal success in my classroom. It is my desire to inspire other teachers to use quotes as part of their daily, routine, classroom, experience. It will help alleviate behavioral problems in the classroom and aid our children's growth toward good citizenship. Many interesting, spontaneous, and enlightening discussions may follow as students share their interpretations. The art of deciphering quotes and writing interpretations is a classy way to start your day, hence the title; A Touch of Class.

A Touch of Class is divided into three sections designed for educators of all grade levels. Section 1: A Wealth of Wisdom for Teachers (Includes topics like discipline and motivation)
Section 2: The Making of a Great Nation (Includes historical quotes and documents)
Section 3: Earth's Wonders and Resources (Includes quotes related to scientific topics)

This treasure of quotes is designed to be a continuous source of strength, encouragement, joy, and enrichment through your teaching career.

Education in Small Schools of Pennsylvania addresses the problems that have plagued education in the past and the most recent problems in education. Each chapter of the book contains one major problem facing education in small schools of Pennsylvania today. The first part of the chapter presents the controversy surrounding the topic, involving the ongoing debate found in the media. More importantly, the second section provides the answers to these issues, which are found by utilizing educational research and the experience of the author. Many of the problems facing the small schools can be solved without money. For the most part, educational problems can be solved using logical and pragmatic solutions.

The family in America has changed, and this has translated into the public schools being the fundamental environment responsible in dealing with most of the problems facing the family unit. The schools can not do it alone. The new thinking is that the community should be made aware of the problems of the small schools and should be included in the solutions.

This book contains the author's 25 years of experience in the small public schools of Pennsylvania. It is unique, in that, many of the problems of the public schools can be solved using new methods but without new money.

This work is concerned mostly with small schools in Pennsylvania; however, the issues are national in scope. The specific audience is parents, educators, administrators, school board members, educational advocate groups and the growing number of the public who are concerned with improving education for the children in our schools.

The African continent is in the midst of a renaissance of monumental proportions... ...As a result, the dawn of the new millennium constitutes an exciting period of change and opportunity for all those interested in the future evolution of the African continent and its peoples (Schraeder, P.J. African Politics and Society (2000: 2)

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the current Chairman of the African Union, is being associated in a special way with the concept of African renaissance. Mbeki's notion of renaissance is fundamentally "African political renewal and economic regeneration" (Ajulu, R. 2001 in Review of African Political Economy Vol. 24 No. l 87, February: 27-42)

The concept of African renaissance, which is in vogue in political and academic circles, encapsulates a vision of rebirth of Africa as the African peoples come to terms with the challenges of the 21st. century. It is a vision that eschews the dictatorships, economic mismanagement, suppression of the civil society and ascendancy of state monopoly of power that have hitherto characterized the operations of post-independence African governments. It is a vision that rejects, according to the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the policy of tolerating in its membership those African leaders who obtain power in their countries undemocratically, unlike the toleration of dictators that characterized the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union.

This book aims at being part of that vision, and that is why its title is Education for Renaissance in Africa. It aims at showing the centrality of education in the achievement of that vision. Indeed it is obvious to all that African renaissance is primarily a mental achievement or simply an educational achievement. If we are to contribute anything to the political or economic order for the development of Africa we must have acquired certain kinds of knowledge and attitudes that involve commitment to our goals as prerequisites for any action that can change society. However, it is the contention of this book that education for the renaissance of Africa must not be haphazard. It must be conceptualized in a manner that lays foundations for its effective working in the practical order.

The philosophy of education envisaged here has to be liberating, characterized by creativity and social commitment, which presupposes social consciousness. Here we define the notions of liberation, creativity and social consciousness, and strives to situate these concepts within a historical trajectory that not only includes Africa but other parts of the world as well. We have tried to show the suppression of African subjectivity during the colonial period with the result that liberation, creativity and social consciousness were inhibited in both the educational and other spheres of life. We argue that humans are radically free and that they need not succumb to this kind of socialization, which has tended to negate their subjectivity. We note in particular that Kenyan educational commissioners have been cognizant of the harm that was done to African subjectivity by the colonial and missionary experience.

