Made For Learning: How the Conditions of Learning Guide Teaching Decisions

If any book can be described as a foundation for teaching, Made for Learning is that book. Made for Learning is the result of 60 years of research and theory building by Australian educator Brian Cambourne, articulated and described with abundant classroom examples by American educator Debra Crouch. Three years of Zoom sessions made it possible for the two educators to collaborate on a regular basis, challenging and encouraging each other to understand Brian s original work in novel and innovative ways. Through integrating the Conditions of Learning research with new theoretical understandings, the co-authors present insightful analysis of teacher decision-making and classroom practices. Made for Learning offers educators a well-thought-out and up-to-date exploration of learning and teaching. The core of the book explores the multi-faceted, yet natural, processes underpinning learning to read and write. The authors challenge the commonly held assumption that learning to read and write are unnatural processes. Built on Brian's original research observations of young children learning to speak, the Conditions of Learning address the necessity of nurturing a responsive classroom environment for all learning to occur, whether that learning is virtual or in-person. This intentional culture for learning happens not in isolation but as part of an integrated whole. An addition to the theory that has blossomed since the publication of Brian s first book in 1988 is a deeper understanding of the role of language in the learning process. How teachers interact with learners and the language they use has a resounding impact on the learning that occurs. In Made for Learning the authors describe a Discourse of Meaning-Making and explain and illustrate how to make that discourse the dominant language of the classroom. When the Conditions are coupled with four Processes That Empower Learning, an extension of the theory in the last three decades, teacher decision-making promotes the active participation of learners in their own literate journey. How that active learning looks, sounds, and feels becomes tangible in the multitude of classroom examples found throughout the book. These classroom examples bring the Conditions of Learning to life and are unpacked to explore and analyze the specific teaching decisions leading to student learning. The authors offer educators concrete tools to use the Conditions of Learning as a framework to explore their own practices to strengthen learning experiences for every student. Regie Routman graciously reviewed the book and had this to say: Once in a great while a book comes along that upends our thinking -- challenging us to critically examine the effects of our literacy beliefs, practices, and processes around teaching and learning. Made for Learning is that breakthrough book.

Debra Crouch works nationally as an independent literacy consultant, collaborating with districts and schools in designing professional learning opportunities to empower teachers, principals, and coaches as they envision instruction over time, across texts, and among practices. She has been involved in education for the past 32 years as a classroom teacher, coach, consultant, and author. She actively shares her thinking and practices through long-term professional learning opportunities with districts across the country serving children from diverse language and socioeconomic backgrounds. At Debra s website, teaching decisions.com, educators can view her video and webinar series for Shared and Guided Reading. Brian Cambourne is presently a Principal Fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He began teaching in 1956 at the age of 19 and spent nine years teaching in a mix of one-room schools and primary classrooms K-6 for the New South Wales Department of Education. In his tenth year of service for this department he entered the groves of Academe as a teacher educator at Wagga Wagga Teachers College. He completed his Ph.D at James Cook University in Nth Queensland, and was subsequently a Fullbright Scholar and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Universities of Illinois and Arizona. Since completing his doctoral studies (1972), Brian has been researching how learning, especially literacy learning, occurs. He has conducted this research in the naturalistic mode he prefers by sitting in classrooms for many hundreds of hours.