Teaching As Decision Making Successful Practices for the Secondary Teacher

For general courses in Secondary and/or Middle School Methods. This constructivist-based text examines teaching at the secondary level through discussion of five key factors involved in its practice: Students, Content, Pedagogy, Philosophy, and Context. To help prospective teachers develop a set of skills, without oversimplifying the complexity of teaching, much of the text's content is devoted to the design of curriculum, teaching approaches, classroom management, and adaptation/differentiation of instruction for students with special needs of all types. Numerous examples drawn from secondary school lessons and units are examined through reflection on each strategy's strengths/weaknesses, where/when/with whom it would be most effective, how to modify it to meet the needs of special learners, and what values and/or social relationships it promotes. In addition, a case study involving a multidisciplinary middle-school unit on Zimbabwe ties text-sanctioned practices to unit/lesson planning that meets state and local standards.