Strategies for Teaching Differently: On the Block or Not

"Using the strategies in this book will guarantee the academic success of all your students." Faye Gode, Social Studies Teacher and Chairperson Winnsboro High School, Texas "A must-read book — prepares students for the next millennium." Betty C. Donaldson, Associate Superintendent Allen ISD, Texas How can you fill the expanded blocks of time when your school goes to alternative schedule? What do you need to change about how you teach — and what will still work? Evidence shows that lecturing for a full class period or using worksheets as a time filler just won′t do it. Here is the help you need to create a meaningful classroom environment that stimulates, rather than discourages, active learning and participation. Teach your students how to accumulate real knowledge, develop principles, and build skills — not just memorize facts. This practical, step-by-step teaching approach is based on the latest research on learning and multiple intelligences. Ensure that what you teach isn′t going in one ear and out the other, but is committed to students′ long-term memory. Change to interactive thinking activities — and increase your students′ success. Here are the keys to transforming your classroom from teacher focused to student focused. Change your mission from students getting the lesson to students learning how to learn. Move your emphasis from filling the time to showing students how to construct knowledge. Find out how to Use students′ multiple intelligences to help them learn Create a suitable climate for learning Leave lecturing behind — and raise comprehension Teach students how to organize and process information Lower your school′s drop-out rate and increase attendance Help students master difficult concepts using visual representatives Contains tables, diagrams, and examples of thinking activities, as well as 24 black line masters appropriate for Grades 6-12.

Table of Contents:
Leaving Lecture Behind Creating a Climate for Learning Team-Building Strategies Constructing Knowledge Demonstrating Understanding Reflecting on the Learning

About the Author :
Donna Walker Tileston is a veteran teacher and administrator. She is currently the president of Strategic Teaching and Learning, a consulting firm that provides services to schools throughout the United States and worldwide. Donna’s publications include Ten Best Teaching Practices: How Brain Research, Learning Styles, and Standards Define Teaching Competencies (2000), which has been on Corwin′s bestseller list since its first year in print, in addition to the ten-volume award-winning series What Every Teacher Should Know, now in its second edition. Other recent titles are Teaching Strategies for Active Learning (2006), Teaching Strategies that Prepare Students for High Stakes Tests (2008), and Closing the Poverty and Culture Gap (2009). Donna received her BA from the University of North Texas, her MA from East Texas State University, and her EdD from Texas A & M University-Commerce. She may be reached at www.whateveryteachershouldknow.com