The truth is, when we rely on lecture in an effort to cover content, we’re doing students a disservice. Although lecture can be engaging and even useful, lecture alone cannot give kids real opportunities to learn, retain, and transfer the disciplinary ideas, skills, and practices we’re trying to teach.
Cris Tovani and Elizabeth Moje help us translate the time spent lecturing into powerful learning experiences where students interact and inquire into topics that matter. Their research-based alternatives help you create the conditions for engaging, relevant work that’s inherently interesting and sparks critical thinking.
Elizabeth Moje helps us understand the latest research on how people learn, and shows powerful evidence that teachers can increase student learning with more purposeful student participation. Veteran teacher and instructional coach Cris Tovani provides a practical model for instruction that’s backed by the current research and puts student engagement at the center of your teaching. Her examples of problem-based learning activities include connections to national standards and topics that matter outside the classroom walls. Together, Elizabeth and Cris make a convincing argument that when we minimize teaching-as-telling and transition to planning for kids to do the work, student engagement soars—and so does learning.
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Author Bio
Cris Tovani has taught grades 1-12 in the Cherry Creek School District for the past twenty-seven years. In addition to teaching and coaching full time, she is a nationally known consultant focusing on content comprehension, assessment, and the creation of systemic change through Literacy Labs, a site Cris created with Sam Bennett to help teachers learn how to create and sustain lab classrooms. She is the author of several books and DVDs including: Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? So What Do They Really Know? and Comprehending Content