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How to Teach Adults: Plan Your Class, Teach Your Students, Change the World, Expanded Edition (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education
Your hands-on guide to teaching adults. . . no matter what the subject In this expanded edition of How to Teach Adults, Dan Spalding offers practical teaching and classroom management suggestions that are designed for anyone who works with adult learners, particularly new faculty, adjuncts, those in community colleges, ESL teachers, and graduate students. This reader-friendly resource covers all phases of the teaching process from planning what to teach, to managing a classroom, to growing as a professional in the field. How to Teach Adults can guide new instructors who are trying to get up to speed on their own or can help teacher trainers cover what their students need to know before they get in front of a class. It is filled with down-to-earth tips and checklists on such topics as connecting with adult students, facilitating discussions, and writing tests, plus everything you need to remember to put into your syllabus and how to choose the right textbook. Dan Spalding reveals what it takes to teach all students the skills they need to learn, no matter what the topic or subject matter. Full of vivid examples from real-world classrooms, this How to Teach Adults offers the framework, ideas, and tools needed to conduct your class or workshop with confidence.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 12, 2020
When my classmates and I were getting ready to go off and start making lesson plans, this book really came in handy. I thought the author's language was very clear and concise, and honestly, this book did most of my professor's explaining for her. Overall, a really great read for people trying to figure out how to engage adult students.
April 10, 2021
To understand this book properly, the reader must grasp that Spalding has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to adults for several years. He is engaged in self-education and in innovation of education for other groups. In the final chapter of this book, he lays out an ambitious vision for what public education has to offer America in our time.
He addresses learning for adults primarily in a classroom environment (such as with his ESL classes), not in graduate school nor informally in a workplace. As such, he misses the mark in terms of what adult education is about. Much of adult education happens in unstructured (or even pseudo-structured) environments like churches. People learn from each other in an ad hoc manner. Or they read something (say, on the Internet) that teaches them about something else and discuss it with friends, family, or colleagues. In my experience, adult education – even in more formal graduate schools – is focused on efficient learning but not as much on the formalities of a teacher/student dichotomy.
I personally aim to teach and to learn in every environment I’m engaged with. I keep a book blog; I coordinate a Sunday School class for adults; I develop software with co-workers and discuss learnings; I lead discussions about that software with computer users; I talk over life with my daughter at the dinner table; etc. I’m interested in how to make those relationships adhere to efficient two-way knowledge exchange. This book frankly did not hit that sweet spot. It did point me to some resources that might, however.
This book’s audience is those engaged with teaching adults in formal (classroom) environments. It goes into detail about the issues educators might face and pushes the envelope about how to adapt those environments to contemporary needs. It adapts how schools of education teach teachers to adult learning contexts. This is a very necessary task; it just doesn’t fit my personal situation. It would have been nice to have a chapter (or even a series of chapters) on how to teach adults in non-classroom environments, where most adults spend most of their time. This could include in informal relationships, through group presentations, in meetings, or by technology and media.
The book did close strong by dwelling on two important issues for every American teacher: how to grow personally and where American education ought to go corporately. Clearly, Spalding cares about his profession and about his own and his students’ places in the world. His pedagogy is informed by his life, and vice versa. Professional teachers in particular will benefit from his approach.
He addresses learning for adults primarily in a classroom environment (such as with his ESL classes), not in graduate school nor informally in a workplace. As such, he misses the mark in terms of what adult education is about. Much of adult education happens in unstructured (or even pseudo-structured) environments like churches. People learn from each other in an ad hoc manner. Or they read something (say, on the Internet) that teaches them about something else and discuss it with friends, family, or colleagues. In my experience, adult education – even in more formal graduate schools – is focused on efficient learning but not as much on the formalities of a teacher/student dichotomy.
I personally aim to teach and to learn in every environment I’m engaged with. I keep a book blog; I coordinate a Sunday School class for adults; I develop software with co-workers and discuss learnings; I lead discussions about that software with computer users; I talk over life with my daughter at the dinner table; etc. I’m interested in how to make those relationships adhere to efficient two-way knowledge exchange. This book frankly did not hit that sweet spot. It did point me to some resources that might, however.
This book’s audience is those engaged with teaching adults in formal (classroom) environments. It goes into detail about the issues educators might face and pushes the envelope about how to adapt those environments to contemporary needs. It adapts how schools of education teach teachers to adult learning contexts. This is a very necessary task; it just doesn’t fit my personal situation. It would have been nice to have a chapter (or even a series of chapters) on how to teach adults in non-classroom environments, where most adults spend most of their time. This could include in informal relationships, through group presentations, in meetings, or by technology and media.
The book did close strong by dwelling on two important issues for every American teacher: how to grow personally and where American education ought to go corporately. Clearly, Spalding cares about his profession and about his own and his students’ places in the world. His pedagogy is informed by his life, and vice versa. Professional teachers in particular will benefit from his approach.
