For the Elementary Methods or Field Experience course. A Resource Guide for Elementary School Teaching is a practical, comprehensive, and concise methods text designed to engage readers in hands-on and minds-on learning about effective teaching.

Welcome to the fifth edition ofA Resource Guide for Elementary School Teaching: Planning for Competence.The purpose of this resource guide is to provide a practical and concise guide for college or university students who are preparing to become competent elementary schoolteachers. Others who may find it useful are experienced teachers who desire to continue developing their teaching skills and curriculum specialists and school administrators who desire a current, practical, and concise text of methods, guidelines, and resources for teaching in elementary school. NEW TO THIS EDITION Because of all the activity in education today, the research and preparation for this fifth edition was unusually demanding. Major changes for this fifth edition are described below: Chapter 1 is, we believe, a better organized and more focused overview of elementary school teaching today. A new chapterhas been added, Chapter 2, devoted to elementary school children, their development and their diversity, and specific ways of working with them in the classroom, topics that were part of Chapter 1 of the previous edition. Although we strive to keep this book a comprehensive guide of methods and resources for teaching elementary school, we are also sensitive to the book's size and cost to its users. This edition has fewer chapters and, in general, is more condensed than the previous edition. This was accomplished by (a) eliminating material that was dated or worn or that could be moved to the Companion Website, (b) condensing or relocating material that was covered in more than one chapter (for example, cooperative learning was previously addressed in both Chapters 6 and 9; it now is addressed principally in Chapter 8), (c) reorganizing the content of Part II into two rather than three chapters, (d) eliminating what was formerly Chapter 7 and moving its major content to Chapter 6, and (e) eliminating Chapter 12 of the previous edition, which described the various subjects of the elementary school curriculum, material better left to the special methods courses of your program of teacher preparation. There are now 12 chapters rather than the 14 chapters of the previous edition. Despite the blue ribbon commissions, authors, and politicians who vilify what they perceive as the failures of public school education, thousands of committed teachers, administrators, parents, and community representatives struggle daily, year after year, to provide children with a quality education. So that readers can learn about or visit exemplary schools and programs, many are recognized and identified by name throughout this text. Found throughout the text, sometimes at the front of a chapter, are instructional scenarios and classroom vignettes that serve as additional springboards for thinking and class discussion. To reflect the concerted efforts throughout the nation to help students at all grade levels to connect academic learning, personal growth, and a sense of civic responsibility, this edition of the resource guide identifies many sample projects and resources for service learning, especially in Chapters 1 and 8. Other changes made for this edition are mentioned in the paragraphs that follow. OUR BELIEFS: HOW AND WHERE THEY ARE REFLECTED IN THIS RESOURCE GUIDE In the preparation of this book, we saw our tasknotas making the teaching job easier for you--effective teaching is never easy--but as improving your teaching effectiveness and providing relevant guidelines and current resources. You may choose from these resources and build upon what works best for you. Nobody can tell you what will work with your students; you will know them best. We do share what we believe to be the best of practice, the most useful of recent research findings, and the richest of experiences. The highlighted statements present our beliefs and explain how they a