Teaching From the Deep End
Succeeding With Today's Classroom Challenges
- Dominic Belmonte - Golden Apple Foundation, Chicago, IL
Foreword by Gregory Michie
Staff Development & Professional Learning | Teacher Induction | Teaching Methods & Learning Styles
"Belmonte reminds us that teaching is not always about what you teach, but how and why you teach. He asks teachers to become reflective practitioners who work with students, not for them, and that makes all the difference. Students turn into producers of knowledge, and teachers into artisans molding that beautiful vision with this philosophy of education."
"This book is unique. The author invites potential and experienced teachers to think more deeply about numerous facets of teaching we encounter but seldom consider. Teaching from the Deep End has story and heart. It also has a clear connection to the underbelly of the teaching and learning process; the author pushes those who teach to be more attuned to being consciously competent and not simply accidentally adequate. I learned a lot!"
"This book reframes the essence of what teaching is essentially about. The author provokes readers to think about their intentions and focuses on passion for teaching, the importance of knowing self, and the necessity of being cognizant of how bias and the use of language impact our work with students."
"This book is unique; the author invites potential and experienced teachers to think more deeply about numerous facets of teaching we encounter but seldom consider. I learned a lot!"
Teaching from the Deep End, first published in 2005, was revised, updated and expanded in 2009 to offer more insight and advice to prospective teachers on matters both relevant to the classroom and to issues adjacent to the classroom that can impact one's introductory years in teaching.
The author added a chapter on how a new teacher applying for a position should study the school to be considered to determine its atmosphere, challenges and potential fit. Another chapter emphasizes the value in being perceived as a team player in a new faculty setting. A third introduces the concept of schools as having a political climate and how new teachers should be attuned to that climate and not be adversely swayed into it to the detriment of the work with students. The author also added a chapter of perspective on the current national mania for high stakes multiple-choice timed testing and how one can keep true to one's teaching tenets in the midst of such pervasive influence.
More germane to the teaching life, the author suggested several "unchangeable truths" in teaching that one should aspire to model. He introduced the concept of deficit thinking and how it detracts from one's success in teaching students, especially students of color or who come from low-income family circumstances. He added a section on working with parents to make them allies to your cause, he detailed common blunders new teachers make and explained how to avoid repeating them. And, he added a new chapter on the uses of technology in the classroom.
The aim of this expansion is to make the book more relevant and applicable to assuaging the stresses and challenges one faces prior to or newly in the teaching life.