We also consider to what extent, if any, the philosophy of education as an academic discipline has prepared teachers for the challenging task of making education liberating, creative, and imbued with social consciousness. We suggest ways in which the training of teachers can best fulfill these worthy goals of education.

We address the nature of social consciousness, which we consider to be central to the learner's involvement in development of his or her country. We have endeavored to discuss the minimal and heroic forms of consciousness as exemplified in such leaders as Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and leaders of African liberation struggle. An attempt is made to come to terms with diversity in social consciousness and to seek ways of living on the basis of unity in diversity. We discuss the role of education in the development of social consciousness taking into consideration the manner in which the learners are socialized into various moral, political and religious values, while at the same time identifying the controversies that bedevil value education. Chapter eight tries to come to terms with the problem of value education as an educational objective. We have shown the efforts that have been made in educational research to find out how value education can be carried out effectively.

We treat the role of education in the enhancement of African continental consciousness, emphasizing the need for ethical education within the different African countries to have continental, pan-Africanist orientation. Salient features pertaining to the role of education in the development of global consciousness are identified in the context of the cognitive, ethical, dialogical and creative dimensions of education.

The book concludes with the treatment of some of the problems that have hindered African development, especially the shortcomings of African subjectivity, which has been negatively impacted by colonial and missionary experience. Given the polarization of the African continent in the realm of values, the last chapter of the book proposes that African leaders should take into consideration three factors. First, working together they need to cultivate transcendent affectivity, a form of suspension of judgment before all the facts of a decision-demanding situation are obtained. Second they need to have allegiance to the dialogical principle by virtue of which Africans would pragmatically seek for solutions to national and continental problems. Third, they should use their continental unity as a pragmatic tool for making their influence felt in global forums for the good of African and the entire world. The form of thinking encapsulating these three ideals is best described as the "Philosophy of African Dialogical Pragmatism."

Imagine, if you will, a group of doctors trained in 1850 seeing for the first time a modern operating room. They would, of course, be overwhelmed - and not just with the equipment! Even the process of diagnosing the patient's problem would be totally alien. Then imagine an equally talented group of teachers trained in the same era seeing a classroom in a modern school. They would perhaps (but not necessarily!) be appalled at first by the behavior, dress and grooming, but they would feel right at home in terms of teaching in and managing the classroom. That is an indication of the problem which Pete Melcher is addressing in this book. Simply stated, the procedures and practices of elementary and secondary schools and the teacher's role in them are virtually unchanged from those of a century and a half ago.

We can probably all agree that change for the sake of change, whether in education or elsewhere, is not necessarily desirable. In fact, Melcher's logic frequently takes us back to some of the successful structures and patterns of education which have been abandoned in a decades-long, discouraging parade of failure: our attempts at curriculum reform, the introduction of more and more social programs, the growing dominance of athletics and the ever-less-demanding levels of academic achievement. In the course of these observations he makes us realize that without substantial qualitative changes in the structure of the school "system(s)" themselves, the general quality of public education will continue its descent to ever-lower levels of mediocrity.

And nothing of this accelerating process, which has been characterized by others as "the dumbing down of America," is as critical as the ever-shrinking pool of high quality teachers. Always in short supply, the number of bright and well-educated young people who graduate from college and enter the teaching profession is shrinking rapidly. Mostly because teaching salaries have never kept pace with the economic development in this country, a situation which in turn has been encouraged by the lack of professionalism projected by teacher unions, the young people who should be exercising their talents in the classroom are entering other businesses and professions where their efforts are more respected and better compensated.

Of course, at the root of all of the problems is the archaic and inadequate nature of school financing which prevents appropriate remedies. Melcher traces the history of this problem in compelling terms through the first chapters of this book. He also manages to deal surprisingly well with such persistent and nasty problems as student rights, religion in the classroom, and the Columbine massacre, to identify a few of his "Thoughts."

