Creating Academic Superstars: Commonsense Solutions to Help K-12 Kids Exceed Expectations
A Survival Guide for Families and Educators
Incorporating childhood brain science into its explanations of the basic elements of learning, Creating Academic Superstars is a practical educational guide.
Noel Schmidt’s comprehensive educator’s guide Creating Academic Superstars is about traversing pedagogical, social, and extracurricular milestones for K–12 children.
Combining research and real-world scenarios, the book addresses several common concerns related to children’s academic success. In particular, it draws from brain-science research to promote learning elements to aid parents and teachers. It asserts that, though every child is unique, “patterns and trends in behavior” exist, and knowledge of them can be used to remedy poor traits and encourage positive changes in a child’s learning. It suggests active adult participation in childhood learning, open communication, and modeling confident behaviors such as taking responsibility for one’s actions, accepting failure as part of the path to success, and recognizing the value of effort and persistence.
The first three chapters are foundational for the rest of the project, showing how parts of the brain correlate with how children learn. For example, when the reticular activating system is activated with exciting sensory input, children are alert and motivated to pay attention. Assertions about hard work being requisite for academic success and about issues with multitasking are made to relate to this neuroscientific information.
The bulk of the book addresses broad learning topics like intelligence and IQ, memorization, the value of feedback, and stimulating quick and effective decision-making. Each topic is well individuated and clarified using precise, relatable examples: If a child struggles with remembering vocabulary, the book suggests word association, visualization, or putting the words into a song, chant, or rhyme. Near the conclusion, a chapter on curricula pulls these topics together in a holistic manner.
Mixing storytelling into its prose, the book proffers candid, pragmatic advice that draws on Schmidt’s forty-year tenure in school systems, including in the roles of English teacher, school psychologist, and superintendent. This expertise results in authoritative learning scenarios and lucid guidance. Whether through discussion of the brain’s limbic system that controls emotions or the role of exercise that releases key neurotransmitters, scientific terminology is supported by relatable examples.
Separate encouragement for creativity and curiosity or the role of storytelling as a teaching tool renders the book actionable. For instance, a number of lists are included of specific tips for parents and teachers to tackle issues related to educating children. Though some concepts repeat, the book’s reinforcement of its central academic principles, like nurturing imaginations and introducing children to novel activities to spur their creativity and empower their dreams, is persuasive.
Creating Academic Superstars is an extensive educator’s guide filled with rational information about directing learning success.
Reviewed by
Katy Keffer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
