Teaching The Best Practice Way: Methods That Matter, K-12

As a natural consequence of good teaching, Best Practice kids become powerful learners, proficient readers, writers, and thinkers. The authors also advise focused coaching when standardized test time comes around.

Most Useful Topics:
The seven methods or structures include: 1) Reading as thinking; 2) Representing to learn; 3) Small-group activities; 4) Classroom workshop; 5) Authentic experiences; 6) Reflective assessment; and 7) Integrative units. They encourage more of the following in the classroom: Experiential, inductive, hands-on learning; time devoted to reading whole, real books; choice for students; attention to varying cognitive and affective styles of individual students; delivery of special help to students in regular classrooms; and reliance on teachers' descriptive evaluation of student growth, including anecdotal observations.

Reading as Thinking: K-W-L in Action (pp. 63-71).
Representing to Learn: Using the following: Journaling (p. 79) and Genre Writing (p. 80). How to use two-minute videos and other multi-media such as a whole-class Big Book (pp. 81-88). Sample activities for using a notebook (pp. 104-114).
Small Group Activities: Models of collaboration (pp. 118-122); Digital Storytelling for high school (142-146).

Classroom Workshop: Includes a generic schedule for a single fifty-minute workshop session (pp. 154-157); Sixth-grade mathematics workshop (pp. 174-181); Conducting conferences (pp. 182-191)

Authentic Experiences: Introduction (193-197); Seventh and eighth grade math (pp. 207-211); Using primary sources (pp. 211-217).