The Nightmare That Is Public Education

By Renato C. Nicolai, Ed.D.

Summary of Contents

"Every teacher and parent in America should read this book!"  That's what a former teacher and junior high school principal wrote in a letter to me recently.  Why?  Because teachers will learn incredibly effective strategies they can use daily in their classrooms to improve student learning and because parents will learn how to assess the quality of the teaching and learning their children are receiving at their local public schools.

In Chapter One, teachers will learn the eight essential qualities most teachers don't possess. Using them will help students learn better than ever before.  Parents will notice right away.

In Chapter Two, both teachers and parents will know how to prepare a classroom's physical environment as a valuable learning tool.  Yes, when you know what to do, the classroom itself will become a priceless learning tool that will tremendously improve everything taught in it.

In Chapter Three, teachers will understand how absolutely indispensable high academic and behavioral expectations and standards are to learning everything. This chapter is packed full of ideas, lists, and suggestions on how to promote and maintain high academic and behavioral expectations.  It ends with a seven page description of the most important strategies used by teachers who truly understand how to teach high academic and behavioral standards.  Teachers, you've never seen anything come close to this practical list of how to teach standards.

In Chapter Four, teachers will become aware of the fact that at least 22 percent of instructional time is wasted in most classroom teaching periods.  This chapter shows teachers how to improve their time management techniques with successful methods for starting class, changing activities within class, ending class, and asking questions expertly.

In Chapter Five, teachers and parents will have their eyes opened to the superb methods many experienced teachers use to maintain classroom discipline and control.  Teachers will find a comprehensive ten point explanation of an Educational Philosophy for Control of Student Behavior.  Both teachers and parents will discover many innovative and no-nonsense strategies in the list of thirty-six Effective Methods to Control and Manage Student Behavior.

In Chapter Six, everyone who reads this book will have their eyes opened to the fact that substitute teachers are victims, babysitters, and survivors.  This is a tragedy that must be remedied because when substitute teachers are present very little if any learning takes place.

In Chapter Seven, parents will be amazed at the culture that permeates public schools, and teachers will recognize that reticence, permissiveness, mediocrity, and progressiveness are literally ruining both learning and their profession.  Teachers and parents need to take a stand.

In Chapter Eight, the myths of in-service days, collegiality, and teacher evaluation are exposed.

In Pleasant Dreams, the last chapter, teachers and parents will read about how teachers have the power to reform education throughout the United States. They can do this by employing, in their classrooms, with force and vigor, a simple idea contained in a single common word.

Purchase at iUniverse.com  -  amazon.com  -  booksamillion.com  -  barnesandnoble.com  -  borders.com  or order  at Borders, Barnes and Noble, and independent bookstores.

Dr. Renato C. Nicolai  -  "Dr. Nick"    

Web Site:  drnickweb.com     -     E-mail Addresses:  chat@drnickweb.com    or    drnick@surewest.net