The Book

You can easily gain and maintain control of your classroom once you understand the keys to strong classroom management.

The Cornerstone will help you develop the right (positive) mindset and create a realistic vision for your classroom. You’ll learn specific steps for creating the learning environment you’ve always dreamed of!

Learn how to construct a self-running classroom that frees you to teach!

Why YOU Need This Book!

Do you constantly repeat instructions? Are you fighting a never-ending paper battle? Strong classroom management is the cornerstone of effective teaching, and this book will help lay the foundation for everything you want to accomplish professionally:

* Turn needy, disorganized children into self-reliant, responsible students
* Develop and teach ANY classroom procedure
* Train the class to follow along, stay on-task, and work together
* Use fun teaching techniques that help you assess student learning
* Eliminate homework hassles and parent miscommunications
* Prevent burnout by enjoying and growing with students
* Construct a self-running classroom that frees you to teach

Using actual classroom photographs, forms, and dialogue examples, The Cornerstone will show you how to design instructional routines that facilitate learning. It will guide you through each step of communicating and reinforcing your expectations. Learn how to create a vision for your classroom and TEACH for it!

The Cornerstone Format

Through the book, you’ll learn how a positive teaching philosophy plays out practically in the classroom to create a calm, supportive environment that balances predictable routines with unpredictable teaching strategies and lessons.

The Cornerstone is a comprehensive guide with 500 pages of resources that will help you make this school year the very best possible, whether it’s your first or your thirty-first. The Cornerstone will guide you to reflect on why you teach, what type of students you want to produce, and ways to run your classroom that fit well with your personal teaching style…all within the context of planning for specific procedures and routines. From the first minute you spend with your students in August to the final hectic week in June, this book will show you how to stay focused on what’s really important, maintain your enthusiasm, and utilize all the resources you have available.

The Cornerstone is formatted to:

-include classroom forms and sample versions of reproducibles
-provide space in the margin for notes
-separate detailed information into small, easy-to-digest sections so you can easily skim or skip to the parts you need most
-utilize nearly 200 photographs to illustrate organizational tips, room arrangement ideas, and instructional resources
-expand on website ideas (approximately 70% of the book’s content is NOT available on the website)
-cross-reference with the website, where you’ll find recommended resources and regularly updated supplements

Click here to read more about the inspiration for The Cornerstone, including it’s beginnings online through the provision of free teacher resources, and an explanation of how the book and website can help meet YOUR needs.

NOTE: The Cornerstone is geared toward elementary teachers of grades K-6, but is frequently purchased by both early childhood educators and middle/high school teachers. The book is used by special educators, substitute teachers, and those working in classrooms across every continent. The vast majority of content is adaptable for a wide range of teaching situations. To get a feel for whether the book is relevant for you, check out the Table of Contents. And remember, orders placed through this site have a no-risk money-back guarantee that the book WILL help you create a self-running classroom that frees you to teach.

Ordering Information

You can purchase directly through this site! Ordering here will divert the greatest percentage of profit to the author at no cost to you. You’ll also receive your copy QUICKLY–books are sent Priority Mail within 24 hours of your purchase, so you don’t have to wait for ‘super saver’ or Media Mail shipping.

The Cornerstone can be purchased securely with a credit card or eCheck through PayPal for only $28.99 (six dollars off the list price). Handling and Priority Mail shipment for U.S. residents (2-3 day delivery time) is $5.00. International Priority Mail (6-10 days) is also available (cost to Canada/Mexico is $10.95, all other countries $12.95).

MY NO-RISK GUARANTEE! The Cornerstone will help you create a self-running classroom that frees you to teach. If this book does not meet your needs, please return it with your PayPal transaction number to Angela Powell, P.O. Box 372116, Satellite Beach, FL, 32937, and I will promptly refund your money and Media Mail rate postage, no questions asked. I also welcome your suggestions for improving the next edition.

Download the eBook!

An eBook is the digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book which can be read on your computer. Here are the advantages of purchasing an eBook:

* No wait for shipping: you will receive an immediate email link with download instructions
* View the book’s nearly 200 photographs in full color
* Enjoy the ability to print copies of book pages for your personal use
* Utilize your Adobe Viewer’s search function to quickly find information you need in the text

An eBook download is $14.99 and total printing rights are permanently enabled.

