Engaging in thinking should not be a novelty

This is a discussion starter. Assign students letters and have them write or tell about what's happening. When students compare their thoughts about the same letter, they learn the concept that more than one interpretation of something is possible. Click on this caption to reach the TeachersPayTeachers where you can purchase this in multiples of five.

In 2013, Dr. JoAnn Jurchan and I collaborated on a book about teaching. Tune Up Your Teaching & Turn On Student Learning is the title of the book and is a link to Amazon. You can also purchase via the Tune Up/Turn On tab at EngageinThinking.com. 

We co-published it through  Morgan James Publishing in October 14, 2014, and set up our consulting business soon thereafter.

Business cards and book cover.
The boat in the logo is an integral part of the storyline that runs through the book.

In retrospect, we shot ourselves in the foot three times--maybe once in one foot of the both of us and another shot through the other foot of each of us regarding the book.

• The title should have been blatant in directing those struggling with Common Core to the explanations and ideas in the book. Our too-subtle "Move from common to transformed teaching..." was too subtle for school districts looking for help with the implementation of Common Core. 
• The cover, while eye-catching, is too "elementary-looking" for secondary teachers. I think we would have done better with something more like this. BTW: This was an option we rejected at the time.
• We should have investigated the amount of promotion Morgan James was committed to before we signed on. "Very little" is an overinflated term for the promotion we received. That's our fault for faulty due diligence. 

This cover is less cluttered. At the time, we thought it might be too abstract. Of course, having the wrong title did not help. Imagine how long your prison sentence might be if you publically offered a book with the title printed above for sale!

Engage in Thinking has quality letterhead, a cool advertising brochure, and the dynamite discussion starter that is the header of this blog.

What we don't have is clients. As in none. Zero. Zilch.

"Where's this headed?" you might be asking.

In November I received an unsolicited offer from SDVoyager to promote the business on their website. "We use a questionnaire to conduct the interview in written form" was emphasized.

I agreed. The process was painless. The interview is now live on their website. 

http://sdvoyager.com/interview/meet-chuck-downing-engage-thinking-online-company-no-physical-office/

I hope you'll follow the link and give the interview a read. The questions covered a range of topics, and there are pictures!

During the first quarter of 2018, we plan on adding training sessions for Home Schoolers and parents fighting their children over homework. Check the site in February.

That's all.
Thank you.

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My website is: www.crdowning.com

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