This book is a part of a series from Jossy-Bass Higher and Adult
Education series. I bought it on the recommendation of the learning resources
center staff. They presented parts of the material during their new staff
orientation.
I had two intentions, one was to have some resources at my
disposal for the latest pedagogical theories to help my teaching and I also
wanted to learn about these research based principles to help my coaching.
The structure of the book is straightforward, the introduction
laid out the seven principles and stated their purpose: to bridge the research
and teaching practices. The succeeding seven chapters laid out the seven
principles, gave scenarios for the readers to digest and analyze. They
discussed the theory and experimental results that supports each argument
within the principles. The last section is a conclusion that reiterates the
principles to close out the book. They have also included the eight tools that
they have cited in the body of the book in the appendices to help the reader
learn more about the implementation and pitfalls associated with these tools.
I found the presentations workmanlike, which is as intended.
The idea is to present the principles cogently and logically, even though the
topics that are covered are anything but coldly rational.
I was personally very interested in how students develop
mastery and how they can become self-directed learners. Those two chapters drew
me in when I first looked at the table of contents. As I read the book in the
sequences presented by the author I was drawn into other principles,
specifically, the chapters on how the student’s prior knowledge affected their
learning and how they organized their knowledge made them look at the knowledge
that they are accruing really made me think about those topics. I knew that those
topics affect the students learning but I was not clever enough to see how
teachers can incorporate tools to help the students deal with their lack of
prior knowledge and how much the knowledge organization affect their learning
process. Indeed, I started to think about my own learning process, and how
ineffective some of my learning habits are, and yet I continue to persist in
pursuing the same methods. I am changing
my ways in response to that lesson.
The chapter on how the practice and the kind of feedback
help the student to learn is enlightening because it gives me ideas on how to change
my usual teaching tools to make the experience more productive for my students.
The feedback topic is an important one and it is here that I received a lot of
reassurance that the feedback skills that I have employed in my teaching and
coaching are good practices and that my instincts were good ones. I did also profit
from gaining more understanding of how feedback can be used.
The chapter on motivation and course climate were difficult
ones for me, I took for granted that the motivation for the students are their
responsibilities, that they were taking the class or playing on a team for a
reason, that they were thusly motivated and I would have something to do with
that, but not a lot. I am still a bit skeptical. I feel that motivation should
be a personal decision, while I, as the teacher, can help them get more motivated
by being a great teacher and being fair in my assessment of their abilities, I
didn’t feel that I can make that much difference in how they are motivated. I
am still dubious.
On the topic of the course climate, I can see where this
chapter would be very useful and very pertinent in a social science class. I am
in engineering so that we don’t have too much social discussions. I do see
where the social climate of a class can make or break the classroom success of
the students by how the class interacts socially and the kind of expectations
that they the students and me the teacher would have due to the social constructs,
societal norms and stereotypes that are
realities in our society. Those issues really speak to the kind of person the
teachers are and how their root beliefs guide them in their daily interaction
with the students. Knowing that the effect on the students is an important part
of opening the teacher’s eyes to the reality that they face but I m dubious
about how they can transform their teaching according to this principle without
completely changing their world view.
I will be referring back to this book often as I go forth in
continuation of my teaching career. The principles are somewhat commonsensical,
which makes it so much more acceptable.
The no-nonsense layout of the arguments and methods are very welcome.
The magical thing about the book is that it gives practical advice while also
providing the readers with enough untethered hooks to hang onto intellectually so
that they are challenged. This gives the readers some degrees of freedom to reflect
on the ideas and allows them to progress the principles forward in their own
ways.
