The Fundamental 5 Revisited: Exceptional Instruction In Every Setting

by Sean Cain, Mike Laird, Sherilynn Cotten

The Fundamental 5 Exceptional Instruction In Every Setting, shares with educators the five high-yield instructional practices that every teacher can, and should, use to dramatically improve instructional rigor and relevance, and student performance. The Fundamental 5 Revisited provides teachers with strategies that will allow them to implement the practices with ease and fidelity. The book provides instructional leaders with the information and insight they need to support teachers as they begin to purposefully use the practices. Used by campuses and teachers across the country, The Fundamental 5 Revisited is the practical resource that every teacher can use immediately to improve instruction today!

Genres: Education

186 pages, Paperback

Published October 9, 2021

Reviews

[Leigh Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclosure - we were assigned this book to read for our school leadership team prior to the rest of the staff reading it. I am also an art teacher.

This book has great basic concepts, and serves as a refresher for all teachers - it certainly made me think about what practices I use in my classroom and how they apply, and which ones I can adjust.

It is a highly repetitive, redundant book. Most paragraphs felt like the same thing just rephrased. It probably could have been reduced by about 100 pages. The graphs and content weren’t really supported by data. The introduction discusses the work the authors did that led to the Fundamental 5, but very few of the graphics and claims were backed up by the data they collected. Many of the statements were along the lines of if you do this, it will work. Additionally, there was one reference to non academic classes in this book. It did not provide specific examples for any non academic classes. Personally, this has always been a contentious point for me as an art educator. Most PD’s and academic resources like this book are geared towards academic classrooms, and when asked to provide examples for non academic settings (ie. art, PE, tech Ed, music) they fall flat, lack understanding, or are not appropriate for grade level. If they expect us to reinforce and utilize these concepts in our classrooms, they need to include relevant and applicable examples.

This would have made a better article, or short synopsis rather than a book.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the original Fundamental Five transformed my teaching. More so than any other teaching book I read in undergrad, graduate school, or various book studies assigned for my PLC, the Fundamental Five contains the most easily implemented, high yield instructional practices that can elevate any teacher’s practice. Reading this revised edition as I am now preparing to transition from the classroom to an Instructional Coaching position was an excellent reminder of how I can help others become the teacher I would want my own children to have.

[Rebecca Kroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overly wordy and redundant! There are some good practices to implement, however much of it can easily be overlooked by the excessive chatter by the authors(they enjoyed typing more than getting to the point). This easily could’ve been written in 50 pages, and it would’ve been much more effective, and a better use of my time. Sometimes less is more. My 3rd star was being generous.

[Sarah Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading for professional development is not always my favorite, but everyone of these strategies helps me in my classroom on a daily basis. This was a great revisit and had lots of extra resources to easily put each of the fundamental five to use.

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of what I already know is discussed in this book, but I liked the pandemic stats and how it’s been updated from the original book.

[Kristin Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think every teacher should read and implement this. The beauty of it is that it’s not rocket science!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a strategy I will need to incorporate in the classroom this year. I find it “fundamentally” important to have the student understand the objective of the day and realize that they learned it by the end of class.

[Kirby Hulme · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are down in the dumps about data or about student participation whether you are a new teacher or a veteran teacher. This book is for you!

[Samantha Haddock · Rating 1 out of 5]

what a load of nothing

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this before, but reading it again gave me a great refresher.