Just Teaching
Feedback, Engagement, and Well-Being for Each Student
- Jonathan Eckert - Baylor University
Corwin Teaching Essentials
Motivation in Education
Elevating the essential work of today’s teachers
Teaching is life-giving work, essential for the development of thriving humans. It is devastating to hear teachers refer to themselves as “just teachers” as if they are powerless and without status. What if we turned the phrase’s meaning upside-down and claimed its redemptive power? “Just teachers” care for each student. Teachers who are just, cultivate freedom, justice, and flourishing.
This book will have readers "just teaching" in the best sense of the phrase! Just Teaching has been written for teachers who want to develop the best ways to serve students based on research on how students learn. This book shows how to use appropriate tools, based on the wisdom of generations of educators, in a focused, sustainable way. Readers will find:
- evidence-based practices to support student feedback, engagement, and wellbeing (for students and teachers, too)
- case studies from familiar classroom perspectives
- useful technology suggestions
- solutions tools for building an overarching approach to meeting the needs of individual students
By addressing feedback, engagement, and well-being in ways that are founded on justice and love for students, Just Teaching supports comprehensive, manageable learning while elevating the essential work of educators.
At a time when parents are more engaged than ever in their children’s education, Eckert offers practical strategies that parents and educators alike can embrace to help each child thrive in school. This book builds on its foundational advice to center love and relationships in a student’s academic journey, and it models those central elements through anecdotes, tools, and resources to help students meet their goals.
Jonathan Eckert is one of my go-to sources of wisdom, as I have grown to trust him deeply by observing how he leads his family, his classroom, and his fellow faculty. He is an educator of educators. If you have been challenged by the new landscape of education, you will find an incredible guide in Jonathan Eckert and this much-needed resource! Please read it and share it with everyone in your field.
This book reminds me so much of the work of Marva Collins and Gloria Ladson-Billings, two of my greatest SHEroes. Both felt that teaching was beyond curriculum, but it was a work of the heart. Teaching involves the heart of the teacher connecting with the heart of each student they may encounter. Jonathan Eckert’s book provides a very practical way for all teachers to learn the skill of seeing each student for who they are and reaching them where they are, so that the classroom becomes a cocoon for all children to develop into beings who can soar to the greatest heights.
Just Teaching is refreshingly honest, clear, and heart centered. Reading Jonathan Eckert’s stories and using his tools is an opportunity for all of us to bring joy back into the classroom. Just Teaching simplifies the complex issues so we can focus on what is most essential to our well-being and the success of our students.
Student engagement is critical to learning but too many students are disengaged, and studies show an alarming drop in student engagement in advanced grade levels. Jonathan Eckert combines a thoughtful analysis of the root causes of this challenge with highly practical solutions for educators to be more successful in connecting with and engaging each individual student. Eckert shares a compelling vision for educators, parents, and leaders at the system level to better support and engage each individual student in their learning journey.