This is a book which, while it does not pretend to have all the answers, does indeed provide many which everyone concerned with education should either accept or reject on a conscious level, any rejections being only on the basis of other proposals that are better. This is a book by a man who has worked with schools and school children for forty years, a man who appeals to our common sense to begin the painful process of necessary change. No one really interested in the quality of public education should fail to read it!

The fact that computers can do so much for students -- even write their papers -- creates a new incentive to ask questions about the diminishing human element in the teaching-learning process. When thirty-two commerce students submitted identical papers taken from the internet, there was a flurry of excitement about plagiarism in the local press, but not much interest in the teaching strategy that could have allowed this to happen.

The human exchange between teacher and student -- once thought essential to the teaching-learning process -- has disappeared from the very structure of educational systems beyond the primary level. Where is the human element to be found in education today?

In his signature book, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, the Canadian philosopher-theologian, Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) claims that human learning flourishes best when students experience their own minds at work asking questions and finding answers for themselves. As a long time student of Lonergan's work, I have mined his thought on human understanding to uncover a model of teaching and learning that suggests a new educational ideal for our times.

This book is written out of my own desire to make accessible to readers the freedom and capacity of their own minds to learn what is real or true or valuable. It is my own attempt to contribute the human element to the educational system of our time by engaging students in their own learning process. It has become the story of students yielding to my desire to engage them in their own learning and suggesting that I write it down!  

Every year millions of students are educated through our public school system. School is mandatory for both the educators and the students. Our government requires that all children receive an education. As more families have come to rely on dual incomes and single parent families become more common, we have seen changes in how both parents and students view the educational process.

A lack of discipline and respect on the part of students has placed an increasing burden on our teachers. Teachers are faced with a lack of support on the part of parents and administrators to provide solutions to social and scholastic problems.

We have come to rely on technology and money to solve the problems we face in our schools. We have a preconceived notion that all is right in our public schools. if you believe, as do, that we have serious problems in our public schools, that these problems need to be addressed, and you are searching for solutions, then, Our Public Schools - Who's Really in Charge?, is a book you need to read!

The African continent is in the midst of a renaissance of monumental proportions... ...As a result, the dawn of the new millennium constitutes an exciting period of change and opportunity for all those interested in the future evolution of the African continent and its peoples (Schraeder, P.J. African Politics and Society (2000: 2)

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the first Chairman of the African Union, is being associated in a special way with the concept of African renaissance. Mbeki's notion of renaissance is fundamentally "African political renewal and economic regeneration" (Ajulu, R. 2001 in Review of African Political Economy Vol. 24 No. l 87, February: 27-42)

The concept of African renaissance, which is in vogue in political and academic circles, encapsulates a vision of rebirth of Africa as the African peoples come to terms with the challenges of the 21st century. It is a vision that eschews the dictatorships, economic mismanagement, suppression of the civil society and ascendancy of state monopoly of power that have hitherto characterized the operations of post-independence African governments. It is a vision that rejects, according to the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the policy of tolerating in its membership those African leaders who obtain power in their countries undemocratically, unlike the toleration of dictators that characterized the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union.

This book aims at being part of that vision, and that is why its title is Education for Renaissance in Africa. It aims at showing the centrality of education in the achievement of that vision. Indeed it is obvious to all that African renaissance is primarily a mental achievement or simply an educational achievement. If we are to contribute anything to the political or economic order for the development of Africa we must have acquired certain kinds of knowledge and attitudes that involve commitment to our goals as prerequisites for any action that can change society. However, it is the contention of this book that education for the renaissance of Africa must not be haphazard. It must be conceptualized in a manner that lays foundations for its effective working in the practical order.

