Teaching for Tomorrow: Teaching Content and Problem-Solving Skills [Paperback]

Ted McCain (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1412913845 | ISBN-13: 978-1412913843 | Edition: 1

McCain concisely lays out the argument for preparing students for their world, guiding them to become independent and successful critical thinkers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"McCain's insights as an educator go way beyond the classroom.  He truly grasps the need for schools to prepare young people for life in an increasingly dynamic world.  This book continues Ted's tradition as a writer who speaks with great insight and clarity." (David Thornburg, Director )

"In our current NCLB-test-driven environment, this book provides a guide for teachers who want their students to be life-long learners with real-world problem solving skills." (Michael A. Burke, Director, District Media and Technology Services )

"Ted McCain gives readers clear, detailed, and readable strategies in order to engage students in active learning. The real-world content for students is key to an authentic, sustainable ability to problem solving." (Guylene Robertson, Assistant Superintendent )

About the Author

Ted McCain is coordinator of instructional technology for Maple Ridge Secondary School in Vancouver, BC. He also has taught computer networking, graphic design, and desktop publishing for Okanagan College, Kelowna, BC. He is the author of six books on the future, effective teaching, educational technology, and graphic design. In 1997, McCain received the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence for his work in developing a real-world technology curriculum that prepares students for employment in technology directly out of high school. For the past twenty years, McCain has done consulting work for businesses and school districts on effective teaching for the digital generation and the implementation of instructional technology. His clients have included Apple Computer, Microsoft, Aldus, and Toyota, as well as many school districts and educational associations in both the United States and Canada. He is passionate in his belief that schools must change so that they can effectively prepare students for the rest of their lives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Corwin Press; 1 edition (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412913845
• ISBN-13: 978-1412913843
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rethinking Pedagogy, February 16, 2008

By 

Demetri "demetri" (FRANKLIN, Tunisia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teaching for Tomorrow: Teaching Content and Problem-Solving Skills (Paperback)

Teaching for Tomorrow is a quick (90 page) book that lays out a great rationale for changing pedagogy towards real-world project-based-learning where the teacher steps away from "telling" mode. Chapter one is "How I discovered I was a highly educated useless person." Then McCain outlines six proposals that would help schools create graduates who are not "useless": 1) resisting the tempatation to "tell" 2) providing context to content, 3) fostering independent thinking, 4) moving to problem solving, 5) withdrawing from helping students, & 6) reevaluating evaluation. Along the way he touches on the importance of failing and how we learn more from mistakes than from success. The author is a technology coordinator and he provides several examples for the kinds of role-playing problems solving that he is advocating, but this is not a book about technology. It is applicable to all disciplines. You can "look inside" the book at Google Book Search.

I identified with McCain's story that described how he felt like he didn't have real world skills after graduating from his university. He argues that schools currently are good at giving students "school skills" but they don't give students real-world skills. His six proposals are not new, and they are included in educational degrees for teachers, but the reality in many classrooms is that these approaches are not used. By and large, we are still using a curriculum defined by text books and focused on preparation for high-stakes tests. McCain recognizes the importance of accountability and testing but suggests that there is more value in a pedagogical approach that creates real-world skills while still delivering the content we want students to absorb.

My only criticism of the book is it doesn't go into the dynamics of a classroom of 20+ students. He has some good examples of role-playing and problem-solving scenarios that you can easily imagine a group of 3-4 students excelling at, but classroom management of this approach for 20 students becomes more complex. This could use some explication.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good -- but needs more, September 13, 2011

By 

D. Williams "Donna Williams" (Covington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Teaching for Tomorrow: Teaching Content and Problem-Solving Skills (Paperback)

Ted McCain's Teaching for Tomorrow is a short book that could have the means to carry a lot of power in education, if it's given a chance. McCain tells of his sometimes first-hand experiences that showed that teaching problem-solving skills in schools is just as necessary, if not more so, than teaching rote content. I agree that this is true, and I agree that the methods McCain suggests - the four D's (define, design, do, debrief) are very helpful in applying real-world skills into the classroom.

Though McCain's ideas are succinctly put, well-thought-out, and praised on the back cover by three school administrators, I wish he had told more about how to persuade school administrators to buy into these ideas. I have encountered many school administrators who say they intensely dislike the "sage on the stage" (teacher lectures, students listen) routine, but I can see them vetoing something like McCain's methodology out of fear that it doesn't directly teach the required standards. Yes, students can learn the standards set by their state by using McCain's methods, but since it's more through discovery than putting the material in front of the students, administrators might question how much learning is going on. This little book should have grown quite a bit and included more about how to persuade administrators to allow the teachers to try these methods.

This is obviously a second edition of this book, because it appears that some citations and references cite an earlier edition. Perhaps McCain should consider a third edition and add about another twenty pages or more about how to persuade administrators to give these methods a chance.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every teacher should have a copy, February 1, 2009

By 

R. F. Jones "richardnz" (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Teaching for Tomorrow: Teaching Content and Problem-Solving Skills (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for any practising teacher. We all know "content" is required to be taught by syllabi and we all know students simply memorize, re-gurgitate and forget such content.

Ted McCain shows you how to deliver content in ways the students will remember and by which they will acquire problem-solving skills as well - the skills needed by our students for the "real world".

The other beauty of this book is its size - you can absorb the contents and start using the ideas within a week. Yet, you can return after a module and refine your practice further. I sincerely believe it made me a better teacher even after 15 years teaching experience.