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July 15, 2020The book I chose for this month is “How to Teach Adults: Plan Your Class, Teach Your Students, Change the World” by Dan Spalding. Dan Spalding is a well-known name in adult learning theory but I have never had the chance to read one of this books. This book gives practical advice for those teaching adult students and includes stories from Spalding’s decades of teaching. He has experience teaching ESL to adults from all different backgrounds. The book’s main advice for teaching adults is to get out of your comfort zone, and push your students out of their comfort zone. He argues that the best learning and best teaching happens outside of the comfort zone. He also talks about seeing students as individuals and getting to know them on an individual level. By getting to know students on an individual level, you can better understand how they are approaching the content and then better predict where problems might arise. He gives an overview of different adult learner development theories and discusses how to use these theories when developing lesson plans and teaching, including how to make your content relatable for students who are different stages of development. Finally, he discusses the future of teaching adult learners. He argues that the average age of students in higher education will continue to rise and soon everyone who teaches in higher education, no matter the context, will need to understand the unique challenges of teaching adult students.
Most of the learners I work with are older than the “typical” college student. Metropolitan State University has an average student age of 35. In my higher education program, we did not talk about the differences between “typical” college aged students (18 to 24) and older students. I felt that this information would be useful for me as I continue to develop course curriculum, visit college classes, and work with adult learners.
Even for CTEP members who do not service in higher education, this book would be helpful for anyone who is teaching adult learners in any context. It gives a lot of practical advice and references many other resources that would be helpful to explore.
Most of the learners I work with are older than the “typical” college student. Metropolitan State University has an average student age of 35. In my higher education program, we did not talk about the differences between “typical” college aged students (18 to 24) and older students. I felt that this information would be useful for me as I continue to develop course curriculum, visit college classes, and work with adult learners.
Even for CTEP members who do not service in higher education, this book would be helpful for anyone who is teaching adult learners in any context. It gives a lot of practical advice and references many other resources that would be helpful to explore.
January 26, 2016
I think I'd definitely recommend this to a new instructor. I wish I'd had it when I started! It's very readable and has good advice in digestible chunks. It may be more a reflection of where I'm at but I wish it went more in depth. That's my only critique.
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In the first chapter, Spalding says that teaching is about creating a safe, supportive environment in which you put students into a state of (intellectual) discomfort, without pushing them into a state of alarm. I've never heard it put this way, but I agree. Students aren't really learning if they're not being challenged, but they're also not learning if they feel unsafe or distraught. It's a fine line and one I am still navigating 20 years after my first teaching gig.
He also includes a great quote from professor Andrew Delbanco: "We might say that the most important thing one can acquire in college is a well-functioning bullshit meter." Amen to that. It's what I try to nurture in all my students, from literacy level on up.
I read the first sample chapter on the publisher's website and then immediately checked it out of our public library. I'm looking forward to reading the whole book.
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In the first chapter, Spalding says that teaching is about creating a safe, supportive environment in which you put students into a state of (intellectual) discomfort, without pushing them into a state of alarm. I've never heard it put this way, but I agree. Students aren't really learning if they're not being challenged, but they're also not learning if they feel unsafe or distraught. It's a fine line and one I am still navigating 20 years after my first teaching gig.
He also includes a great quote from professor Andrew Delbanco: "We might say that the most important thing one can acquire in college is a well-functioning bullshit meter." Amen to that. It's what I try to nurture in all my students, from literacy level on up.
I read the first sample chapter on the publisher's website and then immediately checked it out of our public library. I'm looking forward to reading the whole book.
May 12, 2015
So, I'm reading this book because I harbor a not-so-secret desire to develop a new side hustle and teach a class, after tutoring adults this past year and being a guest speaker at a college/university class. I don't just want to teach--I have ideas about designing curriculum and leading the class. I'm reading along, without having read the author bio, agreeing with everything and learning a bunch of valuable new stuff and then Dan Spalding mentions Ron Kahn...and I look up and say, "Oh, he's an Obie! That totally explains where he's coming from and why I'm liking this so much!" Great book! Interesting insights into "The Future of Education." I would have liked to see a chapter on how to land an adjunct job; that's my only suggestion. Good work, Dan Spalding!
April 15, 2016
Useful and FREE.
Pragmatic - opinionated - practical.
A good guide and reference. Would be particular useful to newbies but old hands can learn something too. I didn't always agree with the author's point of view but I liked his straightforward communicative style and it made me think about my teaching style.
Pragmatic - opinionated - practical.
A good guide and reference. Would be particular useful to newbies but old hands can learn something too. I didn't always agree with the author's point of view but I liked his straightforward communicative style and it made me think about my teaching style.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews