From Publishers Weekly
Part memoir, part inspirational tract and part handbook for beginning teachers, Clark's treatise on how to get children excited about learning lays out some underlying principles of teaching, covering 11 fundamentals: enthusiasm, adventure, creativity, reflection, balance, compassion, confidence, humor, common sense, appreciation and resilience. (This analysis follows Clark's bestselling The Essential 55.) Clark, who was named Disney Teacher of the Year in 2001, shares some of his own blunders and many of his successes while learning to teach, many of which may help new teachers trying to figure out the basics. In a rambling style, Clark relays anecdote after anecdote, as he weaves back and forth from his life as a teacher to his childhood and more advice for teachers, including such details as how to write notes home to parents about field trips. There isn't much depth here, and the book doesn't analyze the nitty-gritty of Clark's own teaching methods or of educational ideas. Indeed, it's more a motivational speech than an educational text, and it isn't hard to imagine Clark speaking these words aloud. However, the book does include some valuable nuggets on how to build children's confidence, help them remember information and teach them to be compassionate, advice that all teachers—but especially inexperienced ones—will find valuable and thought provoking. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile
Enthusiasm, adventure, creativity, reflection, balance, compassion, confidence, humor, common sense, appreciation, and resilience are the basis of this newest guide to teaching by the popular author of THE ESSENTIAL 55. Narrating in his unmistakable North Carolina accent, Clark is a wonderful writer with stories that are a perfect match for his ideas on teaching. Describing but never gloating over his achievements, he challenges listeners, inspires them, and provides an entertaining listening experience in the process. Though some of the techniques and strategies require heroic devotion to the job, he describes them with old-fashioned humility that inspires rather than intimidates. An appealing abridgment of a formidable but inviting lesson. T.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Book Description
The Excellent 11 are the qualities that children and students embody when they are passionate about learning -- and about life. After publishing the New York Times bestseller Essential 55, award-winning teacher Ron Clark took his rules on the road and traveled to schools and districts in 49 states. He met amazing teachers, administrators, students, parents -- all kinds of people involved in bringing up great kids. In the best of these people, he noticed the same qualities that he’d observed in so many of the teachers, children, and parents he’d worked with during his time teaching in North Carolina and Harlem. These are the qualities he describes in The Excellent 11. Ron Clark pinpoints what it takes to make a great student -- and shows that the qualities apply to both educating children and becoming a great teacher or parent. You’ll find out what the characteristics are, why they work, and how you can incorporate them into your classroom, home, and life. As he did with The Essential 55, Ron has filled this book with hundreds of suggestions, stories, and wonderfully funny anecdotes. You’ll be smiling as you read-and finding the inspiration to change lives, one student at a time. The Excellent 11 are: Enthusiasm, Adventure, Creativity, Reflection, Balance, Compassion, Confidence, Humor, Common Sense, Appreciation, Resilience.


Download Description
Ron Clark's THE EXCELLENT 11 contains eleven sections, each with a theme directly related to teaching and raising children. In each section, the author gives advice, tells stories of his experiences, and explains the importance of each theme within the learning environment. The learning environment includes the classroom, but it extends out of the classroom to the larger world as well. Some themes included in the book are:

ADVENTURE - How to travel with children. Top places for field trips in America and teaching parents how to turn the summer vacation into an educational excursion.

INGENUITY - Teaching kids to think for themselves. Common Sense Strategies, showing kids how to use resources within their reach and be successful. Finding grants/scholarships/summer camps for kids.

APPRECIATION - Teaching students what it means to be thankful for the things others do for them and the lives they are fortunate enough to lead.

LOVE - The most important component of education.


About the Author
Ron Clark has been a teacher since 1995. Originally from North Carolina, he has taught in some of the most difficult schools in the country, most recently in Harlem, New York. Since winning the 2001 Disney Teacher of the Year Award, Clark has spoken to teachers, PTAs, and school boards across the country. He lives in Atlanta.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Excellent 11 are the qualities that children and students embody when they are passionate about learning -- and about life.

After publishing the New York Times bestseller Essential 55, award-winning teacher Ron Clark took his rules on the road and traveled to schools and districts in 49 states. He met amazing teachers, administrators, students, parents -- all kinds of people involved in bringing up great kids. In the best of these people, he noticed the same qualities that he￯﾿ﾽd observed in so many of the teachers, children, and parents he￯﾿ﾽd worked with during his time teaching in North Carolina and Harlem. These are the qualities he describes in The Excellent 11. Ron Clark pinpoints what it takes to make a great student -- and shows that the qualities apply to both educating children and becoming a great teacher or parent. You￯﾿ﾽll find out what the characteristics are, why they work, and how you can incorporate them into your classroom, home, and life. As he did with The Essential 55, Ron has filled this book with hundreds of suggestions, stories, and wonderfully funny anecdotes. You￯﾿ﾽll be smiling as you read-and finding the inspiration to change lives, one student at a time.

The Excellent 11 are: Enthusiasm, Adventure, Creativity, Reflection, Balance, Compassion, Confidence, Humor, Common Sense, Appreciation, Resilience.

SYNOPSIS

The Excellent 11 are the qualities that children and students embody when they are passionate about learning -- and about life.

After publishing the New York Times bestseller Essential 55, award-winning teacher Ron Clark took his rules on the road and traveled to schools and districts in 49 states. He met amazing teachers, administrators, students, parents -- all kinds of people involved in bringing up great kids. In the best of these people, he noticed the same qualities that he￯﾿ﾽd observed in so many of the teachers, children, and parents he￯﾿ﾽd worked with during his time teaching in North Carolina and Harlem. These are the qualities he describes in The Excellent 11. Ron Clark pinpoints what it takes to make a great student -- and shows that the qualities apply to both educating children and becoming a great teacher or parent. You￯﾿ﾽll find out what the characteristics are, why they work, and how you can incorporate them into your classroom, home, and life. As he did with The Essential 55, Ron has filled this book with hundreds of suggestions, stories, and wonderfully funny anecdotes. You￯﾿ﾽll be smiling as you read-and finding the inspiration to change lives, one student at a time.

The Excellent 11 are: Enthusiasm, Adventure, Creativity, Reflection, Balance, Compassion, Confidence, Humor, Common Sense, Appreciation, Resilience.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly