their unique levels of success. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that our research and experience indicates that motivated teachers can learn and master these strategies, beliefs, and attitudes (Klei Borrero & Canter, 2018). You can do this! While it does take a commitment and a growth mindset, this book will support you in making a difference in the lives of every student, every day.
How to Use This Book
If you are reading this book, you will likely do so through one of three lenses—(1) new or struggling teachers, (2) midcareer teachers, or (3) mentor teachers and administrators. However, I hope this book has something to offer all educators, no matter where you are in your career.
New or Struggling Teachers
If you are a new or struggling teacher, it is important for you to know you are not alone—we have all been there! All teachers have felt ill-prepared to teach students, struggled to establish a culture of learning, or felt like no matter what they do, students just won’t listen or interact with the material. Teaching is the most important and sometimes the most stressful job if you don’t have the proper strategies, trainings, and mindsets. I encourage you to read this book with intention and planning. No-Nonsense Nurturer strategies allow you to bring your personality into the classroom and how you choose to implement each strategy through the relationships you build with students. There is no reason you should have to figure it out on your own. This is the playbook of how highly successful educators set the tone for success in their high-performing classrooms.
Midcareer Teachers
Midcareer teachers will likely view this book as a reboot or boost to their current teaching practice. If you are a midcareer teacher who is finding success in your classroom, consider these strategies as affirmation of your practice. Other strategies might be new to you. Take them on! They will support you on your journey as a No-Nonsense Nurturer.
Mentor Teachers and Administrators
As a mentor teacher or administrator, you have an important responsibility to support and coach teachers in your school. Being a successful classroom teacher is an accomplishment; however, finding the language to explain success and coach it effectively is a completely different skill set.
As you read this book, you will find that you already implement some (if not most) of these strategies in your classroom or observe high-performing teachers implementing them in theirs. This book will help you identify and build the language of successful teaching practices you can use to support and coach your teachers to become No-Nonsense Nurturers.
About This Book
This book is divided into two parts. Part 1 investigates the relationship-building paradigms of ineffective and effective educators. This helps set the stage for part 2, which explores the strategies and philosophies of high-performing educators—No-Nonsense Nurturers.
In part 1, chapters 1 and 2 review the relationship-building paradigms many teachers have with their students and how these relationships distract or support classroom management and culture. In part 2, chapters 3 through 6 present the strategies of No-Nonsense Nurturers and the importance relationships play in creating a culture of excellence in highly effective classrooms.
In addition, the end of each chapter provides reproducible reflection activities to support your learning. The reflection activities offer you the opportunity to reflect on your current and future practices and philosophies as No-Nonsense Nurturers. You may complete these reflection activities individually or in collaborative teams. Videos in chapters 3 through 6 offer real-life examples of how teachers use the No-Nonsense Nurturer four-step model in their classrooms.
An Important Note to Readers
I am an urban educator, and I completed the initial research for this book in historically marginalized and traditionally disenfranchised communities (Klei Borrero & Canter, 2018). The original No-Nonsense Nurturers I studied are also urban educators dedicated to combatting the deficit-based narratives about working-class communities of color and their academic achievement in the United States. However, after years of implementing this work in traditionally disenfranchised communities, it is clear that the work of No-Nonsense Nurturers is effective and beneficial for all students and teachers. An equitable education system gives all students opportunities to build meaningful relationships with their teachers. It is my hope that this work will support teachers and students in all communities, beyond the urban and rural settings we originally studied. Thank you for trusting me on your journey to become the educator you are meant to be.
Reflection Activities
The reflection activities on pages 13–16 are designed to help you reflect on your current professional practice and support your journey to becoming a No-Nonsense Nurturer. You may choose to complete them individually or in teams.
Preassess Your Relationship With Students
The following questions will help you preassess your current relationship-building paradigms. Read each sentence stem, silently reflect for ten to fifteen seconds, and finish it as honestly as you can. Consider coming back to these sentence stems at the end of chapter 2 after reviewing the relationship-building paradigms—unintended enablers, negative controllers, and No-Nonsense Nurturers.
Track Your Progress Toward Becoming a No-Nonsense Nurturer
One of the ways you’ll track your progress to becoming a No-Nonsense Nurturer is to periodically answer the questions and plot your answers on the following continuums. You will return to these continuums after reading chapters 2 and 6.
Place an X on each continuum in the following chart to show where you are today. Use a different-color pen each time you come back to this activity and record the date. Note the evidence (for example, classroom actions, how you think about your relationships with students, and so on) for why you answered the questions the way you did. If you struggle to provide evidence, it is likely you are weaker in this area. Decide on a way to track your progress to ensure your move along the continuum.
Next, place a star at the spot on each continuum to represent where you would like to be by the end of this book—a reasonable and achievable goal.
