Teaching Actively: Eight Steps and 32 Strategies to Spark Learning in Any Classroom

It’s not what you tell your students that counts but rather what they take away from the classroom! Teaching Actively is the long-awaited follow-up to Mel Silberman’s best-selling book Active Learning:101 Strategies to Teach Any Subject.  Where Active Learning is the ultimate book of “recipes” for improving classroom teaching, Teaching Actively shows teachers how to become exceptional chefs. Teaching Actively is a comprehensive plan teachers can follow rather than a collection of ideas from which to pick and chose.  The book outlines an eight-step plan for any teacher who has students with basic skills in “reading, writing, and arithmetic” and the ability to collaborate with fellow classmates. It is applicable for all grades and focuses and contains practical, ready-to-use ideas for improving a student’s involvement in his or her education. The book demonstrates how to facilitate games, practice exercises, role-plays, and other experiential activities to enhance the learning. From engaging students to presenting ideas, Teaching Actively is an approach to teaching that any teacher can utilize to improve the learning in his or her classroom. Silberman offers practical suggestions on involving students in their own learning and addresses specific ways to encourage peer-learning and incorporate technology into the lesson.

Table of Contents:
Preface. About the Author.   Acknowledgments.   STEP ONE: ENGAGE YOUR STUDENTS FROM THE START.                   Strategy #1: Weave Course Content into Your Icebreakers.   Strategy #2: Create Icebreakers That Focus Solely on Immediate Learning Environment.                          Strategy #3: Give Students Something to Do before Each Class Session Formally Starts.   Strategy #4: Enlarge the Pool of Participation at the Very Beginning.    STEP TWO: BE A BRAIN-FRIENDLY TEACHER.               Strategy #5: Build Brain Interest in What Is Being Taught.               Strategy #6: Help Your Students’ Brains to “Get It.”               Strategy #7: Involve Students Often in the Middle of Your Lesson.               Strategy #8: Help Students “Save” the Lesson in Their Brains.    STEP THREE: ENCOURAGE LIVELY AND FOCUSED DISCUSSION.               Strategy #9: Engage Students before Plunging into the Discussion.               Strategy #10: State Effective Questions for Discussion.               Strategy #11: Improve the Quality of Discussion through Student Preparation.               Strategy #12: Match the Discussion Format To the Situation.               Strategy #13: Facilitate the Flow of Conversation.    STEP FOUR: URGE STUDENTS TO ASK QUESTIONS.               Strategy #14: Help Students Get Started.               Strategy #15: Create the Need for Questions.               Strategy #16: Let Students Know You Expect Questions.    STEP FIVE:  LET YOUR STUDENTS LEARN FROM EACH OTHER.               Strategy #17: Choose How You Compose Learning Teams.               Strategy #18: Build Learning Teams before Giving Students Work.               Strategy #19: Gradually Immerse Students into Team Learning.               Strategy #20: Use a Variety of Team Learning Activities.                         Strategy #21: Invite Students to Teach Each Other.    STEP SIX: ENHANCE LEARNING BY EXPERIENCING AND DOING.               Strategy #22: Create Experiences That Simulate or Match Reality.               Strategy #23: Ask Students to Reflect on the Experience.               Strategy #24: Avoid “Monkey See, Monkey Do.”               Strategy #25: Use Role-Play to Develop Verbal Skills.    STEP SEVEN: BLEND IN TECHNOLOGY WISELY.               Strategy #26: Encourage Active Exploration.               Strategy #27: Use Technology To Supplement Classroom Instruction.                 Strategy #28: Promote Collaboration through Technology.   STEP EIGHT: MAKE THE END UNFORGETTABLE.               Strategy #29: Review What’s Been Learned in a Variety of Ways.               Strategy #30: Ask Students to Evaluate Their Accomplishments.               Strategy #31: Have Students Plan for the Future.               Strategy #32: Let Students Celebrate the End.   FINAL ADVICE.