Commonsense Questions about Instruction

The Answers Can Provide Essential Steps to Improvement

By (author) Gerard Giordano

Publication date:

30 January 2014

Length of book:

176 pages

Publisher

R&L Education

Dimensions:

240x162mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781475805086

Parents want teachers to explain how they instruct children. They become annoyed when the teachers are silent or surly. Parents counter with explicit, common sense questions: how do teachers arouse interest, design curricula, reinforce discipline, assign grades, designate textbooks, and select technology? This book examines the parents' questions, the answers they elicited, the allies they attracted, and the improvements they initiated.

Preface: Have Common Sense Questions Affected Teaching?
Chapter 1: Why Ask Shrewd Questions?
Chapter 2: What Is Instruction’s Goal?
Chapter 3: What Are the Fundamental Subjects?
Chapter 4: What Prods Learning?
Chapter 5: How Complex Is Classroom Discipline?
Chapter 6: What Are the Right Questions about Textbooks?
Chapter 7: How Much Technology Do Teachers Need?
Chapter 8: Do Grades Matter?

Chapter 9: What Prods Politicians to Collaborate on Schools?

Chapter 10: How Much Data on Teachers Is Needed?

References

My experience in preparing teacher candidates and educational leaders reinforces the need to give thought to the type of questions that parents, community leaders, and the general public will ask them. Some of the appealing features of this book are that each chapter highlights an important educational question, the answers to it, and the context for those answers. Dr. Giordano effectively uses the case study method to present pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and administrators with real-world experiences.