Best+Teacher+Practices

= **Common Recommendations of National Curriculum Reports- Best Practices** =

**LESS**

 * 1) Less whole-class, teacher-directed instruction (e.g., lecturing)
 * 2) Less student passivity: sitting, listening, receiving and absorbing information
 * 3) Less Presentational, one-way transmission of information from teacher to student
 * 4) Less prizing and rewarding of silence in the classroom
 * 5) Less classroom time devoted to fill-in-the blank worksheets, dittos, workbooks, and other “seatwork”
 * 6) Less student time spent reading textbooks and basal readers
 * 7) Less attempts by teachers to thinly “cover” large amounts of material in every subject area
 * 8) Less rote memorization of facts and details
 * 9) Less emphasis on competition and grades in schools
 * 10) Less tracking or leveling students into “ability groups”
 * 11) Less use of pull-out special programs
 * 12) Less use of and reliance on standardized tests

**MORE**

 * 1) More experimental, inductive, hands-on learning
 * 2) More active learning, with all the attendant noise and movement of students doing, talking, and collaborating
 * 3) More diverse roles for teachers, including coaching, demonstrating, and modeling
 * 4) More emphasis on higher-order thinking; learning a field’s key concepts and principles
 * 5) More deep study of a smaller number of topics, so that students internalize the field’s way of inquiry
 * 6) More reading of real texts: whole books, primary resources, and nonfiction materials
 * 7) More responsibility transferred to students for their work: goal setting, record keeping, monitoring, sharing, exhibiting, and evaluating
 * 8) More choice for students (e.g., choosing their own books, writing topics, team partners, and research projects)
 * 9) More enacting and modeling of principles of democracy in school
 * 10) More attention to affective needs and varying cognitive styles of individual students
 * 11) More cooperative, collaborative activity; developing the classroom as an interdependent community
 * 12) More heterogeneous classrooms where individual needs are met through individualized activities, not segregation of bodies
 * 13) More delivery of special help to students in regular classrooms
 * 14) More varied and cooperative roles of teachers, parents, and administrators
 * 15) More reliance on descriptive evaluation of student growth including observation/anecdotal records, conference notes and performance assessment rubrics