The philosophy of education envisaged here has to be liberating, characterized by creativity and social commitment, which presupposes social consciousness. Here we define the notions of liberation, creativity and social consciousness, and strives to situate these concepts within a historical trajectory that not only includes Africa but other parts of the world as well. We have tried to show the suppression of African subjectivity during the colonial period with the result that liberation, creativity and social consciousness were inhibited in both the educational and other spheres of life. We argue that humans are radically free and that they need not succumb to this kind of socialization, which has tended to negate their subjectivity. We note in particular that Kenyan educational commissioners have been cognizant of the harm that was done to African subjectivity by the colonial and missionary experience. We also consider to what extent, if any, the philosophy of education as an academic discipline has prepared teachers for the challenging task of making education liberating, creative, and imbued with social consciousness. We suggest ways in which the training of teachers can best fulfill these worthy goals of education.

We address the nature of social consciousness, which we consider to be central to the learner's involvement in development of his or her country. We have endeavored to discuss the minimal and heroic forms of consciousness as exemplified in such leaders as Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and leaders of African liberation struggle. An attempt is made to come to terms with diversity in social consciousness and to seek ways of living on the basis of unity in diversity. We discuss the role of education in the development of social consciousness taking into consideration the manner in which the learners are socialized into various moral, political and religious values, while at the same time identifying the controversies that bedevil value education. Chapter eight tries to come to terms with the problem of value education as an educational objective. We have shown the efforts that have been made in educational research to find out how value education can be carried out effectively.

We treat the role of education in the enhancement of African continental consciousness, emphasizing the need for ethical education within the different African countries to have continental, pan-Africanist orientation. Salient features pertaining to the role of education in the development of global consciousness are identified in the context of the cognitive, ethical, dialogical and creative dimensions of education.

The book concludes with the treatment of some of the problems that have hindered African development, especially the shortcomings of African subjectivity, which has been negatively impacted by colonial and missionary experience. Given the polarization of the African continent in the realm of values, the last chapter of the book proposes that African leaders should take into consideration three factors. First, working together they need to cultivate transcendent affectivity, a form of suspension of judgment before all the facts of a decision-demanding situation are obtained. Second they need to have allegiance to the dialogical principle by virtue of which Africans would pragmatically seek for solutions to national and continental problems. Third, they should use their continental unity as a pragmatic tool for making their influence felt in global forums for the good of African and the entire world. The form of thinking encapsulating these three ideals is best described as the "Philosophy of African Dialogical Pragmatism."

The African continent is in the midst of a renaissance of monumental proportions... ...As a result, the dawn of the new millennium constitutes an exciting period of change and opportunity for all those interested in the future evolution of the African continent and its peoples (Schraeder, P.J. African Politics and Society (2000: 2)

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the current Chairman of the African Union, is being associated in a special way with the concept of African renaissance. Mbeki's notion of renaissance is fundamentally "African political renewal and economic regeneration" (Ajulu, R. 2001 in Review of African Political Economy Vol. 24 No. l 87, February: 27-42)

The concept of African renaissance, which is in vogue in political and academic circles, encapsulates a vision of rebirth of Africa as the African peoples come to terms with the challenges of the 21st. century. It is a vision that eschews the dictatorships, economic mismanagement, suppression of the civil society and ascendancy of state monopoly of power that have hitherto characterized the operations of post-independence African governments. It is a vision that rejects, according to the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the policy of tolerating in its membership those African leaders who obtain power in their countries undemocratically, unlike the toleration of dictators that characterized the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union.

This book aims at being part of that vision, and that is why its title is Education for Renaissance in Africa. It aims at showing the centrality of education in the achievement of that vision. Indeed it is obvious to all that African renaissance is primarily a mental achievement or simply an educational achievement. If we are to contribute anything to the political or economic order for the development of Africa we must have acquired certain kinds of knowledge and attitudes that involve commitment to our goals as prerequisites for any action that can change society. However, it is the contention of this book that education for the renaissance of Africa must not be haphazard. It must be conceptualized in a manner that lays foundations for its effective working in the practical order.

