Imagine that, another educator taking age old ideas-for the most part-renaming the components & making a nice deposit in his bank account. Go back and dust off titles by Hunter, Bloom, & the like & you'll do yourself a favor. Or if you're really ambitious go to school, get your doctorate in Ed & package old ideas as new like Marzzano has done.

This text book was required for my education class, The Effective Teacher. I have found the book to be very helpful in establishing effective procedures and classroom management to help increase student achievement.

As a teacher I have encountered many points of view as to what will work best in my classroom. This book presents specific strategies that have the data and research to support their consistent use in enhancing student achievement. For seasoned teachers, like myself, although the strategies are not necessarily new, it is good to know which of the myriad of tools we have acquired over the years actually work and have the data to prove it. An excellent "tune up" for the classroom. I will put this into action right away this year and I am glad I read it over the summer to help me reshape my instruction for the coming year.

The insights provided in this book guide and inspire the new teacher and the master teacher. The book left me excited about returning to school in the fall.

This is a very dry book with a lot of excellent ideas. Though hard to read, it is valid in what it presents.

After hearing so much in teacher in-services about "Marzano strategies" I decided to check out his work myself. I was struck by the simple fact they are not his strategies as people talk about. Instead, they are research supported strategies that he and other authors/researchers have compiled and shrunk down into some user-friendly nuggets. The book is very easy to read, provides ample sources of real research, and is practical. The layout is great and the content superb. It is an excellent resource for teachers looking to improve their instruction based on reliable and somewhat traditional methods.

Provides tangible ideas that any educator can take into the classroom. I would also recommend any book by Kelly Gallagher.

An excellent text for the first time teacher. Provides techniques and examples to assist in implementation of the techniques. Gives you more teaching tools for your toolbox. Easy to read, taking one chapter at a time. I highly recommend the book.

***THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EDUCATORS***

Research points out that 75% of those who go into teaching are systematic learners, and then teach systematically, while 75% of students (and the rest of us) are not systematic learners. Systematic teachers are those who will teach you how to ride a bike by first making you sit as they describe the parts and how they work together...that's fine for 25% of students but most of us just need to get on the bike and ride it...from the experience of riding the bike we then have a purposeful framework for...ta da...later systematic instruction...what am I trying to say? This book is "instructional heroin" for systematic teachers...perfect for the suburbs where children have the schema to automatically make connections between concepts...but, from what I've experienced, falls short in an at-risk school.

One perfect example is the section on discovery teaching. It states that there isn't research to back up its superiority as an approach...that's not true...and that it's "time consuming". Well...no...it actually saves time if done correctly...because it will not take the time direct teaching requires to "pound a concept into a child's head" as procedure...it fits brain research as applied to at-risk kids who desperately need to think, and move, and discover...it combines numerous curriculum indicators into meaningful systems...but, most importantly, places new information within a purposeful, motivating environment.

On the upside, Chapter 6 regarding "Non-linguistic" representations is superb...my only problem is that it doesn't address the value of graphic organizers for younger learners as opposed to the older learner...there's plenty of research pointing out the uselessness and/or overuse of graphic organizers in the younger grades...they're great tools...if introduced at the right time/age and with purpose! Unfortunately, I can see teachers in grades pre-k through 3 forcing children to create graphic organizers as a result of this book...yikes!

Ya have to be careful as we found out with NCLB and the research on reading...research can be spun to fit different purposes...especially educational research...if this info. fits your view and you're living in an area where kids have the advantages of a stable home and people talking with them from birth...go for it...for the rest of us...borrow it from the library (my copy was never checked out in three years! - telling)...and then return it.

There's an old saying that teachers very often "efficiently solve the wrong problem"...it's not about efficiency folks...it's about effectiveness. If you apply the ideas in this book blindly without regard to student background or age...you may be doing more harm than good.

I can't add much to what is already written here. But I must say, these teaching approaches work. The authors back up every method with careful research. Best of all, the methods are described specifically.

There are too many high points to list them all. Here are just three things I especially liked:

1. The explanation of the effects of massed v. distributed practice.

2. Chapter 12 on how to USE the approaches in planning.

3. The Types of Word Problems diagram in Chapter 11. If you teach math above the second grade level, this matrix is in itself almost worth the price of the book.

If you are serious about results from your students, this book is a great tool.

