Reach Before You Teach

Facilitating students’ unique paths towards identity development is the key to teaching young teens.

Students face pressures that undermine the development of a solid sense of self, jeopardizing success in school and in life: Family issues, economic concerns, media influences, social pressures, physical changes, and more influence how students feel about themselves.
When these go unnoticed, even the best teaching methods fall short. Reach Before You Teach shows educators how to form the nurturing, individualized connections that make students feel worthy, fulfilled, and ready to flourish as learners. 

The book details:

• Practical, empowering information about how a sense of self comes to be, and what threatens it.
• Interventions that soften the myriad defenses students develop to protect themselves.
• How to address the often-overlooked connections between physical, social, and emotional health and classroom performance.

Packed with real-life examples and results-delivering exercises, Reach Before You Teach supplies educators with the all-important skills to connect with students so academic and life success feels more attainable.

"In our present education system that seems to be caught up with numbers and standardization, this book is a welcomed read. Education will never improve if we don’t make the social-emotional skills of children our first priority."
—Peter DeWitt, Principal
Poestenkill Elementary School, NY

"This book is a must-read for all who want to encourage self-awareness and self-reflection during classroom instruction and help students feel more connected, curious, and confident! Students no doubt will achieve emotionally and academically with help from the strategies in this book."
—Dr. Ann Marie Dargon, Assistant Superintendent of Schools
Westport Community Schools, MA

Paula Prentis was a conflict resolution counselor and a rape crisis counselor in New York City before earning her master′s degree in social work (MSW) at New York University. Later, she continued training at Westchester Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy and worked in private practice. Prentis is certified in past life regression therapy and continues her professional interests through workshops, lectures, and conferences in neuroscience and the mind/body connection. In addition, with Chris Parrott, Prentis is the coauthor of the Your Self Series of books and website. Your Self Series is a curriculum that facilitates teen identity development and is taught as part of an advisory class, a health class, or an after-school program. Prentis and Parrott lecture nationwide on issues pertaining to teens and mental health in schools. They continually update and populate the Your Self Series website with relevant teen information and lesson plans for educators. They have three other products that all aim to influence children to be the best they can be while combating obesity and improving overall health and well-being: YourChatMat.com; YourStacs; and HealthyStacs. Chris Parrott earned her bachelor′s degree with a psychology major at Dartmouth and went on to study counseling psychology at the City University in London, England, where she earned both her master′s and postmaster′s degrees, and the distinguished title of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Counseling Psychologist. She also has a diploma in hypnosis from London University. Parrott has published various articles in Counseling Review Quarterly and chapters in psychology training books, and she has coauthored a book titled Doing Therapy Briefly. Parrott was also a media consultant on behalf of the BPS and has been quoted in The Times, The Look, and The Daily Express. Amy Smith was a high school English teacher for over 15 years in the states of Texas, California, and New Jersey, which gave her a diverse experience within the educational sector and a broad spectrum of teacher contacts. Working as an English teacher and, later, as a media specialist for another 15 years, Smith′s primary focus was always on the individual spirit of each student who passed through her doors--or walked onto her court: She acted as a tennis coach for several years alongside her teaching. Indeed, her passion for her students led her to numerous conventions and professional development seminars over the years where she expanded both her knowledge and contacts. Now retired, Smith enjoys time with her partner, two daughters, and grandson while continuing to look for opportunities to positively affect teen education.