Inside Teaching

Reform the schools, improve teaching: these battle cries of American education have been echoing for twenty years. So why does teaching change so little? Arguing that too many would-be reformers know nothing about the conflicting demands of teaching, Mary Kennedy takes us into the controlled commotion of the classroom, revealing how painstakingly teachers plan their lessons, and how many different ways things go awry. Teachers try simultaneously to keep track of materials, time, students, and ideas. In their effort to hold all of these things together, they can inadvertently quash students' enthusiasm and miss valuable teachable moments. Kennedy argues that pedagogical reform proposals that do not acknowledge all of the things teachers need to do are bound to fail. If reformers want students to learn, they must address all of the problems teachers face, not just those that interest them.

This book distils key research and evidence about what effective teaching means in practice. Covering all aspects of teaching, it encourages the reader to reflect on their pupils, their planning, teaching and assessing and their continual professional development. Inside Teaching has an emphasis throughout on encouraging dialogue with pupils about what they're doing, why they’re doing it, and how they can evaluate and develop what they do. Including questions for reflection and summaries of key ideas, the book provides practical support to help teachers ensure that they make a real difference to their pupils’ chances of success. Chapters include: Pupils with different backgrounds and levels of support Working with your pupils’ parents and carers Planning to frame your pupils’ thinking Developing effective feedback for your pupils Making meetings useful Observing lessons and being observed. This practical book will be an essential resource for both trainee and practising teachers who want to help their pupils to fulfil their physical, emotional and intellectual potential.

This book brings together theory, research, and practice on core reflection, an approach that focuses on people's strengths as the springboard for personal growth and links theory and practice by highlighting the experience of the person.

The first full-length history of college teaching in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present, this book sheds new light on the ongoing tension between the modern scholarly ideal—scientific, objective, and dispassionate—and the inevitably subjective nature of day-to-day instruction. American college teaching is in crisis, or so we are told. But we've heard that complaint for the past 150 years, as critics have denounced the poor quality of instruction in undergraduate classrooms. Students daydream in gigantic lecture halls while a professor drones on, or they meet with a teaching assistant for an hour of aimless discussion. The modern university does not reward teaching, so faculty members at every level neglect it in favor of research and publication. In the first book-length history of American college teaching, Jonathan Zimmerman confirms but also contradicts these perennial complaints. Drawing upon a wide range of previously unexamined sources, The Amateur Hour shows how generations of undergraduates indicted the weak instruction they received. But Zimmerman also chronicles institutional efforts to improve it, especially by making teaching more "personal." As higher education grew into a gigantic industry, he writes, American colleges and universities introduced small-group activities and other reforms designed to counter the anonymity of mass instruction. They also experimented with new technologies like television and computers, which promised to "personalize" teaching by tailoring it to the individual interests and abilities of each student. But, Zimmerman reveals, the emphasis on the personal inhibited the professionalization of college teaching, which remains, ultimately, an amateur enterprise. The more that Americans treated teaching as a highly personal endeavor, dependent on the idiosyncrasies of the instructor, the less they could develop shared standards for it. Nor have they rigorously documented college instruction, a highly public activity which has taken place mostly in private. Pushing open the classroom door, The Amateur Hour illuminates American college teaching and frames a fresh case for restoring intimate learning communities, especially for America's least privileged students. Anyone who wants to change college teaching will have to start here.

Calling on more than 26 years of experience, Patricia Bourne explores, in accessible and sincere fashion, this pairing of the practical and philosophical in K-6 general music. Go inside the classroom to discover the who (students) and what (curriculum and methodology) of music education, along with concrete suggestions for how to navigate the landscape once you're "in." The real-world considerations of classroom management and additional responsibilities, such as ensembles and the performance expectations that come with them, are addressed in detail, as is the subject of finding and succeeding in "the" position. As Will Schmid writes, "[this] is the most practical and inspiring music education book I have read in a long time. Whether you are a pre-service college student, a beginning music teacher, or even a veteran educator in need of recharging your batteries, this book will become a valued mentor and trail guide."

Since Socrates, teaching has been a difficult and even dangerous profession. Why is teaching such hard work? In this provocative, witty, sometimes rueful book, Cohen writes about the predicaments that teachers face and explores what responsible teaching can be. He focuses on the kind of mind reading teaching demands and the resources it requires.

A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection

Cultivate a positive mindset, and choose productive actions by examining your emotions and interpretations in the classroom. By investigating three management phases—awareness, analysis, and choice—teachers can become mindful of factors that influence their interactions with students and learn a process for ensuring positive outcomes. You’ll gain concrete strategies and activities that enhance classroom practice and impact student learning.

Teaching Resistance is a collection of the voices of activist educators from around the world who engage inside and outside the classroom from pre-kindergarten to university and emphasize teaching radical practice from the field. Written in accessible language, this book is for anyone who wants to explore new ways to subvert educational systems and institutions, collectively transform educational spaces, and empower students and other teachers to fight for genuine change. Topics include community self-defense, Black Lives Matter and critical race theory, intersections between punk/DIY subculture and teaching, ESL, anarchist education, Palestinian resistance, trauma, working-class education, prison teaching, the resurgence of (and resistance to) the Far Right, special education, antifascist pedagogies, and more. Edited by social studies teacher, author, and punk musician John Mink, the book features expanded entries from the monthly column in the politically insurgent punk magazine Maximum Rocknroll, plus new works and extensive interviews with subversive educators. Contributing teachers include Michelle Cruz Gonzales, Dwayne Dixon, Martín Sorrondeguy, Alice Bag, Miriam Klein Stahl, Ron Scapp, Kadijah Means, Mimi Nguyen, Murad Tamini, Yvette Felarca, Jessica Mills, and others, all of whom are unified against oppression and readily use their classrooms to fight for human liberation, social justice, systemic change, and true equality. Royalties will be donated to Teachers 4 Social Justice: t4sj.org

Using the successful Inside-Out program, in which incarcerated and non-incarcerated college students are taught in the same classroom, this book explores the practice of community-based learning, including the voices of teachers and participants, and offers a model for courses, student life programs, and faculty training.