This book is based on the following ideas:
- Classroom practice should be based on goals and an understanding of students as
complex and diverse human beings. - Preservice and beginning teachers will benefit from learning about the experiences of
other preservice teachers, new classroom teachers, and veterans. - There are principles of effective teaching in secondary schools that span the subject
disciplines and it is important that new teachers make connections with the work of
their colleagues in other content areas. - Although content expertise and the mastery of pedagogical skills are essential for
teachers, empathy with students and a sense of personal mission are the keys to suc-
cessful teaching. - Learning takes place all of the time—but students are not necessarily learning what
teachers intend them to learn. - Everything that takes place in the school and classroom is part of the curriculum.
- Learning is social—teachers should build on it, not fight it.
- Effective teaching in inclusive middle school (6–8) and high school (9–12) classrooms
with diverse student populations can involve the same student-centered pedagogical
practice with differences in degree or emphasis based on student needs rather than
differences in kind of instruction—everyone can be treated like an honors student. - Developing classroom community and student leadership is the most effective way to
promote student learning—the only people teachers can control are themselves. - An overall goal in secondary education is to promote greater freedom for students as
they assume increased individual and collective responsibility for their own learning. - People can learn to be student-centered, constructivist, critical teachers.
- Although it takes extended experience (3 to 5 years) and hard work to master the skills
needed to be an effective teacher, these skills are neither magical nor inexplicable, and
can be developed by beginning teachers.
PREFACE:
OUR APPROACH TO TEACHING
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