What Do I Do About the Kid Who…?: 50 Ways to Turn Teaching into Learning

Lisa Arsenault is a high-school English teacher who is involved in
several ministry campaigns to increase literacy.

The mandate of this manual for educators is to present proven strategies
to enable teachers to create classrooms where effective teaching and
learning takes place. It is directed primarily at the junior and
intermediate levels, although the ideas could be reworked to apply to
the lower grades and, with modifications, to high school. The book is
divided into five sections: establishing the learning environment,
engaging the students, exploring the curriculum, extending the learning,
and evaluating and assessing the learning.

The creation of a viable classroom community conducive to learning is
addressed through strategies such as the use of personal update sheets,
teacher interviews with students, and co-operative games. Methods for
engaging students in learning include the use of tangible props and
artifacts for hands-on experience, audiovisuals to teach and reinforce
concepts, reading aloud to the class, brainstorming ideas, and
role-playing. Tableaux can be used to bring the curriculum to life, as
can choral speaking, monologues, role-playing, and having students
sketch or paint their interpretations of material. Ways for students to
analyze and reflect upon what they have learned include brainstorming to
generate questions to deepen understanding, extended writing on the
topic presented orally in a variety of ways, journal responses and logs,
and presenting material as a student-generated play. The culminating
chapter discusses the ways in which learning can be evaluated: anecdotal
records, interviews, self-assessment and peer-assessment, and student
portfolios.

This manual has lots of sensible suggestions for teachers. There are
also useful photocopy-ready templates such as personal evaluation and
group evaluation checklists, personal goals and needs-assessment forms,
and worksheets. An index makes for handy reference, and there are
several pages of recommended resources.

The book’s title is somewhat misleading: “What do I do about the
kid who ...?” leads the reader to expect that disengaged and/or
disruptive students will be discussed with accompanying strategies for
modifying their behaviour. In fact, behaviours are hardly mentioned. As
well, time constraints would make it difficult to apply many of the
strategies and activities described in the book to the high-school
curriculum.