Here’s my promise: When you choose me, you’re not just hiring a trainer; you’re getting a partner committed to your success. For more than 30 years, I’ve measured my success by watching people use what I’ve shared with them. Nothing tops seeing someone pursue a task, a goal, a job, or a career with more energy, confidence, expertise or commitment than he or she had before.

During those 30+ years, I think I’ve pursued every avenue available for teaching and learning. I’ve served as teacher, trainer, prize-winning journalist, bestselling author, conference breakout presenter, keynote speaker, Web-site blogger and talk show guest.

Each avenue has its value and rewards, but ultimately the greatest joy is in face-to-face training. The group energy, the questions asked, the stories exchanged, and the laughs shared all work together to create their own kind of magic.

That doesn’t mean I’m a frustrated entertainer looking to put on a song and dance show. As a teacher, you deserve research-based, proven, practical strategies and tactics that you can start using immediately – without giving up anything that’s working in your classroom. These strategies and tactics all directly respond to what I believe are core truths that today’s teachers face:

• The biggest unchallenged assumption is that students are coming to school ready and willing to learn. As educators, we know that’s not true. Instead, a whole generation of students are going to school basically un-socialized. Whatever they know about how to interact with others they’ve learned from TV shows, video games, and social media.
• Students come into our classrooms and schools with different backgrounds and cultures. In Anaheim, California, where I live, for example, high school students speak one of 54 languages at home. Their cognitive abilities, assets and experiences are just as wide ranging.  Sometimes, the only thing students have in common is their age. The one-size-fits-all approach no longer works.
• The research is clear: When students know you value them as a human being – and don’t just see them as another student – they will work harder for you and challenge you less. And yet teachers are so busy serving as teacher, parent, nurse, counselor, advisor, judge, jury, lawyer and security guard (just for starters) that it’s tough to forge connections to kids.

My commitment is to leave you with as many proven, practical strategies as possible to meet those challenges – and others. Together, let’s create classrooms in which learning thrives and you love to teach.