Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach: A Handbook for Secondary School Teachers

This text, designed as a handbook for preservice and beginning teachers, is organized to address broad topics in secondary school teaching rather than the needs of specific subject areas. While examples are included from specific subject disciplines, the focus is on the relationships among them (concepts, skills, practices). Preservice teachers in secondary school general methods classes and student teaching seminars are frequently preoccupied with two problems--classroom control and figuring out exactly what is the role of the teacher. These problems are compounded by methods texts that compartmentalize different aspects of teaching (theory, practice, critical analysis). Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach: A Handbook for Secondary School Teachers provides an alternative. *Although different approaches to secondary teaching are included, a model student-centered approach is offered that provides a series of "PRO/CLASS Practices" for designing lessons, developing personal connections with students, and building classroom communities. (The acronym stands for Planning, Relationships, Organization, Community, Leadership, Assessment, Support, Struggle.) *The broad principles of PRO/CLASS Practice are presented as part of an integrated approach to teaching -- not as a recipe to be followed mechanically. Preservice teachers are encouraged to reinterpret the principles and continually redefine them as they develop their own reflective practice. *A variety of pedagogical features and activities are integrated throughout the text, including sample "Nuts and Bolts" teaching techniques (lesson and unit design, activities, questions, projects, team learning, community building) that can be used in different types of classrooms and by teachers employing different pedagogical approaches; conversations with preservice teachers; interviews and conversations with teachers; essays about classroom issues; and reflections on teaching goals and processes.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface: Our Approach to Teaching. Part I: Goals and Responsibilities for Teachers. Goals: Why Do You Want to Be a Teacher? Responsibilities: What Is a Teacher? Part II: PRO/CLASS Practices--Planning, Relationships, Organization, Community. Planning: How Do You Plan a Lesson? Relationships: Why Are Relationships With Students Crucial to Successful Teaching? Organization: How Are Classrooms and Schools Organized? Community: How Do You Build Classroom Communities Committed to Educational Goals? Part III: PRO/CLASS Practices--Literacy, Assessment, Support, Struggle. Literacy: How Can Teachers Encourage Student Literacies? Assessment: How Should Teachers Assess Student Learning and Their Own Performance? Support: How Can Teachers Provide Support for Students Having Difficulty in School and Life? Struggle: How Can We Struggle to Be More Effective Teachers and Build Better Schools? Appendices: Ideas for Your Professional Portfolio, Resume, and Cover Letter. Recommended Web Sites for Teachers.

Review :
"Singer has a readable and personable style-and he admits to not being a perfect teacher. Teaching expertise evolves, and he uses writings by new and experienced teachers to emphasize how teachers work through problems. This is a strong point of the book. It is common for a new teacher to feel that other teachers are perfect, and only he or she is struggling. Singer uses 'Join the Conversation' as a way to get the reader to react throughout the book. This device would facilitate discussion in a secondary methods classroom...The books does have a slant toward teaching in urban schools. However, every new teacher needs exposure to the problems in urban schools, so this is a positive part of the book. Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach is a useful general methods text that encourages the reader to be an independent, thinking, passionate, and successful teacher." —Education Book Reviews "A fine contribution to the literature on the social and political contexts of teaching in secondary school settings. The inclusion of teachers' narratives as well as a hard-hitting look at the realities of teaching in urban settings makes this text especially useful, and pertinent in today's classrooms." —Yoon K. Pak University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "The authors give the right amount of attention to important topics of content, method, and evaluation, and demonstrate how more humane approaches to student-teacher relationships can be achieved....The pedagogical effectiveness and elements are excellent....The text is accessible, compassionate, practical, and very user friendly for students and professors." —Terrie Epstein City University of New York/Hunter College "[This text] forces readers to confront their own attitudes and prejudices and leads them to a truer understanding of what it means to teach and learn in today's society." —Dennis Banks State University of New York/College at Oneonta "This book, more than any other I've read, helps beginning teachers to discover for themselves how they can keep their ideals and still teach....One of the most appealing features is that it offers useable practical guidelines that are integrated with theoretical perspectives that focus on active learning....It achieves the purpose of a general methods text for secondary teaching, but does so in a unique way (and offers much more to readers in terms of professional/self-development than traditional methods books)..." —E. Wayne Ross State University of New York/ College at Binghamton