If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

Basic Moves of Teaching: Building on Cooperative Learning

by William H. Green and Rita Henriquez-Green

180 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #08-0605; ISBN 1-4251-7813-8; US$25.00, C$25.00, EUR17.08, £12.91

For novice or veteran teacher, this practical, hands-on book describes how to perform the research-verified basic moves of teaching so that all students respond all of the time.

About the Book

“Without technique, vision is blind.” Dewitt Jones, National Geographic Photographer

Professional athletes periodically go back to basic training to learn or enhance skills. Teaching, we propose, is as much a performance as it is a cognitive exercise. If that is so, what are the essential, basic skills for all teachers, novice and expert alike? What do we need to practice on a yearly basis?

We believe there are three basic moves in teaching. They are (a) knowing how to establish a healthy, productive learning environment, (b) having the knowledge and skill to set up an environment to ensure interaction, which includes being able to ask meaningful questions, and (c) knowing how to use assessment to ensure that learning has taken place.

Setting up a healthy, productive learning environment is the foundation of the basic teaching moves. It is the milieu in which the others operate. We discuss, in this book, specific processes designed to get you started. Secondly, if teaching is the act of getting the learner to respond, how do we do that in specific, organized ways? We propose research-verified techniques, structures, and strategies that will enable you to do that effectively and efficiently. Most are rooted in cooperative learning, the teaching strategy that has the strongest research base of all teaching processes. Third, the question then becomes did learning occur? Assessment deals with whether the learner responded appropriately.

This book presents a detailed, hands-on, research-verified approach that virtually assures mastery of basic teaching skills for novice and expert alike.

About the Authors

William Green holds a master’s degree in Reading Education from California State University in Los Angeles and a doctoral degree in School Leadership with a specialization in teaching processes from the University of Oregon. He holds teaching and administration certificates on both the elementary and secondary levels. He has taught at elementary, secondary, and higher education levels. He has served as a reading specialist at elementary and secondary levels, and served as an elementary school principal for ten years. In addition to the public school experience, Dr. Green has also served as a professor of teacher education at four different universities. He was Chair of the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Administration at Andrews University for ten years.

Currently Dr. Green is the Dean of the College of Graduate Education and Leadership at Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Jamaica. He consults widely on a variety of topics including leadership, instructional processes, staff development, school improvement, and qualitative research both in the US and abroad. Besides his work in the US, his international teaching and consulting experience includes Trinidad, India, Costa Rica, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, France, England, and he is now a resident of Jamaica. He and his wife are authors of a series of pedagogical training manuals for teachers as well as professional articles.

Rita Henriquez-Green holds a master’s degree in French from California State University, San Diego and a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Andrews University, Michigan. She has taught and been an administrator on the elementary level in the US. In addition, she has been an administrator of schools for the Seventh-day Adventist Church School system in the Carolinas for nine years and an administrator for an eight-state area for two years. She has taught at two universities and at present is Professor of Education at Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Jamaica. Her specializations include teaching processes, staff development, and the use of teacher study groups to improve instruction in schools.

Dr. Henriquez-Green is truly an international educator. She was born in Panama, raised in Costa Rica, and attended school in Trinidad, England, France, and the United States. She speaks three languages fluently (English, French, and her native Spanish) and enjoys teaching and training on a variety of topics and in many locations. She has been a teacher, consultant, administrator, and a writer of instructional materials and is enthusiastic about all. Her publications include a variety of articles and manuals including Wisdom Through Character Building, Pedagogical Foundations, and A Pedagogical Guide to Teaching and Learning Concepts. Currently she is writing, with her husband, a series of teacher training manuals designed to improve the teaching process at all levels.