Hanging In Book Review

Schools are full of unique students with different backgrounds. Teachers are constantly encountering different temperaments, personalities, and lifestyles. Hanging In: Strategies for Teaching the Students Who Challenge Us Most demonstrates to educators and administrators different ways to handle students who are just not easy to discipline because of personal reasons. Jeffrey Benson gives detailed stories of real life students who were truly challenging to the teachers, administrators, and other students. This book has lists of strategies and ways to develop individualized plans that help challenging students. The examples are also provided with stories that put the plans in action. Jeffrey Benson has recommendations at the end of every
chapter on ways to acquire skills and support and not to let these challenges negatively impact the teaching environment. The main purpose of this book to give guidance to educators on ways to help troubled students cope with authority and being in a learning environment. He wants to change how we view the “bad” students in our class. Educators do not know what a student has to deal with on the regular basis. The way an educator handles an outburst could be detrimental or helpful to a student’s emotional health. Jeffrey Benson is very experienced in the educational field 35 years.
He has been an elementary, middle, and high school teacher. He was an instructor in graduate and undergraduate programs. Also, he was in administrator in day and residential schools. According to his website, he has studied and worked with national leaders in special education, learning theory, trauma and addiction, school reform, adult development, and conflict resolution. He has been a consultant to public and private schools, mentored teachers and principals in varied school settings, and has written on many school-based issues. Jeffrey Benson’s main focus is on understanding how people learn. He has also written many books, curricula, articles, short stories, and even a haiku. Hanging In: Strategies for Teaching the Students Who Challenge Us Most has and also has not made impact or achieved the goals Jeffery Benson planned for it to do. Educational programs teach the concepts that are written in his book. However, many teacher do not practice his recommendations or follow his strategies. Students are still being singled out for actions they can’t control. I believe this book is extremely useful for all teachers: veterans and new. The behavior we see as “bad” or “rude” are just cries out for help from the students. Educators need to made aware of when and how to handle the
problem. I enjoyed reading each chapter because he wrote about almost every student a teacher could encounter in a classroom. The chapters are detailed stories on ways to handle the student and has lists of recommendations for teacher, administrators, and team members. I recommend that students who are in a teacher program to read this book. It will open their eyes to what the real problem with troubled students. Overall the book is 5/5.