Customer Reviews

Inspiring Active Learning: A Handbook for Teachers

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This book gives hundreds of doable methods of interacting with students during a lesson. One of my favorites is called "speak-write". With this method the teacher reads or speaks a small amount of information. Then the speaker is silent for about a minute. Next, students write down anything they remember. A poster will help them jog their memory. The poster is a simple list: 1 summary 2 questions 3 reactions 4 anything else. This gets the students actively involved. It is also a precursor to teaching students how to take notes. Some middle-school teachers get angry when students are writing while they talk. I have the students' rapt attention while I speak. Then when I am quiet students get to interact with the knowledge. Such a simple idea. There are probably hundreds of common-sense ideas like this in Harmin's book. A real boon for NBPTS candidates.

In brief form, Merrill Harmin's book provides a plethera of great teaching strategies that revolve around a common philosophy of DESCA (Dignity, Energy, Self-Managing, Community, Awareness). This is a MUST read for all educators. It is as inspiring as it is helpful.