This website contains much useful information in addition to details about the book listed above. The Favorite Lesson Plans tab – mostly for English teachers – contains an extensive description of lesson plans used by the book’s author, and in the Substitute Teaching tab are some valuable suggestions for substitute teachers. Also, in the Author Anecdotes section actual experiences from the author’s career are related.
The websites main feature is The Last Quarter, a book about a fictional middle school and fictional yet typical middle school teachers; about typical students and adolescent behavior; and about the joy of teaching. Written mostly in a lightly satirical and sometimes humorous tone, this book is available for purchase as an e book or a paperback copy on Amazon.com.
The Plot: It is the last nine weeks of the school year, and Ms. Stacie Marston, a first year teacher, is learning some new classroom management strategies and improving her teaching style after a bad beginning. But is it too late? And she has just had a romantic encounter with a male colleague and wonders if this will affect her chances of being rehired for the next school year.
Also included are episodes about others at this middle school: A bus driver maintaining discipline on his bus. A principal who, after nineteen years, would like to remain at his job for a few more. An ambitious assistant principal faced with the awesome responsibility of being chief disciplinarian. Students, some cherished and some difficult. And other helpful and not-so-helpful school associates.
To get a better understanding of the book, read the discussion questions in the next tab.
The Last Quarter is available for purchase as an e book or a paperback copy on Amazon.com.