Teaching: Making a Difference

by Rick Churchill, Peter Ferguson, Sally Godinho

Resources for  InstructorCompanion Site Building on the market-leading success of the firstedition,  Making a Difference, 2nd AustralianEdition  has been thoroughly updated to reflect the newAustralian Curriculum and its impact on providing pre-serviceteachers with a contemporary framework to help them excel as futureeducators. Making a real difference in tomorrow’s early childhood,primary, middle and secondary classrooms is as much aboutunderstanding learning and learners, as it is about understandingwhat makes a quality teacher and quality teaching. Strengthening the formula of its four-part thematic structurewith the integration of Australian Curriculumchanges,  Making a Difference, 2nd AustralianEdition  is an essential introduction to the teachingprofession. PART 1: The teaching profession
PART 2: Learning and Learners
PART 3: Preparation, Practice and Process
PART 4: Effectiveness, professionalism and the future This multi-authored volume draws on the expertise of eachcontributor and reflects the latest contemporary research. The textis supported by an updated, equitable multi-media package designedto meet the needs of individual learners.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Teaching, Textbooks, Reference

640 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve finished reading the vast majority of this for an online class I’m assisting with at uni for pre-service teachers. This is such a good book. It is simply written. It is comprehensive. And it covers in quite some depth the kinds of things pre-service teachers are likely to be most concerned about (how to maintain a productive classroom and how to be both a teacher and a teacher/researcher). The section on how to maintain order in the classroom was particularly good. Reflective practice is the key concept here. The book also provides an excellent introduction to education theorists, particularly Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey and even Skinner. It also introduces pre-teachers to social inequity and disadvantage in another chapter that was a highlight of the text and how education is often portrayed as the most effective means of overcoming inequity and disadvantage. It gives a much more complex picture of this process, particularly in relation to education of people with special needs. What a sick society we are that we have to keep such boundaries between people – ‘right, the old over there, children over here behind this wall until you can shut up, and the botched and bungled, umm, well, maybe somewhere out-of-sight’. An excellent book which I wish we had used at Melbourne Uni when I was doing my pre-service teacher training.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for Masters of Secondary Education course.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly detailed overarching text for beginner Australian teachers.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent foundational textbook. I will be revisiting some parts of this in future studies.