"Education is a noisy world of standardized testing and pressures to be all things to all people while seeming to please no one. Consequently, many teachers stick with what they know and teach traditionally, just as they were taught. Even if they suspect they shouldn’t, they often feel they don’t have the tools to teach any other way. In a very readable and practical how-to book, Dr. Murawski and Ms. Scott have mined researched and do-able strategies from quality educators. They first describe the realities of teaching and learning today, tell us how kids learn now, caution us about what not to do and then tell us how to do it. They do the best thing…They give us the teaching tools that enable kids to learn."
-- Linda P. Hutchinson, Ed.D, Educator
"What a wonderful comprehensive tool for teachers and administrators. It is user friendly in the format in which it is presented and covers a wide range of topics that a teacher would encounter in the classroom." -- Stephanie Free, Executive Director of Schools and School Improvement
"This book is full of information on best-practices and resources such as lesson plan templates, checklists, websites and apps that can be straightforwardly applied in a classroom. Feasible and innovative instructional strategies are presented in an organized, concise fashion. Particularly useful are the at –a-glance listings of the DO′s and DON’Ts for teaching, which identifies actions that the authors frequently observed that act as obstacles for teaching success, as well as those actions that maximize the chance of secondary teachers making a positive impact on middle and high school students and the summary of different teaching approaches. The comprehensive amount of resources included ensures that the book is applicable for prospective teachers as well as practicing teachers. Both audiences will appreciate the insight and classrooms experiences shared by the expert educators. The book cites key research and includes the impact of educational trends and developments, such as the Common Core, throughout. This book would serve as a valuable text in teaching methods courses to inform prospective teachers about teaching as it covers new and contemporary as well as more teaching time-tested and concepts with clear, step-by-step explanations." -- Tachelle Banks, PhD, Chairperson & Associate Professor Wendy W. Murawski, Ph.D., MBA, MEd, EdS, is the Executive Director and Eisner Endowed Chair for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where she is also a Full Professor in the Department of Special Education and the Director of SIMPACT Immersive Learning. Dr. Murawski is the national Past President of the Teacher Education Division (TED) of CEC and an internationally known speaker and author, presenting in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Her research focuses on co-teaching and inclusive practices nationally and internationally. She has published extensively around inclusive education, co-teaching, collaboration, and Universal Design for Learning, to include 18 books and numerous chapters, blogs, and peer-reviewed articles. She is the CEO of 2TeachÒ Global (www.2TeachLLC.com), an educational consulting company dedicated to promoting inclusive education around the world. In her personal life, Wendy enjoys traveling with her husband, learning languages, reading, drinking merlot, seeing movies, going to Book Club, visiting her college-bound son Kiernan, and pretending she is going to work out.
Kathy Lynn Scott, PhD, is the Center Administrative Analyst for the Center for Teaching and Learning at California State University, Northridge. Kathy was trained as an old school darkroom photographer, but she fell in love with all things to do with education. After conducting research on art education and adult education in England and coordinating research on learning disabilities in New Jersey, Kathy jumped from coast to coast, finding a new home with the CTL where she gets to do a little bit of everything related to education. When not acting as the “glue” for the CTL (as Wendy calls her), she’s happiest just relaxing at home, learning to cook new dishes, watching Jeopardy!, and shouting out the (not always correct) answers.
