Resource Guide for Teaching K-12

Welcome to the fourth edition ofA Resource Guide for Teaching: K-12.The purpose of this textbook is to provide a practical, concise, criterion-referenced, performance-based, mastery learning model, resource guide for college and university students who are preparing to become competent teachers. Others who find it useful are experienced teachers who desire to continue developing their teaching skills, and curriculum specialists and school administrators who desire to have available for reference purposes a current, practical, and concise book of methods, guidelines, and resources about teaching. Exemplary school programs are those that are rooted in celebrating and building upon the diverse characteristics and needs of young people. To become and to remain exemplary, they must be in a continual mode of inquiry, reflection, and change. It is no different for me as author of this book. To continue my striving to prepare a comprehensive and exemplary book that focuses on K-12 classroom instruction, I am in acontinual mode of inquiryinto the latest findings in research and practice, inconstant reflectionas I listen to and assess the comments from practitioners in the field and from users and reviewers of the book, and insteady changeas I prepare each edition. NEW TO THIS EDITION Changes for this fourth edition are as follows: In keeping with the book's title, I strive for a balance of content across the K-12 grade range. With this edition you will find an improved balanced representation of samples, scenarios, readings, resources, and vignettes. Every chapter of the book was reviewed, updated, and tweaked to expel unnecessary wordiness and old, tired, or worn-out content, figures, and exercises. More about the relationship among curriculum standards, assessment, and high-stakes achievement testing is found in various places, including Chapters 1, 5, 6, and 11. To maintain a reasonable book size, some exercises from the previous edition were moved to the Companion Website. I proudly share the true stories of two first-year teachers--one in Chapter 3, first published inReading Today;the other, "Miss Palmer Reflects on Her First Year of Teaching," written by Heather May forThe Salt Lake Tribuneand republished here--in excerpts that begin each of the 12 chapters. For the latter, there are questions for the student user to answer and maintain in a reflective journal. For Part I, Orientation to Teaching and Learning in Today's Schools As in earlier editions, sample elementary and middle school teachers' schedules are included in Chapter 1. Chapter 2, now titled "Celebrating and Building upon the Diverse Characteristics and Needs of Youth: The Nature of the Challenge," contains a list of characteristics of children from four developmental categories: early primary years, late primary years, young adolescents, and older adolescents, with an accompanying exercise, "Obtaining Personal Insight Regarding the Age or Grade Level I Might Prefer to Teach." It also contains a new section titled "Recognizing and Working with Abused Children," and another new exercise, "Avoiding Sending Opposing Messages." Chapter 3, now titled "Teacher Behaviors and Responsibilities Necessary for Meeting the Challenge," contains a new section about classroom safety practices. Also in Chapter 3 is a teacher's reflections on her first year--the funny, frustrating, sad, and happy moments--as she learns what she needs to know to survive and grow as an educator. For Part II, Planning for Instruction Chapter 4 (The Classroom Learning Environment) is now the introductory chapter to Part II. Some situational case studies were added, as was a new section about the classroom physical layout. In many ways, teaching is clearly different than it used to be. Today, starting aKellough, Richard D. is the author of 'Resource Guide for Teaching K-12', published 2002 under ISBN 9780130984135 and ISBN 0130984132.