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by Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong and Matthew J. Perini
Table of Contents
This ASCD Study Guide is designed to enhance your understanding and application of the information contained in The Strategic Teacher, an ASCD book written by Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong, and Matthew J. Perini and published in October 2007.
You can use the study guide before or after you have read the book, or as you finish each chapter. The study questions provided are not meant to cover all aspects of the book, but, rather, to address specific ideas that might warrant further reflection.
Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read (or are reading) The Strategic Teacher.
In one important sense we are all strategic teachers. Whether we teach in a classroom, lead a school, or mentor our colleagues, we all use strategies (techniques, methods, and tools) in the pursuit of our goals.
Think of five strategies you have used in the last year. (For now, don't worry about names or definitions.) Try to include one or two strategies that did not work out as well as you wished. For each strategy, identify
Our Introduction seeks to answer three questions: (1) What is a teaching strategy? (2)Why do teachers (and leaders) need a repertoire of strategies? (3) How can we select the right strategy for every lesson?
As you read, keep your eye on how our answers to these questions resemble or differ from your own.
Our introduction lists six reasons for maintaining a repertoire of strategies, namely that strategies are tools for designing thoughtful lessons and units, differentiating teaching and learning, bringing lessons alive, building skills for tests, improving student achievement, and building different kinds of knowledge. Which three of these do you consider most important? Why? Select one of the strategies you identified earlier and create your own dashboard for it by filling out the panels on Figure A.
Now, use the dashboard to think through a needs assessment. As you consider your current teaching situation—or those of your school and colleagues—respond to the questions in each panel on Figure B.
We wrote The Strategic Teacher to be something more than a book you simply read and put down. We sought to create a practical resource you can use and return to again and again as new needs arise. We also wanted the book to be well adapted to the study groups that so many schools use as an important part of their professional development. With study groups and the individual users in mind, we describe three different reading plans for this book—one traditional approach along with two variations.
The Direct Reading Plan: This approach offers a comprehensive guide for the individual reader; we have developed thoughtful and guiding questions for you to consider before, as, and after you read each of the five remaining sections of the book.
The Study Team Plan: This collaborative approach directs a small team of educators through their exploration of a particular style of strategies. By following this plan together, team members enhance their understanding of individual strategies and improve their abilities to implement the strategies effectively in their classrooms.
The Perfect Fit Plan: This approach presents readers with thoughtful questions organized around seven steps that can be used to guide their selection and implementation of the right strategies for their current and future classroom situations.
We suggest that you review these three options and pick the plan that works best for you.
The book is divided into five parts arranged according to style.
Let's take them one at a time.
Bear in mind that Mastery strategies enhance students' sense of control by defining clear tasks, providing easy-to-grasp structures, and ensuring timely feedback. As you read through each of the following four strategies, keep these aspects in mind. Complete Figure C.
Every strategy motivates and provides comfort to some students while it simultaneously challenges other students and causes them to stretch. Why is it that strategies based on reason are intimidating to some students and attractive to others? Could we ask the same question about teachers or leaders?
Understanding strategies gain their power by inviting students to think, focusing attention on observation and evidence, and providing procedures for resolving differences and reaching conclusions.
As you read about the four Understanding strategies, keep these three criteria in mind. Use Figure D to collect your thoughts as you examine these four strategies.
Strategy I chose:
Steps in Plan
Kind(s) of Evidence Collected
Interpretations
Strategy my partner chose:
People rarely say "My memory is too good!" or, when commenting on a friend or student, "Brad is a little too reasonable."—although a friend may occasionally say "You're being too logical." On the other hand, people often say or think "She's way too imaginative!" If imagination is a talent, why is it so often seen as something of an obstacle to success in school? Consider the questions in Figure F and generate two lists—which list is longer?
What are the liabilities of havingtoo muchimagination in school?
What are the liabilities of havingtoo littleimagination in school?
You could say that strategies teach students the disciplines of thought. So, Mastery strategies teach the discipline of memory just as Understanding strategies teach the discipline of reason. And Self-Expressive strategies provide students with tools for developing a disciplined imagination. So, what role does imagination play in your classroom? What strategies or methods do you use that put students' imaginations to work?