The Cornerstone is temporarily unavailable as an Amazon Kindle book while page settings are being configured. We anticipate completion of the project in September 2010.

Other Purchasing Options

Amazon.com
Click on Amazon through this site, and a portion of the sale supports web hosting for the resources provided on The Cornerstone website (at no additional cost to you!)  It’s a great way to buy the book at the lowest possible price AND support the site. Thank you!

Bookstores
All major booksellers (such as Barnes and Noble) have added The Cornerstone to their inventories. If you prefer to purchase in-store and no copies are in stock, order a copy at the customer service desk and the store will notify you when it arrives.

Free Excerpts

The Cornerstone is an expansion of the ideas presented on my website, and provides a tangible, more comprehensive resource for teachers to keep and reference in the classroom. Take a look at the Table of Contents to see what you’ll learn.

Here’s a sample called “How to Teach ANY Procedure”. In just this single chapter (15 pages!), you’ll learn:

-The importance of ongoing (distributed) procedure practice
-How to form precise expectations and figure out exactly what you want
-What not to do (how to phrase your expectations so kids will successfully meet them)
-Why you should be cautious about misusing the term ‘we’
-How to use a variety of signals to facilitate routines
-The art of replacing nagging and criticism with performance feedback
-The 8 steps for teaching ANY procedure you want kids to follow
-How to play the Procedure Review Game as a FUN reminder for kids
-The key to revising your criteria without confusing kids or seeming incompetent
-What to do when kids don’t meet your expectations (repeat the practice, not the command)
-The power of “Go back and try it again” (and how to get kids to do it without attitude!)
-Ways to accommodate special needs children
-How to avoid a slow descent into laziness and sloppily-done procedures
-Ideas for logical rewards and appropriate incentives that foster intrinsic motivation

Free PDF download of Chapter 9 “How to Teach ANY Procedure!”
(You will need Acrobat Reader 8 or higher for proper viewing.)

You can also search inside the book and read additional excerpts at Amazon.com.

Looking for Free Printables from the Book?

All the forms referenced in the book have been compiled on one web page for easy reference! Instead of making photocopies of the versions in the book, you can simply download the forms you like in Microsoft Word format and quickly make modifications to fit your own preferences. You’ll also find a cross-reference that organizes all the resources on this website by chapter so you don’t have to search around for what you need.  To access the printables, login to the password-protected page here. Your password is the last word in the book (on the Afterword page). This page will be regularly updated throughout the summer of 2010.

Book Details

The Cornerstone: Classroom Management That Makes Teaching More Effective, Efficient, and Enjoyable by Angela Powell. (ISBN# 978-0982312704). Originally published July 2008 with Xulon Press; re-released with Due Season Press in May 2009 (no content changes or revisions). List price US $34.99. 500 pages, 11x8x1. 2.4 pounds. Available in paperback, eBook, and Amazon Kindle editions.

About the Book’s Re-Release

The Cornerstone was originally published in July 2008 with Xulon Press using the ISBN 978-1606473672.  It was re-released under the author’s own publishing company, Due Season Press, with an official publication date of May 1, 2009. No changes or revisions were made to the book’s content: only the publisher’s logo, copyright date, and ISBN have been altered. Additional information about the decision to re-release can be found in this blog post by the author.

About the Publisher

Due Season Press is a small publishing house founded by Angela Watson. For more information, please send an email to info [at] due-season-press [dot] com.

Read the Reviews

See what others are saying about The Cornerstone!

Like the Book?

If you’re a fan of The Cornerstone, help spread the word! Amazon.com is not just a bookseller; it’s a forum for book fans to share their thoughts about whatever they’re reading. If you’ve purchased The Cornerstone from ANY seller, would you please go to Amazon and post an honest critique? Having multiple reviews from real readers helps build future customer’s confidence in the product and provides them with feedback about the book’s helpfulness.

Contact Info

For more information about ordering the book or its contents, please email Angela at Purchases [at] TheCornerstoneForTeachers [dot] com.