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.
Industry Reviews
"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