Frank Thoms

Frank Thoms went to the Soviet Union as a teacher during the Gorbachev era. He sought to find common ground, to connect with Russians, not to judge but to learn, not to bring America to them, but to be an American with them. In his multiple trips, Frank was invited to teach English in four schools in Leningrad, Moscow, and Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. In 1994, three years after the fall of Communism, Frank led a seminar for teachers in Yekaterinburg preparing to come to the US.

He gained the trust and confidence of the Russians he befriended—and discovered much about himself. He formed deep friendships where they and he bared their souls to one another. His ventures in the last days of the Soviet Union were only one of seminal experiences that he had in his fifty years teaching in the US and one year in England.    

Thoms offers readers a robust model for instructional improvement, an inspiritional set of insights, and a pragmatic toolkit of strategies to sharpen pedadgogy and engage learners.  

He sees the teaching process as a joint venture between teacher and student, where the teacher brings learning to the student and, at the same time, brings the student to the learning. This process demands at least as much listening as talking, a new habit that teachers and principals need to learn.

Listening is Learning: Conversations between 20th and 21st Century Teachers is unique. It is an autobiography of Frank Thoms's fifty-year teaching career written in the third person. He invokes veteran teachers (composites of him) to have conversations with young teachers. His thesis is that the classroom may be the last vestige of hope in society where children can discover the joy of being together without intermediary devices.

Veteran teachers, recognizing the challenges of 21st Century children, offer engaging ideas for revitalizing the face-to-face classroom. A place to learn the value of body language and tone. A place where gestures, animation, eye contact, and voice make for deeper understanding of one another. Human society began with people sitting around campfires having conversations. In his appealing book, Thoms advicates to continue that tradition.
 

Teaching from the Middle of the Room is written through the eyes of Dan Hilliard. It traces his journey from standup delivery in front talking at students to choosing to engage them, metphorically, from the middle of the room.

In twenty-seven stimulating chapters, readers learn of the myriad of methods that provide stimulating invitations for students to want to learn. It was written before the impact of digital devices in students' lives. Nevertheless it offers ways to bring students into face-to-face learning necessary to counteract the isolation of the digital culture.

"Frank Thoms is a passionate teacher, and his powerful book is all about "stance"––how a teacher places him or herself physically, emotionally, intellectually, and organizationally––with respect to students, knowledge, and learning. Every teacher, from a first-timer to an old hand, will learn much that is practical, and even more that is inspirational, from reading this book."

Steve Jobs said, "The minute you understand that you can poke life and …something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it." Thoms invites teachers to do just that. Take their classrooms and poke the lives of their students and invite them to seize each day in earnest. 

By meeting innovative practitioners who engage students, this intriguing book will help readers shift from traditional classroom practices into exciting alternatives. 

"Teaching That Matters is a delightful concoction of philosophical and psychological reflections and provocations on the art of teaching. Creative teachers will find Frank Thoms's book highly engaging and his practical teaching recommendations enormously useful."