In this book, Selma Wassermann, international expert on classroom interactions, sets the stage for the relevance of the interactive teaching method, provides data and classroom examples that support its effectiveness at all student learning levels and in different subject areas, and offers detailed and specific help for teachers who are considering embarking on this approach to teaching. Coverage includes "teaching to the big ideas," preparing students, and the basics of developing good listening, responding, and questioning skills in an interactive discussion. A chapter on learning to become reflective practitioners deals with how teachers may become more aware of what they are saying and in better control of framing responses and questions in the art of interactive teaching. The book draws from the author’s long experience and study of interactive teaching using the case method rooted in the Harvard Business School’s approach to large class instruction.
Selma Wassermann is Professor Emerita, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada.
PrefaceChapter 1 Interactive Teaching: The What, the Why and the How Class Discussions and Class DiscussionsInteractive Teaching — It’s Not for Every TeacherChoosing Interactive TeachingChapter 2 The Shape of Teaching and Learning in the Interactive ClassroomWhat’s the Big Idea?Searching for the Meaning of Big Ideas Big Ideas Lead to the Generation of a Curriculum Task or Investigation Small Group WorkFollow-up StudiesHow Long, oh, How Long?Chapter 3 Preparing for Interactive TeachingTolerating Dissonance Maintaining and Relinquishing ControlKnowing Your Own StyleEstablishing the ContractChapter 4 Scenes from Interactive Classrooms The TrainGerms Make Me Sick!The Hockey CardChapter 5 Basic Interactive Skills: Listening, Attending, Apprehending, Making Meaning Now the Fun BeginsA Personal Training Program for Improving One’s Listening and Attending SkillsPractice Tasks in Listening, Attending, Paraphrasing, and Being Non-JudgmentalPostgame Reflections on SimulationsConclusionChapter 6 Basic Interactive skills: Responding, Saying Back, Paraphrasing, InterpretingWaiting for Students to Express Their IdeasBeing Non-Judgmental in Accepting Students’ Responses: Appreciating Students’ Ideas Conditions that Limit and Actually Crush Student ThinkingBecoming Aware of Differences in RespondingSelf-assessmentChapter 7 Basic Interactive Skills: Questioning Unproductive QuestionsLess-than-Productive QuestionsProductive QuestionsGuidelines for Productive QuestionsConclusionChapter 8 The Well-Orchestrated DiscussionChapter 9 Reflecting in ActionIt’s Eezier With a BuddyAppendix A: Practice in Listening, Attending, Paraphrasing, and Being Non-JudgmentalAppendix B: Practice in Listening, Attending, and Responding Appendix C: Task AnalysisAppendix D: Analyzing Interactions Appendix E: CasesThe Hockey CardGerms Are GermsThe Case of BarryIndex