Preface

This book is about how to teach well. While it draws on our personal experiences in education and will include anecdotes, it is grounded in research on classrooms and students in a wide variety of contexts. It may come as little surprise that teachers often tend to teach in the ways that they were taught (Lortie, 2002); that can be wonderful for learners who are similar to you, but terrible for students who did not have the same background, experiences, and interests.

This text has been designed and organized for a class called EDUC 351A: Instructional Design and Assessment, at the University of Mary Washington. Over the past several years, we have needed to require three or even four books for students because no single existing book addresses these areas to the degree we’d like. A second inspiration for this book and its open publishing came from an unlikely source: a publisher. We once used an excellent text and then the publisher decided to make it a pile of looseleaf pages. And then the publisher kept changing the editions. And then I heard a student describe that she chose her language course in college–Latin–because the textbook was cheaper than the books for any other language, most of which used a $200-300 textbook. Times are changing. College is expensive. So this book is free for you. If you had budgeted for the purchase of textbooks for this class and you would like to do some good with those funds, take a look at some of the classroom projects at Donors Choose or reach out to a teacher you know who could use some financial support for their classroom, buy a student membership in your content-area professional organization, or find a local (preferably education-related) charity that aligns with your values.

Another benefit of the open, online format of this book is that updating it can be done easily and in an ongoing manner. If you encounter a broken link or incorrect information, please submit this information at the link in Appendix C.

Throughout the text you will find links to relevant videos, articles, and websites, so the text is best viewed digitally. You may certainly order your own print copy if that helps, but keep in mind that visiting the links will enable you to fully grasp the many concepts in the text.

Various threads are woven together throughout the text–instruction, assessment, models, objectives, differentiation, evidence-based strategies, and more. There are many things that this book will not be able to address in much detail, because space is limited; these include such topics as classroom management, special education, teaching English Language Learners, detailed practices for teaching in various content areas, and a host of other things. A comprehensive teacher education program will include additional coursework and practice in these areas.

Thank you for taking the time to read and use this book, and thank you for your service to your community and your students.