Create Captivating Classes

Why NCLB Should Mean No Child Left Bored

J. Christopher Bontjes

It’s a challenge every teacher faces… finding ways to get and keep the attention of their students; getting them to engage fully in the lessons. In today’s world of constant connection to media and entertainment through television and the Internet, it is harder than ever. Add to that the pressures of NCLB, Common Core State Standards, and the Danielson evaluation model putting full responsibility for student learning and growth on the teacher and we have reached a crisis.

How can teachers compete with this constant stream of personalized entertainment? They must learn to think and teach as entertainers!

This is not as revolutionary a concept as it may sound. The word “entertain” is defined as “to pleasantly hold attention.” So teachers already “entertain” their students. So no problem, right?

Wrong.

Teachers are now competing for the attention of their students. And the competition is fierce. They are up against professional entertainers who have spent years studying the art of entertainment without having to worry about teaching as well.

Teachers are trained in their subjects, but not in the methods and techniques used by entertainment professionals. Teachers must learn to plan and to think as the professional entertainers do. Only then can they effectively compete. Only then can they Create Captivating Classes!

Christopher Bontjes has more than 40 years of experience in designing shows and entertaining audiences of all ages from the stage. He also has more than 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher. Because his teaching specialty is music, he has had the opportunity to teach students ranging in age from Kindergarten through adult.

In Create Captivating Classes: Why NCLB Should Mean No Child Left Bored, Bontjes shares the techniques used by entertainment professionals to keep audiences glued to their seats and begging for more. He then applies each technique to the classroom, showing teachers, step-by-step, how to use each idea in the classroom to keep students riveted to lessons and anxious to learn more.

These ideas and techniques are effective with all students. They work regardless of age or socio-economic background. They work not because of who students are, but because of what students are – HUMAN!

Every teacher has students they struggle to reach. Create Captivating Classes will add a myriad of new ideas to your educational “bag of tricks.”

Order your copy today and learn to Create Captivating Classes!

R&L Education

Pages: 162 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-61048-970-6 • Hardback • October 2013 • $66.00 • (£51.00)

978-1-61048-971-3 • Paperback • October 2013 • $35.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-61048-972-0 • eBook • October 2013 • $33.00 • (£25.00)

Subjects: Education / Administration / Elementary & Secondary, Education / Testing & Measurement

Create Captivating Classes

Why NCLB Should Mean No Child Left Bored

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

It’s a challenge every teacher faces… finding ways to get and keep the attention of their students; getting them to engage fully in the lessons. In today’s world of constant connection to media and entertainment through television and the Internet, it is harder than ever. Add to that the pressures of NCLB, Common Core State Standards, and the Danielson evaluation model putting full responsibility for student learning and growth on the teacher and we have reached a crisis.

How can teachers compete with this constant stream of personalized entertainment? They must learn to think and teach as entertainers!

This is not as revolutionary a concept as it may sound. The word “entertain” is defined as “to pleasantly hold attention.” So teachers already “entertain” their students. So no problem, right?

Wrong.

Teachers are now competing for the attention of their students. And the competition is fierce. They are up against professional entertainers who have spent years studying the art of entertainment without having to worry about teaching as well.

Teachers are trained in their subjects, but not in the methods and techniques used by entertainment professionals. Teachers must learn to plan and to think as the professional entertainers do. Only then can they effectively compete. Only then can they Create Captivating Classes!

Christopher Bontjes has more than 40 years of experience in designing shows and entertaining audiences of all ages from the stage. He also has more than 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher. Because his teaching specialty is music, he has had the opportunity to teach students ranging in age from Kindergarten through adult.

In Create Captivating Classes: Why NCLB Should Mean No Child Left Bored, Bontjes shares the techniques used by entertainment professionals to keep audiences glued to their seats and begging for more. He then applies each technique to the classroom, showing teachers, step-by-step, how to use each idea in the classroom to keep students riveted to lessons and anxious to learn more.

These ideas and techniques are effective with all students. They work regardless of age or socio-economic background. They work not because of who students are, but because of what students are – HUMAN!

Every teacher has students they struggle to reach. Create Captivating Classes will add a myriad of new ideas to your educational “bag of tricks.”

Order your copy today and learn to Create Captivating Classes!

Details

R&L Education

Pages: 162 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-61048-970-6 • Hardback • October 2013 • $66.00 • (£51.00)

978-1-61048-971-3 • Paperback • October 2013 • $35.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-61048-972-0 • eBook • October 2013 • $33.00 • (£25.00)

Subjects: Education / Administration / Elementary & Secondary, Education / Testing & Measurement

Author

J. Christopher Bontjes is a teacher with more than 20 years of classroom experience in public schools working with students ranging in age from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Bontjes is also a magician with more than 40 years of experience entertaining audiences of all ages and all sizes. His extensive experience has allowed him to merge the techniques of both professions to Create Captivating Classes.

