After decades of teaching, Nancy Steineke passionately believes this much to be true: a collaborative classroom environment is essential for student learning, and for teachers’ well -being. In this guide for every teacher, Nancy makes a powerful argument that we can dramatically reduce the stress of classroom management and improve student achievement when we cultivate classroom communities built on student-centered collaboration.

Laying out a plan for collaborative classroom management across a semester or a whole school year, Nancy offers teaching moves and student activities that:

build strong relationships between students and teachers, and between each other
help students develop, invest in, and uphold positive classroom norms
show students the importance and real-life value of soft skills, including what those skills look and sound like in action.

Nancy’s strategies can easily be integrated into your classes as you teach required content. “By threading community-building work through your schedule,” Nancy explains, “you show your students that they matter as individuals, and that social skills are intertwined with academic success.”

If you’re wasting precious class time addressing classroom management issues and want to foster a more meaningful, productive place to learn, give Nancy’s time-tested moves and activities a try. There’s never been a more important time to create collaborative classroom communities where every student is seen, heard, and believed in.