Teaching Matters Most: A School Leaders Guide to Improving Classroom Instruction

About Alan C. JonesGail A. AronoffThomas M. McCann

Thomas M. McCann is an associate professor of English at Northern Illinois University where he contributes to the teacher certification program. He taught high school for 25 years including seven years working in an alternative high school. He has been a high school English department chair an assistant principal and an assistant superintendent. His published work has appeared in Educational Leadership Research in the Teaching of English the English Journal and the Illinois English Bulletin. His co-authored books include Explorations: Introductory Activities for Literature and Composition 7-12 (National Council of Teachers of English 1987) In Case You Teach English: An Interactive Casebook for Preservice and Prospective Teachers (Merrill/Prentice Hall 2002) Supporting Beginning English Teachers (NCTE 2005) and Talking in Class (NCTE 2006). He edited and contributed a chapter to Reflective Teaching Reflective Learning (Heinemann 2005). He is the co-author of The Dynamics of Writing Instruction (Heinemann 2010). The National Council of Teachers of English awarded him the Richard A. Meade Award for research about the concerns of beginning teachers. He also received the Paul and Kate Farmer Award from NCTE for his writing for the English Journal. Dr. Alan C. Jones is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration for Saint Xavier University Chicago Illinois. His teaching career includes teaching English at DuSable Upper Grade Center in Chicago Illinois and social studies at Thornton Township High School in Harvey Illinois. He began his administrative career as an Activities Director at Thornton Township High School and went on to become an Assistant Principal at Bremen Township High School and served as Principal of Community High School District 94 in West Chicago Illinois for seventeen years. Under his leadership Community High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1993 and was recognized as a 1995 School of Excellence by HISPANIC Magazine. His publications include articles in educational journals on instructional leadership and school reform and two books: Students! Do Not Push Your Teacher Down the Stairs on Friday: A Teachers Notebook (Quadrangle Books 1972) and Becoming A Strong Instructional Leader: Breaking the Cycle of Reform Failure (Teachers College Press 2012). Mrs. Gail Aronoff is an educational consultant who worked for 37 years in several schools both as teacher and administrator. She has worked with students with special needs in elementary middle school and high school and served as a liaison between schools and the families of struggling learners. At the high school level she taught struggling learners for fourteen years and held the position of Assistant Principal for Student Services for twelve years. She served a highly diverse population with many ESL students as well as those from low income families. She has mentored and supervised teachers and administrators creating and implementing model programs to address the needs of reluctant learners and those with special needs. Mrs. Aronoff currently serves as a consultant to schools for school improvement and reform.