Customer Reviews

Contexts of Teaching: Methods for Middle and High School Instruction

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Okay, I am sitting in the library right now and loving this book so much that I wanted to weigh in on it at Amazon. It is the fifth book like this that I have read and it is the best of the lot so I just wanted to share my opinion.

About me: I am a fifth year HS science teacher who is okay at teaching but really unhappy with my planning and how to motivate the students. I turn to these books once in awhile hoping for some inspriration. I have just spent about an hour reading Chapter 9, Implementing Instruction and have learned about Ausubel's "Advance Organizers", some suggestions for closure of a lesson, and two relevant, well-chosen biographical anecdotes from teachers.

I think this book is better than the other ones like it I read, including the one we had to read in Ed School.

This textbook is a refreshing change from the primarily skills based approach taken by the typical teaching methods book. Readers are given the opportunity to explore their own philosophy of teaching as they prepare to become an educator. There are a number of stories embedded in each chapter that give form to the abstract, thus connecting theory to practice. Topics covered in the book include those found in the typical general teaching methods text. In addition, a truly unique bonus in the text are suggestions for creating a teaching portfolio after each of the chapter topics. This is particularly helpful for those teachers who need a portfolio for job hunting, or keeping records for professional advancement. Overall the book addresses all the traditional topics while presenting them in a humanistic style. This is an enjoyable and refreshing approach to learning how to become a teacher.

Unless you are forced to read this book for a class my recommendation would be to avoid it at all costs. There is precious little useful information or guidance for the prospective teacher.