I chose the book “Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Creating Student Achievement” by Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering and Jane E. Pollock for my book review. The authors all have very extensive resumes. Dr. Marzano has written over 30 books and written 150+ articles on educational topics. Dr. Pollock consults with schools to improve student learning and teaching practices. She has co-authored many books. Dr. Pickering is also the author of many related books.
The book is broken into 13 sections. Nine of these sections address specific areas of instructional strategies including “Cooperative Learning” and “Homework and Practice.” This YouTube video deals with Chapter 7: Cooperative Learning and this one goes along with Chapter 8: Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback.
This past year, after viewing our NWEA test results, Wahpeton High School teachers identified an area of need for our students. Our students are lacking in the ability to summarize nonfiction. This area was seen as a problem throughout the curricular areas. I remember thinking at the time “how do you teach summarizing?” It seems like we (at the high school level) assumed this was skill the kids knew, when in fact, they did not. Chapter 3 of this text is titled “Summarizing and Note Taking.” An example from the chapter says to teach the “Rule-Based Strategy” for summarizing.
The rules are:
-Delete trivial material that is unnecessary to understanding.
-Delete redundant material
-Substitute superordinate terms for lists (e.g., “flowers” for “daisies, tulips, and roses”).
-Select a topic sentence, or invent one if it is missing.
I thought this was a great way to teach students summary. The rest of the chapter had some good information about note taking as well, which I feel is another area of deficiency for students.
Another interesting point was made in the “Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition” chapter. The generalization provided was that “not all students realize the importance of believing in effort. . . studies have demonstrated that some students are not aware of the fact that the effort they put into a task has as direct effect on their success.” As a teacher, I am sometimes quick to say that a student failed to put forth any effort, but I never realized that maybe that student didn’t realize that effort could equal success. This piece of research supports the theory that teachers need to explain the effort belief to their students.
Overall, the book was very informational and offered many research based ideas and strategies. Unfortunately, it was very dry and hard to read. I appreciate the fact that the methods in the book are research based, but often I felt that all of the research citing took away from the fluency of the book. I would recommend it to someone who was looking for solutions in a particular area so that that person could read a specific chapter but I’m not sure I could recommend the book as a whole for some leisurely summer time reading. Oh, and save the 25 bucks. Check it out of your local library.
I read this book as required material for an undergrad course. Your right it's kind of dry...basic information most teachers should know before entering a classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe limitation is that, success of a student is very narrow and revolves round standardized test. According to the authors all the nine strategies are used for raising test score, other things that instructions need to accomplish are not addressed in the book
ReplyDeleteTo the authors, teaching is not an art of teaching but a science of teaching. He did not talk about the art of creating atmosphere, delivering relative information through a performance, stirring, appealing, motivating, and zealous about subject, “vigorous, unrehearsed and creative encounter between teacher and student.”(Parkay ,Stanford p. 115) and engaging that comes with the art of teaching. It sounds as if we do not make a difference in the life of a student, if we do not use the science of teaching
Another thing the authors fails to remember is that technology is moving very fast and some of these strategies will at the long run use technology You cannot separate best practices and technology with the 21st century students, as digital world mean a lot to them.