Recommended Books On Teaching
By Georgeanne Cooper, Director, Teaching Effectiveness Program
These books have been recommended by faculty developers throughout the U.S. Some are available from the TEP library.
- Richard Pregent's Charting Your Course: How to Prepare to Teach More
Effectively, Madison, WI: Magna Publications, 1994. Call Magna at (608)246-3580.
This book is comprehensive and offers a quick, efficient read -- it encapsulates
material in outlines, lists, graphs, and tables. Each chapter ends with a
summary/review in outline form. It's packed with examples, and there's not
a wasted word in the whole book.
- Barbara Gross Davis's Tools for Teaching. Jossey-Bass, 1993 includes
lots of good, practical ideas and references. Its organization is well-suited
to trouble-shooting and provides quick solutions to faculty. While other books
have equally good information, faculty have to consume time in finding it
and digging it out of various places. Barbara's book is the best user's guide
to date for the general faculty member. An overwhelming favorite among new
and junior faculty.
- Another favorite is Bill McKeachie's Teaching Tips. This and Classroom
Assessment Techniques, by Angelo and Cross, are helpful for inexperienced
instructors as well as new faculty with some experience elsewhere.
- Finding the Heart of the Child: Essays on Children, Families and Schools,
by Edward M. Hallowell and Michael G. Thompson, is profoundly moving. It's
published by the Association of Independent Schools in New England, 1993.
Although directed at independent school audiences, there is much in it that
applies to all of us.
- Another highly recommended book is In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands
of Modern Life by Robert Kegan (1994) Harvard University Press. Not only
will you gain insight into public school education, but you'll also broaden
your perspectives on counseling, therapy, parenting, marriage, getting older,
your teaching colleagues, and business relationships. What a deal! The Spanish
phrase me partio la cabeza roughly translated means "broke my head
open." This book changed the way I think this year.
- Also consider New Paradigms for College Teaching by Bill Campbell and Karl Smith [Eds.] Interaction Book Co. (7208 Cornelia Dr., Edina, MN 55435 (612)831-9500). This book is meant for college instructors who are relatively new. Its purpose is to tell new teachers about teaching techniques they may not have seen in grad school -- writing across the curriculum, collaborative learning, inclusive syllabi, active learning, electronic means of communication with students, and so on. Each chapter is written by a practitioner, with a brief list of references for further study. The idea is to give relatively new teachers a taste of a wide variety of ways to help students learn.
Lizard 36 Spring 96
Address questions or comments about TEP or this site to:
Georgeanne Cooper, Program Director, 64 PLC
Phone: 541-346-2177 Fax: 541-346-2184
Teaching Effectiveness Program, Teaching and Learning Center, University of Oregon.
Last Modified:
03/18/10