Table of Contents

Prologue
Introduction
Preface
Who is This Guy?
The Big Idea
Part I – Entertaining
Chapter 1
Attention, Please!
Your Competition
Work vs. Fun?
Entertaining Lessons – Time Wasters or Time Savers?
Chapter 2
Anatomy of Character
Creating Your Character
Mirror, Mirror
Priority One
Chapter 3
The Power of Laughter
Learning to be Funny
Funny is as Funny Does
Targets for Humor
The Best Source of Humor
Call-Backs/Running Gags
Sight Gags
Ad-Libbing – Making it up as you go?
Ad-Libs and Music
Chapter 4
Hecklers
Pacing
Brain Overload
Chapter 5
Creating Interest
But Isn’t That…LYING?
Chapter 6
Does This Ring a “Bell?”
Bell Curves and Hecklers
Part II – Putting a Show Together
Chapter 7
Routine (Lesson) Design
Start at the End
Chapter 8
The Hook
Chapter 9
Getting There is Half the Fun
Chapter 10
Following the Yellow Brick Road
Chapter 11
If the Shoe Fits…Teach It
Putting Together a Full Show
How Routine Development Relates to Lesson Plans
Chapter 12
Getting Your Feet Wet
Part III – Selling It
Chapter 13
How Much is that Lesson in the Window?
Chapter 14
Your Rapport Card
Chapter 15
Highly Effective Habits
More Information on Sales Techniques
Part IV – Marketing
Chapter 16
Becoming the Pied Piper
R & D
Chapter 17
Weapons of Mass Instruction
Authority
Scarcity
Commitment/Consistency
Reciprocation
Liking
Humor
Chapter 18
Liking, Association, and Dog Training
More Information
Part V – Loose Ends
Chapter 19
Tying Up Loose Ends
5 & 45
Chapter 20
The (Rail)Roads of Change
Chapter 21
GIGO
The Next Step…
A Final Thought…

Reviews

Overall, a great read: memorable, funny, and useful at the same time.
— ELT Journal

Keeping students engaged with instruction is no easy task in modern classrooms. Create Captivating Classes gives educators tools to encompass background knowledge as well as strategies for teachers of any age student. Even if the NCLB law is not renewed, these ideas will stand the test of time!
— Eva Cornwell, Title I coordinator, Georgetown-Ridge Farm School District, Illinois

Perfect for new and veteran teachers! This book is loaded with creative ideas to capture and maintain student interests. Veteran teacher and entertaining magician shares his best tricks! Read this and see what you can pull out of your hat! Your students will love you for it!
— Lisa Witsman, Teacher, Westville School District, Illinois

Public education is in a state of crises in this country, in part because too many classrooms are deadly dull. From his background as an educator and a magician, Christopher Bontjes understands that children learn best when the teacher is able to draw them into the subject matter and that fun and substance are not mutually exclusive. The ideas in Create Captivating Classes can lift both the spirits and the achievement of students and teachers alike.
— Dr. David R. Goodsell, retired associate professor of education at Valdosta State University, Georgia

What do educators and entertainers have in common? Both need an engaged audience in order to be effective. The principles in Create Captivating Classes can be used by educators, youth workers, pastors, coaches, or anyone who works with an audience of any size or age range.
— Joanna Coombs, jr. high/high school supervisor, Danville Christian Academy

This book is a superb springboard for a teacher's imagination! Clear, concise, engaging -- and inspiring! This is a how-to book that's a real page-turner; I had to keep reading because I wanted to know what else I could learn. Every teacher can benefit from some part of this book. J. Christopher Bontjes takes a creative approach to everything from lesson planning and presentation to classroom management -- and makes it feel like fun. Read this book. Use it. Be a better teacher!
— Laura Logan, upper elementary head teacher, Woodside Montessori Academy, Massachusetts

Create Captivating Classes should become a required read for teachers new to the profession and those who have been in the field for many years. Christopher has reminded us that if we expect to keep the attention of our students, we need to pay attention to the way we keep their interest. A little humor never hurts! We all have the opportunity to be the “entertainer in our classroom” and in turn help the students become more engaged. I had the opportunity to attend a workshop that Christopher held earlier this year. If you ever have this opportunity, take it! It is well worth your time, and you will leave with some great ideas and a smile. Do yourself a favor: add this book to your “must read list.” The ideas presented in this book will help you re-energize your classroom and refocus your students.
— Kimberly A. Hawthorne, professor, Business, Hospitality, and Information Systems Department, Illinois Central College

Create Captivating Classes

Why NCLB Should Mean No Child Left Bored

J. Christopher Bontjes

Create Captivating Classes

Why NCLB Should Mean No Child Left Bored

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