The philosophy of education envisaged here has to be liberating, characterized by creativity and social commitment, which presupposes social consciousness. Here we define the notions of liberation, creativity and social consciousness, and strives to situate these concepts within a historical trajectory that not only includes Africa but other parts of the world as well. We have tried to show the suppression of African subjectivity during the colonial period with the result that liberation, creativity and social consciousness were inhibited in both the educational and other spheres of life. We argue that humans are radically free and that they need not succumb to this kind of socialization, which has tended to negate their subjectivity. We note in particular that Kenyan educational commissioners have been cognizant of the harm that was done to African subjectivity by the colonial and missionary experience.

We also consider to what extent, if any, the philosophy of education as an academic discipline has prepared teachers for the challenging task of making education liberating, creative, and imbued with social consciousness. We suggest ways in which the training of teachers can best fulfill these worthy goals of education.

We address the nature of social consciousness, which we consider to be central to the learner's involvement in development of his or her country. We have endeavored to discuss the minimal and heroic forms of consciousness as exemplified in such leaders as Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and leaders of African liberation struggle. An attempt is made to come to terms with diversity in social consciousness and to seek ways of living on the basis of unity in diversity. We discuss the role of education in the development of social consciousness taking into consideration the manner in which the learners are socialized into various moral, political and religious values, while at the same time identifying the controversies that bedevil value education. Chapter eight tries to come to terms with the problem of value education as an educational objective. We have shown the efforts that have been made in educational research to find out how value education can be carried out effectively.

We treat the role of education in the enhancement of African continental consciousness, emphasizing the need for ethical education within the different African countries to have continental, pan-Africanist orientation. Salient features pertaining to the role of education in the development of global consciousness are identified in the context of the cognitive, ethical, dialogical and creative dimensions of education.

The book concludes with the treatment of some of the problems that have hindered African development, especially the shortcomings of African subjectivity, which has been negatively impacted by colonial and missionary experience. Given the polarization of the African continent in the realm of values, the last chapter of the book proposes that African leaders should take into consideration three factors. First, working together they need to cultivate transcendent affectivity, a form of suspension of judgment before all the facts of a decision-demanding situation are obtained. Second they need to have allegiance to the dialogical principle by virtue of which Africans would pragmatically seek for solutions to national and continental problems. Third, they should use their continental unity as a pragmatic tool for making their influence felt in global forums for the good of African and the entire world. The form of thinking encapsulating these three ideals is best described as the "Philosophy of African Dialogical Pragmatism."

Two of the most important things to kids in middle school are friends and clothes. This book compares these two unlike subjects in a way that middle school kids can really connect with. It has a simple, direct, colorful message that can be used by teachers, counselors and parents for great discussions about friendships and diversity. It's a life lesson about being nice to others even if they don't "fit" you.

The people in a quaint little town below the mountain, vanished one night, without leaving a trace or making a sound. A handsome prince and his two beautiful cousins are very sad and fear for the welfare of the townsfolk. The prince knew that Benny the Bullybeastie was the cause of all the misery. Prince Matthew Morena is explaining to the little princesses where their friends have gone.

A bullybeastie named Benny one day appeared on the streets of the town. From the moment of his arrival he was mightily feared by all. He bullied the townsfolk endlessly. The streets were no longer safe. The children had to hide in their houses, lock their doors and crawl under their beds.

The mayor held a meeting and a decision was made to creep away during the night and leave Benny behind before some disaster occurred.

Benny had never learned to get along with others and displayed great anger at the rejection of his advances. When he awoke and discovered he had been deserted by the townsfolk his first reaction was rage, then fear on being alone. Only then did Benny realize that his disregard for the rights of others, his uncontrollable anger and his senseless behaviour were the ingredients that were preventing him from being accepted and loved.

Benny set out in search of the townsfolk. He faced many hardships in his travels. This gave him time to reflect on his behaviour and realize how much we require the love and understanding of others.

