Making Learning Happen: Strategies for an Interactive Classroom

This is a book about making learning happen. Not the kind of learning that is measured by a standardized or multiple-choice test. Nor the kind of learning that occurs on Monday, but is forgotten by Friday. This is a book about conscious learning, the kind of learning that enables students to assess the current level and quality of their language performance and then work to improve that performance deliberately, enthusiastically, and with commitment.

Jeffrey Golub has a talent for taking complex, sophisticated understandings and reworking them into ready-to-use smart activities to foster self-reflection and self-assessment. First, he describes and demonstrates instructional strategies that "make the invisible visible"that encourage students to reflect on their language performance, thus becoming consciously aware of the learning that has occurred. Next, he shows how to restructure your classroom activities to engage your students in every lesson, every project, every day. Two full chapters are devoted to interactive activities that develop students speaking and listening skills and help students work productively and harmoniously in a small-group setting. Golub also lets you listen in on his thinking, describing the structures and activities he uses in his own classroom and describing the messy process of putting together an actual lesson plan.

While other books allude to "reflection," "engagement," and "community," Making Learning Happen is the first one to highlight them, focus on them, and make them the central subject. It is essential reading for all preservice and inservice secondary English teachers.