Steve Springer - The Creative Teacher: An Encyclopedia of Ideas to Energize Your Curriculum

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D ue to the success and encouragement received from our first book, The Organized Teacher, Steve Springer, Brandy Alexander, and I decided a second book was in order. In this book, The Creative Teacher, we wanted to incorporate all the ideas that could not fit in our first book because there was not enough space. We wanted to develop a one-stop resource for new teachers in need of immediate ideas to get their curriculum up and running, as well as fresh ideas for veteran teachers searching for something different and more interesting than what they have been using for years.

With these goals in mind, writing this book was as simple as referring to the many boxes, files, resource books, websites, workshops, and conferences the three of us have gathered, visited, or attended through the years. More than anything, we wanted to organize a resource to help teachers make their curriculum come to life. The Creative Teacher does just that.

Being teachers, we developed a list of the many areas we wished we had had at our fingertips as soon as we took over our first classrooms. We also discussed key areas that we felt were left out of many curriculums, even by veteran teachers, because there was not enough time or not enough information to do justice to certain curricular areas, such as book reports, math reviews, social studies research reports, simple science experiments, art projects, and essays. We believe that if there is one resource teachers can consult for such ideas, there will be less need for stacks of supplemental materialswhich busy teachers rarely have time to go through.

Creating this book was a wonderful experience, and we hope new and veteran teachers will find it of great use in preparing their curriculum throughout the year. Steve, Brandy, and I had great fun fingering through the many resources we had used over the yearsteacher-made work-sheets, puppets, report guidelines, and workshop tipsas well as the wonderful ideas we had collected from colleagues, professors in our teacher preparation programs, and our current student teachers. We realized throughout this process how many amazing books are available to help new and veteran teachers, but we also realized how important this book would be in combining these ideas and offering a one-stop resource.

We hope you enjoy this book as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Kimberly Persiani-Becker, Ed.D.

T here is no possibility that this book could have been completed without the help of many people and many resources. Besides the continued support of my husband, family members, and friends while I worked on this book during my off time at the university, I also want to recognize the schools and people who never turned me away as I sought ideas and confirmation.

First, I want to thank Mrs. Annette Kessler, principal of Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary in Los Angeles, and Ms. Kathy Crowe, principal of Windsor Hills Math and Science Aerospace Magnet School in Los Angeles, for opening their doors every quarter to my student teachers from California State University, Los Angeles. Being able to visit these two school sites continuously helped many of the ideas in this book come to fruition. Watching my student teachers, listening to master teachers, and observing things happening at the school sites offered me places to ask questions, confirm curriculum, and check facts.

Next, I want to acknowledge my colleague, Dr. Fred Uy at California State University, Los Angeles, for his guidance and support during the writing of a difficult chapter. His wealth of knowledge, hands-on materials, supplemental books, and quick ideas helped me to formulate and decide on the content of that chapter without compromising key elements that otherwise would have been left out.

I also want to make special mention of the many resources available for teachers, which I consulted throughout the writing of this book. Kidsdomain.com , echantedlearning.com , and askforkids.com are only a handful of the very important websites I used to check my facts and also to add to our creative extension activities for many of the chapters. In addition, graphic organizers.com is an exceptional site to visit when looking for organizational writing ideas for your class. Because we altered and truncated much of the information viewed at these websites, we do encourage teachers to visit the websites in Suggested Reading.