Customer Reviews

Impact Teaching: Ideas and Strategies for Teachers to Maximize Student Learning

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Pardon the cliche' but this is a "must read"! Finally a practical book with real life examples and techniques that can be immediately used in the classroom. Not abstract lofty theories, but specific tools to improve your lessons and staff developments. From giving effective directions to positive mental imagery and ways to keep your students and participants actively involved, this book has practical information that you may have not thought about in such detail. I am a secondary teacher and a presenter and I can't think of anyone who speaks in front of a group that wouldn't benefit from this book. The book also includes stories, metaphors and a keynote speech template. I can't say enough positive things about it!

This is possibly the most valuable book I've ever purchased. It wows me on too many levels to adequately describe in a short book review. I am so grateful to my former high school physics teacher for recommending it.

When I accepted a teaching position last summer as a component of my graduate school experience, I'd had about 90 minutes of terror-filled (but rewarding) teaching experience during my decade in the software industry. I'm generally an introvert, and not very comfortable "winging things" without having a conceptual framework to work from. This book provided it.

While reading this book, I found myself reliving my own best and worst high school experiences. However, I was armed with a new vocabulary and interpretive framework to understand *why* these experiences left me inspired or agitated as a student.

Richard's book presented the knowledge base that I suspect constitutes the "common sense" wisdom held by master teachers, carefully packaged and presented for application by teachers of any level. The writing is engaging and story-laden, underscoring the validity of the author's argument that we learn most effectively through personal engagement, appropriate humor, and storytelling.

Richard not only draws on his extensive experience as a practitioner, but credibly grounds his book in current epistemological theory. (The book is generally written from a constructivist frame of reference, which he explicitly acknowledges in the introduction.)

If I had a gripe, it's that Richard demonstrates so lucidly what an effective instructional experience should constitute, including nearly 80 pages on effective communication and direction-giving. It was probably harder to teach my first few classes with that high bar fixed in my mind, but without yet carrying the classroom experience to reach it.

As a staff developer and as a teacher of multiple grade levels this book rocks! If you ever have a chance to see Rich Allen in person, you will be hooked for sure. He has some really simple (which we teachers always appreciate) yet POWERFUL ideas that you can begin using immediately, and they will positively impact your students. A day doesn't go by in my classroom when I don't implement multiple ideas that I have learned from him. Give yourself a treat!

Impact Teaching: Ideas And Strategies For Teachers To Maximize Student Learning by educational psychologist Richard Howell Allen presents a wealth of new ideas for classroom instructors to their help students to better absorb knowledge and prepare themselves for life in an ever-changing world. Individual chapters address embracing instructional precepts such as combining learning and enjoyment, enhancing retention, designing effective and interactive lessons, and a great deal more. Impact Teaching is a strongly recommended and dynamic guide for both public and home school teachers and tutors.