Michelle Cummings

The quick, comprehensive, and accessible guide that new educators need to make it through the first year and thrive in the profession. The First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide provides valuable strategies, activities, and tools you need to succeed in the classroom. Now in its fifth edition, this book meets the needs of today’s K-12 teachers, updated with the latest tools, techniques, and topics that aren’t addressed in teacher education programs. Inside, you will find practical information on classroom management, professional growth, trauma-informed practices, student engagement, social-emotional learning and more. You’ll also get an essential introduction to teaching and learning in an AI-enabled world, as well as maximizing the use of digital tools, devices, and apps. With downloadable forms, templates, and additional resources available online, this book truly supports you as you enter the challenging and rewarding profession of education. Get ideas for communicating with concerned parents and caregiversLearn tips for maintaining a comfortable work-life balance and prioritizing self-careHelp your students succeed with tech-integration and personalized instructionMaintain a calm, safe classroom with classroom management techniques, apps, and restorative practicesDiscover proven strategies for creating a positive classroom environment and, supportive relationships with students This must-have guide is filled with the information and tips new K-12 teachers need to face classroom challenges with confidence and thrive in the profession.

A naked girl gets swept downstream and is fished out by four women fly fishers. Tales of adventure, as well as stories of renewal, discovery, and tragedy follow the five women as they find each other (and themselves) through the sport of fly fishing. Through the tales of each character, The Reel Sisters fosters the notion that fly fishing has the potential to transcend age, gender, culture, and even socioeconomic barriers, and can occasionally be the glue that binds us. The Reel Sisters is a story about the power of women friendships, and how we learn a little bit about ourselves each time we step into the river. By the end of the book, you'll want to start planning your own Reel Sisters adventures.

Facilitated Growth: Experiential Activities for Recovery and Wellness is designed for those facilitators and professionals who work with people in the process of recovery and wellness. It is filled with useful tools and activities that are sure to liven up your programming. Facilitated Growth: Experiential Activities for Recovery and Wellness by Michelle Cummings, Marc Pimsler, and Diane Sherman offers:A new energy and excitement for your recovery and wellness work.Experiential activities to provide an opportunity to intentionally surface behaviors or scenarios that happen in the real world in a more controlled environment.A process to walk participants through what happened, why it is important, and how it impacts the future as an important part of the recovery process.

A compass can be used in many ways, from telling which way is North to finding hidden treasure or following an unmarked path over wilderness terrain. In any conflict, you have to get your bearings on what happened in order to best determine how to resolve the issue. Conflict is inevitable, and despite how many of us feel about it, conflict is not always a bad thing. The activities in Setting the Conflict Compass: Activities for Conflict Resolution and Prevention will help participants become aware of how they perceive and deal with conflict, while gaining tools and techniques for increasing collaboration, resolving disputes, and ultimately finding win/win resolutions to workplace and classroom conflicts. Having strategies for dealing with conflict are essential to healthy relationships. Setting the Conflict Compass explores these strategies and present a framework for conflict management. This framework can be described as an experiential learning approach for helping individuals understand the influence of contextual factors and perspective in conflict resolution and management.Setting the Conflict Compass: Activities for Conflict Resolution and Prevention examines and discusses: Assumptions about ConflictExperiential Activities for Conflict ResolutionRecognizing Others' Points of ViewMethods to Resolve and Diminish ConflictPerspective AwarenessDiversity Awareness

A simple deck of cards can cover so much ground with any group that you work with. Everything from mixers and get to know you activities, problem solving initiatives, powerful diversity activities and great debriefing activities can all be done with a deck of cards.Playing with a Full Deck: 52 Team Activities Using a Deck of Cards includes card games that engage players in classifying, ordering, reasoning, deducing, and devising strategies to solve a problem. These same skills help in science, math, and other studies. They help us concentrate, focus attention, hone motor skills, and become more sociable.Most of the card activities in Playing with a Full Deck: 52 Team Activities Using a Deck of Cards are geared towards groups of 10 or more, but there are some great ones you can do with small groups as well.Playing with a Full Deck: 52 Team Activities Using a Deck of Cards uses activities based on the theories and work around multiple intelligences and the 7 Kinds of Smart work done by Thomas Armstrong and Howard Gardner. At the bottom of each activity it will note the learning style that is relevant for each activity.

If you need to know "what comes after the teambuilding activity?" this book is for you! Jim Cain, Michelle Cummings and Jennifer Stanchfield have collectively been active in adventure-based and active learning programs for almost a century. From their extensive facilitation background, here are the best of their techniques, methods and activities for engaging participants in active and meaningful processing, debriefing and program reviewing sessions. Processing helps learners make connections between their educational experiences and real life and future learning. It helps learners realize that they can apply the lessons they learn and skills they use in a "contrived environment" such as a classroom or challenge course to real life issues such as resolving a conflict with friends, co-workers or significant others. Processing helps create purpose, meaning and focus of an activity it helps learners take advantage of teachable moments. A Teachable Moment is packed with over 120 activities to help you, the facilitator, help your participants transfer their learning back to everyday life. A Teachable Moment is perfect for new, as well as seasoned, facilitators.