Mickey Kolis is the author of Student Relevance Matters, he draws upon his work with public school students, pre-service and professional teachers to talk about some Powerful Ideas that matter in teaching and learning. He would like to thank all the teachers who have shared their powerful ideas about what works in their classroom so that others can benefit from those hard won lessons.Emily Bright Krusack received her BA from Williams College and her MFA from the University of Minnesota. She taught in the English department of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire before becoming a freelance writer.

Kolis and Krusack have written a book for those seeking to make changes to education in the 21st century. The book is divided into 19 chapters that are content rich, easy to understand, and appropriate to multiple audiences. The book begins with a chapter on self-reflection. This chapter sets the stage for the reader to focus on the significance and role of self-reflection in professional development. The authors begin with the importance of beliefs and explore the power of learning, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, appropriate expectations, inquiry, and flexibility. Toward the end of the book they note that parents and the community are included in this process, and this insight reflects the book's theme of interconnectedness. The final chapter brings the reader back to the first chapter in which they list their 19 ideas. The authors indicate that the point of the final chapter is to invite the reader to think in terms of influences on belief rather than causes of beliefs. People act on what they truly believe. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, undergraduate students, and professionals

• AcknowledgementsForewardIntroductionChapter 1 - Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Chapter 2 - Why We Do What We Do (and They Do What They Do)Chapter 3 - The Power of Learning Chapter 4 - Working with Students: a Collaborative ApproachChapter 5 - Practice makes___?Chapter 6 - Teachable Moments and Safety Nets: Frustrations and Failuresas Learning ToolsChapter 7 - Living in a Changing World: The Complimentary Roles of Creativity and Critical ThinkingChapter 8 - How Much to Expect? Setting Appropriate ExpectationsChapter 9 – You Think That’s Funny? Humor as a Teaching ToolChapter 10 - Being ExplicitChapter 11Real and True: Making it Mean Something for StudentsChapter 12 - Where are We Going, and Why Does it Matter? Chapter 13 - Inquiry: The Process that Continues to GiveChapter 14 - Flexible yet focused: Teacher FlexibilityChapter 15 - Dimensions of UnderstandingChapter 16 – It’s Always Perfect: Student Learning DataChapter 17 – Including ParentsChapter 18 - From Classroom to CommunityChapter 19 - It’s All Connected