Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom

I don't like the textbook Bean worked on (Allyn and Bacon guide to writing), but I did enjoy this book. I learned a lot about teaching writing and he gives some great advice on commenting and peer reviews. This would be a good textbook for incoming college writing TAs or teachers.

“The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thing, and active learning in the classroom,” according to the subtitle, this book delivers. In four parts--Understanding connections between thinking and writing; Designing problem-based assignments; Coaching students as learners, thinkers, and writers; and Reading, commenting on, and grading student writing--Bean clearly shows why writing is important for learning and how to make it a more prominent part of any class--without necessarily creating a lot of additional work for the instructor. Recommended for anyone who teaches at high school or higher levels, no matter the subject.

No matter what course you teach, you will always teach writing (unless you are an acting teacher, I guess) and at least one learning goal has to focus on helping students express their thinking about their course of study well...and in writing. To reach that goal, you'll need writing activities and a plan for strengthening the writing skills of your students throughout the semester. This book will take any instructor from any discipline through the process of incorporating more and better writing assignments/activities in a classroom, categorizing them by the type of skill represented. Necessary chapers--engaging all learners, dealing with grammar issues, how to design types of assignments, and how to coach students toward your ideal show more vision of writer. Definitely read this book before planning (or when revising) your course. show less

Excellent guide to encouraging active learning and critical thinking. Got me through my first teaching assessment!

excellent suggestions, advice and "how to." useful for AP teachers and some strategies would also work with most high school students.

Teaching for critical thinking, especially in a way that fosters student engagement and active learning, is even more important today than when the first edition of this best-selling classic was published. In this thoroughly revised and updated edition, John Bean offers a practical guide for designing writing and critical thinking activities and incorporating them into courses across all disciplines in ways that stimulate inquiry, exploration, discussion, and debate.

In this second edition, Bean integrates recent pedagogical research, brings rhetorical theory to bear on writing in the disciplines, addresses quantitative and scientific literacy, advocates a new approach to the research paper, includes activities for online and blended show more learning environments, and offers new ideas for transformative assessment of student learning. show less

Available at Western Libraries