Teaching Actively: Eight Steps and 32 Strategies to Spark Learning in Any Classroom

It’s not what you tell your students that counts but rather what they take away from the classroom! Teaching Actively is the long-awaited follow-up to Mel Silberman’s best-selling book Active Learning:101 Strategies to Teach Any Subject.  Where Active Learning is the ultimate book of “recipes” for improving classroom teaching, Teaching Actively shows teachers how to become exceptional chefs.

Teaching Actively is a comprehensive plan teachers can follow rather than a collection of ideas from which to pick and chose.  The book outlines an eight-step plan for any teacher who has students with basic skills in “reading, writing, and arithmetic” and the ability to collaborate with fellow classmates. It is applicable for all grades and focuses and contains practical, ready-to-use ideas for improving a student’s involvement in his or her education. The book demonstrates how to facilitate games, practice exercises, role-plays, and other experiential activities to enhance the learning.

From engaging students to presenting ideas, Teaching Actively is an approach to teaching that any teacher can utilize to improve the learning in his or her classroom. Silberman offers practical suggestions on involving students in their own learning and addresses specific ways to encourage peer-learning and incorporate technology into the lesson.