A collection of quotes and other stuff

In my never-ending quest to make a few extra dollars by increasing my educational level (the joy of any job), I am taking a class this summer.  I think I am over 50% finished with it--I'm waiting for my professor to return my email with the answers to some questions about one of the final projects.  While I'm waiting I thought I'd share the book I read with (all three?) of you out there who read my blog :)
I read Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith.  I may have read it a few years ago, I know I read one of his other books, There Are No Shortcuts, which I read with the hope that although the title said "no shortcuts"...that maybe it was a trick and book really did include shortcuts to make teaching easier!  Rafe is a clever writer, his books are full of stories and examples of things he thinks he has done well and things he knows he messed up and learned from.  For years, he taught in a very impacted LA school district as a fifth-grade teacher.  Some of you may know him as "the guy who travels with his fifth graders and presents Shakespeare".  A couple of years ago he lost his job--his version of the story is that he has always been very outspoken about what is best for kids and the district didn't like this.  The school's version was that he had inappropriate relationships with his students. It doesn't look like criminal charges were ever filed, but Esquith sued the district for wrongful firing and so forth and so on...you can google it.  What I want to share here (partially so I remember) are some quotes and thoughts about the book--possibly random, but at least I'm writing something, right?  I'm not going to provide too much context here--I figure those of you who have read this far and are intrigued can go get the book and read it for yourselves...Really these are just my notes so I can find them later :)
I'm working from the paperback version (Penguin Books, 2007)

Page xii
"I thought to myself that if I could care so much about teaching that I didn't even realize my hair was burning, I was moving in the right direction."
Page 4
"...many teachers are so desperate to keep their classrooms in order that they will do anything to maintain it."
"We can do better."
Page 6
"When teaching or parenting, you must always try to see things from the child's point of view and never use fear as a shortcut for education."
"Replace fear with trust"
Page 7
"Yet we should never become frustrated when a student doesn't understand something.  Our positive and patient response to questions builds an immediate and lasting trust that transcends fear"
Page 8
"Discipline must be logical"
Pages 14-26
"Lawrence Kohlberg's Six Levels of Moral Development (applied to the classroom)
Page 20
"many of our greatest heroes became heroes by not following the rules."
Page 21 (but really from Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird)
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view"
Page 24
"We ask a lot of our kids and do the best we can.  We need to raise the bar for children precisely because so many kids are behaving so badly.  We cannot allow incorrigible behavior to make us lower our standards."
Page 174
"Handling money, relationships, loneliness, difficult people, and disappointment can all be factors that defeat kids who are on their own for the first time."
Page 224
"It's a thankless job. It's hard to find a reason to believe."
Page 225
"So  you continue to look for a reason to believe, and your search brings you to your students."
Page 227
"As usual, it is a student who proves to be my best teacher.  There is a reason to believe."

Lesson plan (and other) ideas:
Page 22
"I have a Personal Code of Behavior and I Follow It"--great idea...how do we get there personally?  How do we get our kids there?  Our students? (There are no shortcuts...)
Page 39
Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate...explain material, pay attention to reading levels and student needs (duh)
Page 40
Content Area, or just for fun, Book Club...Supplements curriculum, outside of school day...when, how, what?
Page 47
If you have a good textbook don't give it up when the school or district does something new that doesn't look as promising (and the flip side...try the something new...but hide the books just in case)
Page 49
Grammar exercises--can this be used in history?  How...things to think about.
Page 52
Type up essays "as is"-- work individually or in groups to make essays better
Page 78
How to study--ideas to use
Page 82
How to practice and correct practice tests (explain your answer, why it is right/wrong and why chosen)
Page 87
Geography games/competitions--lots of ideas here
Page 94
Fun idea for Government class--maybe for extra credit? Make a bulletin board, could use other quotes for other classes
Page 147
How to solve a problem--written for math, but can it be re-written for other subjects?  (Yes)
Pages 162 and 167
A way to expand existing US History extra credit film project--creating a film library for students to borrow from (or has Netflix made this obsolete?)