This book is a useful resource for teachers at all levels. It offers practical ideas and solutions to help every teacher develop lessons using teaming strategies. Cooperative learning has multiple benefits that this book clearly identifies. But most importantly, the authors have also shown how to effectively implement thinking skills, technology, and cooperative learning, and how to create classroom norms and expectations so that cooperative learning becomes another important tool for teachers. As a teacher and as an administrator who supervises teachers, I highly recommend this book.
— Tom Niermann, head of campus, The Barstow School
Learn from the best! Dr. Caulfield, Dr. Jennings and Dr. May-Washington take the reader on a must-read, information-packed, timely journey into the world of teaching and learning. Optimizing Learning is your one stop guide to understanding the skill and will needed for implementing strategies to encourage critical thinking, the use of technology and teaming techniques that are necessary anytime, but especially during this COVID-19 pandemic era. Your students will love you for implementing these strategies!
— Shaunda Fowler, PhD, elementary school principal, Kansas City, Missouri
This book, written by a trio of powerhouse educators, accomplishes what very few books in the field do: it takes lofty philosophical and theoretical concepts and converts them into pragmatic, relevant and accessible pedagogical tactics. Teachers who read this book will be well equipped to move their students forward in a rapidly changing world that, at the same time, frequently gets stuck in out-dated, ineffective, and uninspiring methods of instruction. A wonderful resource!
— Carl Pelofsky, head of school, The College School, St. Louis, Missouri
In this book, Drs. Caufield, Jennings and May-Washington combine efforts to provide a guide to best practices and that alone is an extraordinary resource. What I found most special, was the readability. The authors provide specific and particular advice from their combined expertise and experiences, and then deliver this in a way that is enjoyable and easy to read.
I felt like I was sitting down with an old friend as we discussed why we love our work and what we have learned along our journeys, in a way that informed and extended my own knowledge base, while inspiring me to learn and grow as well.
— Susan Anderson Leonard, PhD, associate principal, Shawnee Mission East HS