Of all the things that are essential to high performing schools, nothing is more important than the teacher and what that person knows, believes and can do. A teacher's skill makes a difference in student performance, not only in achievement scores, but also in students sense of fulfillment in school and their feelings of well-being.Twenty chapters capture a blend of research and practitioner-developed approaches for using the research in the classroom. Each chapter lays out a known repertoire of strategies to help teachers fulfill a particular kind of mission from the spiritual imperative of communicating high expectations to the abstract challenge of planning lessons.