Understanding and Engaging Adolescents

by Jeffrey A. Miller, Peter Desberg

Overview

A proven-to-work tool kit for motivating adolescent learners!

Combining commonsense advice with social/behavioral psychology, this engaging book provides a comprehensive look at how adolescents learn and offers activities to inspire greater student interest and participation. The authors encourage you to create a vision statement for what you want to accomplish and provide the right tools to help you succeed. The book shows how to modify your instructional program by using:

• Three components of motivation
• Specific classroom management strategies
• Proven, brain-compatible activities that boost students’ academic, research, metacognitive, and social skills
• Steps to boost learners’ study skills
• Technology to support instruction

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412970006
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	05/26/2009
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 Months

About the Author

Jeffrey Miller spent eight years teaching middle school in urban Los Angeles and four years designing student success programs at Santa Monica College. Currently, he teaches courses in educational psychology and classroom management at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Miller is the managing director of the Miller Consulting Group and provides consultation and professional development to schools within Los Angeles and across the country, where he delivers keynote addresses and facilitates schools through organizational change. He completed his Ph D in 2001 with a focus on motivation and learning in adolescent classrooms.

Peter Desberg is a professor of graduate education and coordinator of the Technology Based Education MA Program at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist. Desberg is the author of 20 books and is a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at national conventions. He was the host of "Introduction to Computers" on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s cable channel for ten years and has appeared on many television shows and been written up in many newspapers and magazines, including Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan and Reader’s Digest.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Part I. The Theory
1. In the Beginning
2. "This Is Stupid" or Why Adolescents Quit Trying
3.The Classroom Management Toolkit
4. What We Know About Learning
5. What We Know About Motivation
Part II. The Activities
6. Maintaining Your Activity Level
7. Teaching Them to Study
8. Understanding Themselves Better
9. Culture-Based Activities
10. The Technology Mismatch
References

Editorial Reviews

This book addresses key issues and presents ideas on how to solve those issues.

Kathryn Mc Cormick

The book is engaging, appealing, humorous, and relevant to my situation. Nice job!

David Callaway

“This book addresses key issues and presents ideas on how to solve those issues.”

Kathryn McCormick

This book is funny, entertaining, well written and well documented, and informative.

Jolene Dockstader

This book should be on every middle and high school educators desk and be required reading each summer. Miller and Desberg clearly discuss many of the challenges that face our students and give teachers, counselors, administrators, and parents real tools and knowledge that should be implemented in every classroom.

Reginald Sirls

As a president of a nonprofit organization that stresses financial literacy, I was impressed with the information in this book. Iread it as a service and knowledge provider to secondary students, but found multiple applications to motivating and understanding my own employees.

Gary W. Hickman

As a principal, I am always concerned that my teachers are looking at and discussing the central issues of learning and motivation. Not only does this book give them what they need, it gives them several practical exercises to engage our learners. Good work.

Donna Jacobson

"Miller and Desberg have produced a resource that educators will turn to again and again as they encounter the day-to-day challenges of motivating and teaching adolescent learners. It is one of those rare books that effectively integrates theory, research, and practice. Utilizing these methods will go a long way in helping educators gain or regain the skills they need to make teaching the gratifying experience it should be.

Judson H. Taylor