Teaching for Deeper Learning: Tools to Engage Students in Meaning Making

Far too often, our students attain only a superficial level of knowledge that fails to prepare them for deeper challenges in school and beyond. In Teaching for Deeper Learning, renowned educators and best-selling authors Jay McTighe and Harvey F. Silver propose a solution: teaching students to make meaning for themselves.

Contending that the ability to "earn" understanding will equip students to thrive in school, at work, and in life, the authors highlight seven higher-order thinking skills that facilitate students' acquisition of information for greater retention, retrieval, and transfer. These skills, which cut across content areas and grade levels and are deeply embedded in current academic standards, separate high achievers from their low-performing peers.

Drawing on their deep well of research and experience, the authors

- Explore what kind of content is worth having students make meaning about.
- Provide practical tools and strategies to help teachers target each of the seven thinking skills in the classroom.
- Explain how teachers can incorporate the thinking skills and tools into lesson and unit design.
- Show how teachers can build students' capacity to use the strategies independently.

If our goal is to prepare students to meet the rigorous demands of school, college, and career, then we must foster their ability to respond to such challenges. This comprehensive, practical guide will enable teachers to engage students in the kind of learning that yields enduring understanding and valuable skills that they can use throughout their lives.

Jay McTighe brings a wealth of experience from a rich and varied career in education. He was involved with school improvement projects at the Maryland State Department of Education, and he directed the development of the Instructional Framework, a multimedia database on teaching. Well known for his work with thinking skills, Jay coordinated statewide efforts to develop instructional strategies, curriculum models, and assessment procedures for improving the quality of student thinking. Jay also has experience as a classroom teacher, resource specialist, and program coordinator. Jay has coauthored 16 books, including the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design series with Grant Wiggins. Jay is a regular speaker at national, state, and district conferences and workshops. He has made presentations in 47 states within the United States, in 7 Canadian provinces, and internationally to educators in 37 countries on six continents.

Harvey F. Silver, EdD, is president of Silver Strong & Associates and Thoughtful Education Press. An experienced educator, presenter, and coach, he has conducted thousands of workshops for schools, districts, and state education organizations throughout the United States. He was the principal consultant for the Georgia Critical Thinking Skills Program and the Kentucky Thoughtful Education Teacher Leadership Program. Silver is the author of several articles and books on instructional tools and strategies, including a number of best sellers with ASCD: The Core Six, The Strategic Teacher, The Strategic Teacher PLC Guide Series, So Each May Learn, and Teaching What Matters Most. With the late Richard Strong, Silver developed The Thoughtful Classroom—a renowned professional development initiative dedicated to "making students as important as standards."