I'm a writer/consultant for the Northeast Foundation for Children, home of the Responsive Classroom approach. Responsive Classrom seeks to create safe, challenging, and joyful classrooms. Pursuing that goal, I teach workshops for teachers, consult with schools, and coach teachers in their classrooms. Previously, I taught kindergarten through second grade in Nashville, Tennessee and San Bernardino, California.My newest book, Teasing, Tattling, Defiance and More: Positive Approaches to 10 Common Classroom Behaviors, gives teachers practical strategies for helping children with common classroom challenges. Interactive Modeling: A Powerful Technique for Teaching Children is a how-to guide for using the teaching strategy of Interactive Modeling to make behavior and academic expectations for children clear and doing so in a way that engages and captures their interest.I also wrote three books in Responsive Classroom's Every Teacher series: What Every Kindergarten Teacher Needs to KnowWhat Every First Grade Teacher Needs to KnowWhat Every Second Grade Teacher Needs to KnowEach of these books seeks to give teachers new to or moving to those grades concrete ideas for how to set up their classrooms and plan their years to meet the particular needs of students of these ages.Doing Math in Morning Meeting, written with with co-authors Andy Dousis and Roxann Kriete, is an activity-based book, giving teachers fun and engaging ways to practice math while also building community in their classrooms.I also frequently contribute to the Responsive Classroom blog, www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog, and for the Responsive Classroom newsletter.I live in Riverside, California with my husband Andy, an orange grower, and my son Matthew.