Ready to Learn: How to Overcome Social and Behavioral Issues in the Primary Classroom

By Jeanne Shub

Ready to Learn offers teachers a way to help young children, including those with special emotional and behavioral needs, learn to treat classmates with kindness and respect.... - Helen Featherstone, Author of A Difference in the Family I have seen this program in practice, and I am amazed at the outcomes ... I cannot imagine running an elementary school without Interplay. - Mary Wagner Principal, Green Meadow School, East Greenbush, NY Do social and behavioral problems interfere with learning in your classroom? Do you have students who struggle to focus their attention, wait their turn, control their feelings, or monitor their own work? If so, Jeanne Shub and Amy DeWeerd can show you how to help these students become Ready to Learn . Shub and DeWeerd have created a program called Interplay that helps children develop self - control, social skills, and problem - solving strategies. It involves metaphorical adventures built around stories, role playing, and structured tasks. Ready to Learn describes the research - based principles and strategies of Interplay and contains seven units, each focused on a particular learning skill such as attention, problem solving or self - control. With Shub and DeWeerd's techniques you'll both help students become motivated and energized to engage in the work of school, and learn how to develop the academic and social readiness of individual students while building community within the classroom. Whether your classroom includes special - education students, students with learning disabilities and social impairments, or just a few kids who need to refocus their energies, Ready to Learn offers strategies that can transform your classroom and effective ways to address children's social and behavioral needs. Ready to Learn will guide you in creating a cooperative classroom environment in which students take responsibility for their own behavior and respect each other's efforts.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0325008752
• ISBN13: 9780325008752
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.4" x 9.2"
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Immediate Help!!!

The toughest issue that arises in any classroom is behavior which interferes with teaching, learning, and the physical and emotional security of all involved. Just from reading Ready To Learn you will discover strategies which can be implemented immediately to ease difficult situations and begin the path to resolving them long term. As I read the book, each time I started to think I wanted a concrete example of a strategy, there it was in the next paragraph. The joy of the strategies in this book is that they are not labor intensive! You will find yourself trying some out next day-and they work! You can then follow the unit plans to implement metaphorical adventures which target specific social and behavioral skills-and kids love these adventures!!! An excellently written book.

Special Education Teacher

I really enjoyed reading and using this book in the classroom, my students loved it as well. I teach in a self-contained classroom in a school for children with intense behavior and emotional needs. The book provides stories that allow children to better understand how their actions effect those around them. I would strongly recommend this book, it is a creative and effective way to teach social skills in our schools.

School Social Worker

Ready to Learn offers teachers and support staff a wonderful program to help with various everyday classroom behavioral, social and learning issues. It describes how to run the story telling metaphorical projects that students are sure to become involved with- kids likes stories and adventures and to feel capable and successful. This seems to be what this program is all about. I found that while reading this it seemed to me that the authors have put together something that many of us do everyday but we may lack a theme or link to tie things all together. The book provides a format and gives lots of descriptions of how this has played out in the classroom along with trouble shooting to help when one might have things come up or get stuck. Chapter 2 titled: Following a Class Through an Interplay Unit was just great. I could see the entire program conducted from the beginning to the end. The chapter describes how the teacher is able to addresses all sorts of classroom issues (disorganization, distracted students, uncooperative behaviors) through an adventure where the individual students and the classroom as a whole move through a knighthood tale. The students listen to a story, role play the story and then accomplish tasks each week to work toward being `knighted'. Challenges occured along the way- but eventually were worked out to where the students were able to support each other and feel successful. The classroom at the end of the unit was quite different from the one described at the beginning. The end of the unit culminates with a knighting ceremony. While reading the chapter- I felt as if I was a fly on the wall in the classroom- change the names and they were students I knew. It was truly magical to read! I would encourage any teacher or support staff to check this book out. I look forward to sharing it with teachers and support staff I work with in various special education programs.