"We always have time for the things we put first." "Most people get ahead during the time that others waste." "Successful people try, practice, and wander down blind alleys. They pay their dues but don't give up." These are just a few of the thousands of quotes I have collected and used to inspire and challenge hundreds of students and educators during my thirty-year, teaching, career. I have compiled these quotes along with historical quotes and documents into a comprehensive book entitiled; A Touch of Class. This book is meant to be a tool and an asset to any classroom instructor. I envision this book as a resource for classroom banners and wall charts.

In an era of cultural changes and a need or quest for teachers to find tools to enhance character building in our young people, I believe using meaningful quotes to teach life-lessons was met with personal success in my classroom. It is my desire to inspire other teachers to use quotes as part of their daily, routine, classroom, experience. It will help alleviate behavioral problems in the classroom and aid our children's growth toward good citizenship. Many interesting, spontaneous, and enlightening discussions may follow as students share their interpretations. The art of deciphering quotes and writing interpretations is a classy way to start your day, hence the title; A Touch of Class.

A Touch of Class is divided into three sections designed for educators of all grade levels. Section 1: A Wealth of Wisdom for Teachers (Includes topics like discipline and motivation)
Section 2: The Making of a Great Nation (Includes historical quotes and documents)
Section 3: Earth's Wonders and Resources (Includes quotes related to scientific topics)

This treasure of quotes is designed to be a continuous source of strength, encouragement, joy, and enrichment through your teaching career.

If you are like me, you find yourself looking back on "the good old days," yearning for simpler times. You feel challenged to understand the forces of destruction that have violated our country. You grieve for the peacefulness that seems suddenly to have been snatched away from life as we knew it. And you wonder how you can make an impact in a world that seems seriously out of control. Even in such disturbing times there can come desperately needed rays of hope to remind us of the importance of caring for every precious human being we encounter. Surely one of these blessings is Nelda Toothman's The Teacher Within: Recognizing the Best in Children.

Those of us who became educators entered this field to make a difference in the lives of children. Given today's context, many of us have come to question the very possibility of doing so. Over the past decade the media have characterized the Nation's schools as seriously declining environments: reports of bullying, racial tensions, and escalating violence have become commonplace. Most teachers trying to do their jobs despite these trends must battle another growing distraction: the high stakes test mania. There is increasing top-down pressure for performance--the state threatens the district office personnel, who in turn pressure the principals, who pressure the teachers, who transmit the stress to students. Given these strains, increasing numbers of teachers grow dissatisfied with their lack of autonomy and creativity and move to change careers. Also, more talented and effective school principals forsake their leadership roles through early retirements, and there are fewer candidates seeking these administrative positions. These are times when growing children must learn how to be resilient-how to emerge from the very dangers, setbacks and uncertainties that tend to cripple others, to lead healthy and productive lives. Studies of such resilient children have shown that the most important factor in nearly every case was a supportive one-on-one relationship with a caring adult. What can we do when by and large students across our country are not experiencing the care, attention and nurturing that school personnel wish they could be providing? One answer is to learn from a master, to study how such life-strengthening support was supplied magnificently in the past.

Nelda Toothman is one of those extraordinarily gifted influencers. Each of her simple, compelling stories illustrates a particular principle of effective teaching. Reading her self-searching analysis of why each intervention worked, we are reminded that positively impacting others is not a trick, but a commitment to bringing out their best. We ponder how we can refashion our own stories of influencing those we work with and care about.

The Teacher Within comes just in time to touch our complex and troubling days with its refreshing ray of hope. It should be required reading for all of us who need to get back in touch with our prime reasons for being. Whether we are teachers, managers, coaches or parents, Nelda Toothman's introspection motivates us to rethink our own lives and behaviors, to analyze how we will respond to the challenges we face individually, in our homes, in our classrooms and in our nation.

Dr. Marilyn Katzenmeyer
Teacher, Educational Consultant, Co-author,
Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders, 2nd Edition,
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2001