Description

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In Surviving In Schools in the 1990s, James R. Tompkins and Patricia L. Tompkins-McGill realize the importance and potential excellence of public schools. The authors confront the ever-increasing behavioral and emotional problems of students and offer strategic management ideas. Implementing milieu therapy, they discuss techniques which can help create a growth-enriching environment in the classroom: what rules to enforce, adult/child relationships, the power of groups and families and how to talk to students in times of trouble. Milieu therapy, long used with troubled youngsters in residential settings, and Life Space Interview are explored as significantly beneficial approaches in the public school classroom. The book includes reports from the experiences of educators who applied these practices while working with children from preschool age through adolescence in the public schools. The discussion lends to a deeper understanding of a nurturing classroom environment. Contents: The Importance of Public Schools; A Historical Overview of Milieu Therapy; Comparisons of Milieu Therapy Principles with Other Theoretical Approaches; Managing Children's Behavior; Powerful Milieu Ingredients, Basic Components of a Healthy Environment; Other Powerful Environmental Influences in Classrooms; Entry and Grouping in Schools; Milieu Ingredients Outside the Classroom; The Life Space Interview; The Therapeutic Relationship and the Education of Children; The Therapeutic Influence of Structure; Conclusion; Bibliography.

About the Author

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James R. Tompkins is Professor at the College of Education, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Patricia L. Tompkins-McGill is a private consultant and writer in Cedar Hill, TX.