Working Hard, Working Happy: Cultivating a Culture of Effort and Joy in the Classroom

In this new book from Routledge and MiddleWeb, author Rita Platt shows how you can create a joyful classroom community in which students are determined to work hard, be resilient, and never give up. She describes how to help build students' purpose, mastery, and autonomy, so they take ownership over their work and develop a growth mindset for success.

Topics covered include:

• Why joy and effort go hand in hand
• How to build a classroom climate of caring and achievement
• Why mastery and goal setting are important
• How to work with differentiated instruction
• How to work with cooperative and collaborative learning
• Why parent-teacher connection is vital
• How to take your practice of joy and effort beyond the classroom
• And much more!

Each chapter includes practical tools, tips, and ideas that you can use immediately to develop these skills in students, so they find more joy and success in the learning process.

Rita Platt (@ritaplatt) is a National Board Certified, award-winning teacher. She is a self-proclaimed #edudork with master's degrees in reading, library, and leadership. Her experience includes teaching learners from preschool through adult in remote Alaskan villages, inner cities, and rural communities. She is currently a school principal, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute and writes for MiddleWeb.