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3.0 out of 5 stars
All the world's a stage,including the classroom, November 26, 2000
This review is from: Teaching and Performing: Ideas for Energizing Your Classes (Paperback)
The authors do an excellent job of connecting "performing" to the teaching philosophy of active learning. If you are already sold on active learning, you will find some of their material a bit repetitive. However, the authors' target seems to be people who use a one-way talk or "sage on the stage" style of teaching. For them, this book could be eye-opening, with its call for abandoning the "content provider role" and moving toward more interaction-oriented teaching.
Every chapter contains suggestions for exercises, many requiring physical movement and the cooperation of others. Many chapters also offer checklists for self-assessment, although I question whether untutored instructors will have the self-awareness to make good use of them.
Two things could be improved in the next edition of the book. First, the authors should eliminate the many very positive references & short vignettes concerning their colleagues' teaching. I'm sure most of the people named are exemplary teachers, but the snippets of material are much too short to serve a pedagogical function. Second, for a book by people apparently heavily involved in dramatic arts, there are surprisingly few in-depth lessons on how to take specific learning objectives & apply tips from the stage to achieve them. Many short references are made to popular plays and films, but they don't really add value to the book.
I would certainly recommend that instructors interested in active learning read this book. I'm not sure I would recommend its purchase. I should note, however, that with my purchase I received a bonus: pages 117-148 appeared twice in the book!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Useful for all college instructors, October 4, 2000
This review is from: Teaching and Performing: Ideas for Energizing Your Classes (Paperback)
Teachers are performers, by default. Their choice is not whether to perform, but whether to make a conscious choice to do it effectively. "Unfortunately," the authors write (p. 18), "We who teach in higher education rarely receive formal training in the performance aspects of our teaching." Borrowing techniques and insights from the performing arts, the authors provide a variety of tools for correcting that problem. Their book is aimed at college instructors, but much is also appropriate for middle and high school instruction.
Facilitating discussion, engaging students, and creating a dynamic classroom are some of the key goals which the book covers. I found especially helpful the specific examples given, examples reaching far across the disciplines. The many examples of dynamic teaching in nursing, chemistry, biology, and so on, demonstrate that these techniques can and should be used in the sciences and other fields as well.
Among much else, the authors discuss nonverbal cues, audience awareness techniques, roles the instructor can play, and suggestions for breaking through normal routines. Still, the book as a whole is not as much method as it is theory. For example, I came away with a better understanding of why and when I should consider using role plays than how to actually do it. I would have liked to see some discussion of the actual dynamics, such as Bill Bigelow outlines in the book "Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice."
Along the same lines, the specific examples given are usually summarized in a sentence or two. I wanted more: more details, more discussion of how those examples worked and why. The authors suggest, for instance, using role plays to talk through tough situations like a student dominating discussion (p. 145). But I'd think most instructors wouldn't have the time or the self-confidence to actually carry that out. A short case study taking me through an implementation of that strategy might have changed my mind.
Nonetheless, the book's suggestions are quite helpful (though at times repetitive) and turn the reader's attention to critical aspects of the teaching process most teachers rarely consider. Though it's uneven, I recommend the book to all instructors; you will find something in here which will improve your teaching.
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