100 or Nothing

Reimagining Success in the Classroom

By: Glen Coleman

Narrated by: Glen Coleman

Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

In March of 2020, when the world was struck by COVID-19, Glen Coleman's high school in New Jersey became one of the thousand schools nationwide that were forced to pivot to online instruction. While so much about this new reality was unknown, Glen was certain of two things:

1. The year ahead would be an epic disruption.
2. He would write a book to help his fellow teachers not just survive but thrive.

The result of his yearlong effort is 100 or Nothing: Reimagining Success in the Classroom. Part memoir, part field guide, and part toolbox for the disheartened, Glen builds upon his extensive experience and exhaustive research during the most consequential year of our lifetime.

As an educator who understood the need to exploit the power of digital technology with the introduction of laptops in the classroom in 2006, Glen reinvented his teaching. He now harnesses failure, teaches from the back of the classroom, puts students at the front of the classroom, and challenges them with “impossible” tests.

With critical thinking as the goal, students workshop their responses to difficult questions in order to connect the classroom to the outside world. Listeners will come to understand the need to think outside the box. When we create a system in which students learn from and support one another “all boats rise”.

Excerpts

I believe to ask is human, to pursue, divine. Great questions have the power to open minds, especially when we stop, listen, and engage in conversation with our students... Yes, I feel the stress of a society whose ties are fraying, but the question “What do you think?” still has the power to awaken young people. If we’ve become robots, perhaps a surviving corpuscle will remind our circuitry of when we were human: teaching meant deepening human bonds with course material, especially with young people. But if you’re hankering to teach has not yet been crushed—may it never!—let this book spark your reinvention.

I try to instill in my students that learning requires not perfection but failure, not depression but a sense of humor. Learning checkmates everyone. Laugh. Try again. Finding the strength to get back up is the lesson.

It’s not about the answer.

It’s not about the grade.

©2021 Glen Coleman (P)2022 Glen Coleman

Refreshing

100 or Nothing was refreshing and informative to listen to. During Covid as an educational instructor, with this book, I realized that all of us as teachers experienced the same situations and hardships. This book not only gave me insights into how to teach online better but will help me perfect my teaching, tests, and grading for the future. Thanks!

Essential reading for all teachers

Dr. Coleman seems to believe he has a sacred calling as a teacher. That's kind of odd to say, but he's right that it shouldn't be. I'm not a teacher, but I wish my teachers could have read this book. If more teachers were to think as hard as he is and try and fail and try again, there could be a golden age in teaching which could lead to a golden age in the greater world. I also would love to hear how his methodology would fare in the hands of other teachers. Great read!