A Must-Have-Book!

My friend is out with a new book. Read all about it!!!

If They Don’t Learn the Way You Teach, Teach Them the Way They Learn is a must-read book for all elementary teachers. It is written for teachers and by a terrific teacher. If you were fortunate enough to have Mrs. Mc Taggart as a teacher, she would have brought out the best in you as a learner and as a person. As you read the book, which is chockfull of suggestions, encouragement, recommendations, and real life teaching stories, Mrs. Mc Taggart’s gifts as a teacher become rather apparent. And if you couldn’t have her for a teacher, I can see you begging the principal in June to assign your child to her class. Fortunately, she is able to write about her role as dynamic teacher in a way that is informative and entertaining.


Mrs. Mc Taggart is retired from everyday classroom activities after forty-two glorious years in the classroom. She is now an advocate for increasing literacy wherever she goes. Her major goal is to transform reluctant readers into avid readers. She does this by operating an interactive Website; mentoring educators; conducting reading and writing workshops, and speaking at IRA conferences.

Now she has created a book about teaching that offers hands-on activities—from “chair bags” to graphic novels--that will encourage kids to become more active readers. I love Chapter 7, “Just One More Chapter—Please!” When you have kids begging that you read more to them, you know that you are doing something right in the classroom. It reminded me my days as a teacher reading Judy Blume’s TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING to my class. My students always wanted another chapter, and they would be “extra good” if I rewarded them at the end of the day with one more chapter. Of course, this book is on Mrs. Mc Taggart’s reading list (page 115) for you with many other gems.

Mrs. Mc Taggart doesn’t let grass grow under her feet. She keeps abreast with changing tides of educational trends through magazines, newspapers, and most importantly by meeting hundreds of teachers at conferences and in schools who “keep me up to date on new materials, new Websites and new methods.”

So here you have a book that will inspire kids to read and write more as they journey from one grade level to the next. And best of all, Mrs. Mc Taggart will make you laugh aloud along the way with her sense of humor and non-pretentiousness. Mrs. Mc Taggart has retired, but she has not loss her class.