I don't have an opinion on the book itself, it's a requirement for a class. However, I thought although there were restrictions (understandable copyright issues) on printing, I could have the inexpensive ebook, and print a hardcopy to take to the class. If you have printer issues (and you will) you will be penalized for those copies, whether they are printed, readable, or not. Subsequent downloads to override posed a different kind of printer issue, as it began printing pages 'backwards'...so I'm still out my pages. I'll have to buy the hardcopy anyway.

If someone gave you a book that had the keys to learning in it, would you read it? You are a good teacher, so of course you would, and it is this book. Many books out there are some research, some theory--this book is all research-based strategies that are proven to work in a classroom, so there is no guessing if these are effective methods or not.

The accompanying handbook helps you to apply these strategies to your content, giving you step-by-step instructions. I would highly recommend this book for any teacher at any level and any subject area.

I've studied education for over 20 years and I still learned new approaches in my field. The book should be scanned in some places and read and re-read in others.

Yes, some of the best practices are familiar because they are, well, best practices. This is what teachers have begged for, a book of techniques back by data.

This book struck me as simplistic and dry when I read it. However, when I had the opportunity to spend a day in a seminar with Debra Pickering, one of the authors, I changed my mind. It was one of the most life-changing seminars I have ever attended in my 34 years in public education. So....if you have the opportunity to go to a Pickering seminar, read the book first, take it with you, and be ready to learn some great ways to implement what seem to be some old strategies.

There have to be more thought provoking monographs about the application of research in the classroom. Sanitized statistics, silly stories, a frighteningly short list of references and text that probably does not read beyond the 6th grade level disturbs me. Does Mr. Marzano think that all educators are semi-literate morons? His ideas are not new in the science classroom, and most ideas he covers are reiterations of something old for me. I was required to use this book and its sister workbook for a GRADUATE LEVEL education course. I would recommend NEITHER.

I've yet to read such a well-written, succinct overview of the most popular current teaching methods. Marzano and company are the great synthesizers of educational methods these days. While it's true that no chapter is completely detailed, the authors provide ample notations to enable those interested in pursuing a method to further enhance their teaching.

Very well put together, highly accessible, and very plain-spoken, this is a fantastic overview for the novice and a great refresher for the veteran educator.

PS. A reply to "Chock full of the Obvious," the reviewer from Maine who didn't bother to leave a name. What Marzano does is provide a jumping-off point. He and his co-authors don't expect their text to be biblical. If they do, well, then I'll apologize. However, for thumbnail sketches of the big methods that work, it's a damn fine book. And that's how I reviewed it. Not only that, but keeping this book on your desk gives you a pretty high CYA quotient if you're ever questioned on your methods by an overzealous administrator.

I'll keep this short and sweet, and not summarize the contents of the book. Such can be found in other reviews, as well as the editorial synopsis. Instead, let me just suggest that "Classroom Instruction that Works??? is a long overdue work that can be used in a three-fold manner.

First, it should be required reading for every new teacher. It clearly details for them what is effective in the classroom, regardless of grade level. There is little philosophy here. This is ???meat and potatoes??? practicality.

Secondly, the research in this book should become an integral part of every teacher-evaluation process. It provides a model paradigm of excellence in teaching above and beyond the subjectivity extant in most evaluations today.

Finally, this book should be a personal read of every experienced teacher. I cannot express my feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when I realized--I already do many of these things! While I know I can improve in many areas because of reading this work, much of my teaching was validated by sound research, and that felt good!

It is my hope that this material will be presented at many of the national education conferences I attend each year--in fact, I plan on using much of this in my own presentations.

The book is nicely organized, backed by solid research, and utilizes illustrative scenarios which make complex methodology very understandable. And isn't this the goal of every classroom teacher?

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Dr. J.L. Parks
Georgetown Middle School
Georgetown, KY

Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock draw upon their many years of experience and expertise as educators to effectively collaborate in providing an informative series of nine research-based strategies for the use of classroom teachers seeking to increase their student's achievement levels. These strategies include identifying similarities and differences; summarizing and note taking; reinforcing effort and providing recognition; homework and practice; nonlinguistic representations; cooperative learning; setting objectives and providing feedback; generating and testing hypotheses; questions, cues, and advance organizers. Enhanced with informative charts and graphs, and highly recommended for student teacher reading lists and classroom management studies, Classroom Instruction That Works will enable teachers to enable their students to learn how to take effective notes, work in groups, and use graphic organizers.