Write down the names of four students who are not achieving at a level you wish (two students who you suspect area little too imaginative; two students who you think might have trouble thinking imaginatively).
Self-Expressive strategies help students develop disciplined imaginations by focusing their attention on a particular object; modeling first and then asking them to create an imaginative product; and guiding them to reflect on both the object and their creation
Keep these three ideas in mind as you read about the four Self-Expressive strategies. How do these strategies differ? Use the chart in Figure G to organize your thoughts and what you know about the strategies.
An Interpersonal style of teaching and learning lays down its motivational chips on the bright red square called relationships. Humans don't just struggle with their relationships with others; humans are designed to form, nourish, explore, and expand them. Sociologically speaking, people learn to relate by playing certain roles at home, on the streets, and in school. Through role playing, they acquire the Interpersonal skills they need to keep their relationships strong.
The four Interpersonal strategies discussed in this section guide students to stronger learning by defining both the group they will be joining and the roles they will play; stimulating certain kinds of thinking; promoting values; and initiating reflection on both what they learned and the process they used to learn it.
As you read about the Interpersonal strategies, use Figure H to take notes on how the different strategies work through these factors.
Diversity and differentiation are two words with similar definitions but very different meanings. Differentiation reminds us to adjust instruction, curriculum, and assessment to make sure all of our different students can reach the same high goals. Diversity reminds us of our responsibility not to simply overcome differences or merely celebrate them; diversity says our job as teachers and leaders is to nurture differences and help them flourish.
Four-Style strategies are uniquely equipped to do this because they provide us with the tools we need to advance four unique and different styles of thought.
A Mastery Style that emphasizes the concrete, the practical, and the importance of memory.
An Interpersonal Style whose heart centers on people, our social context, and the need for connection.
An Understanding Style that focuses on ideas, problem solving, and the role of reason.
A Self-Expressive Style that dreams about creative and inspiring work, a need for surprise, and a place for the imagination.
Before you read the part on Four-Style strategies, take a minute and ask yourself what you've done recently to preserve and advance each of these four different kinds of mind? Which ones find it easier to flourish in your school or classroom? Which ones are more likely to be neglected? What causes these differences?
Each of the four strategies in this part takes a different approach to creating a home for different minds:
As you read, use the framework in Figure I to collect and organize your thoughts.
Diversity Approach
Four-Style Strategy
Key Elements in the Strategy
Open Forum
Text Based
Four-Style Lens
Assessment and Assignment Map
The Strategic Teacher is deliberately and carefully designed to maximize its use by three or more readers working and studying together. After the Introduction, the book is divided into five parts (one for each of the four motivational styles and a concluding section for the four-style strategies) and each part contains four strategies, with each strategy accompanied by its own set of variations. What follows is a set of recommendations for making the best use of this structure when reading The Strategic Teacher as part of a study team.
As a team, select one of the four styles as your focus.
Ask each member of your team to be responsible for one of the four strategies from the chosen style.
As each team member reads and prepares to report to the team about a strategy, he should ask and answer four questions:
After all team members have reported back on their strategies, use the chart from each style's study guide to collate your learning as a team.
For deeper and lasting learning, team members should plan to use and report back on the effects of at least one strategy.
Our deepest hope is that we have written The Strategic Teacher in a way that will cause you to return to it again and again. Not to reread it again cover to cover, but as a book you can count on to help you find the strategy that will fit perfectly with new demands and new students as they emerge in your teaching life. The Perfect Fit Approach is designed for this situation. Here's how it works:
The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-Based Strategy for Every Lesson was written by Harvey F. Silver, Richard W. Strong, and Matthew J. Perini. This 271-page, 8 1/2" × 11" book (Stock #107059; ISBN-13: 978-1-4166-0609-3) is available from ASCD for $21.95 (ASCD member) or $27.95 (nonmember). Copyright © 2007 by Thoughtful Education Press. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600) and press 2 for the Service Center. Or buy the book from ASCD's Online Store.
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