Teaching for Tomorrow: Teaching Content and Problem-Solving Skills

"McCain′s insights as an educator go way beyond the classroom. He truly grasps the need for schools to prepare young people for life in an increasingly dynamic world. This book continues Ted′s tradition as a writer who speaks with great insight and clarity."
David Thornburg, Director
Thornburg Center for Professional Development

"In our current NCLB-test driven-environment, this book provides a guide for teachers who want their students to be life-long learners with real-world problem solving skills."
Michael A. Burke, Director, District Media and Technology Services
Edina Public Schools, MN

"Ted McCain gives readers clear, detailed, and readable strategies in order to engage students in active learning. The real-world content for students is key to an authentic, sustainable ability to problem solving."
Guylene Robertson, Assistant Superintendent
Cleveland Independent School District, Texas

Reconsider the relevancy of what you teach and discover how to get students to develop "real-world" problem-solving skills!

Through first-hand experience, author and educator Ted McCain concisely lays out the argument for preparing students for their world, guiding them to become independent and successful critical thinkers. Teaching for Tomorrow brings everyday life encounters and situations as text to the classroom, challenging students to engage more deeply in their learning and teachers in their teaching. By eliminating the typical stand and deliver approach, McCain hopes educators will now focus on using instruction that allows students to create knowledge for themselves.

Major components of the book include:

• Role-playing scenarios
• Mapping out 6 changes to teaching that enable teachers to use problem-solving, project- based instruction effectively
• Outline of the 4 D′s (Define, Design, Do, and Debrief), a step-by-step process for student work and for problem solving applicable to virtually any field

By gaining real-world skills rather than just "school" skills, students are engaged in thoughtful work, learning to collaborate, taking responsibility for their own time and tasks, and becoming creative problem solvers in the classroom and for life beyond.

Ted McCain is coordinator of instructional technology for Maple Ridge Secondary School in Vancouver, BC. He also has taught computer networking, graphic design, and desktop publishing for Okanagan College, Kelowna, BC. He is the author of six books on the future, effective teaching, educational technology, and graphic design. In 1997, McCain received the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence for his work in developing a real-world technology curriculum that prepares students for employment in technology directly out of high school. For the past twenty years, McCain has done consulting work for businesses and school districts on effective teaching for the digital generation and the implementation of instructional technology. His clients have included Apple Computer, Microsoft, Aldus, and Toyota, as well as many school districts and educational associations in both the United States and Canada. He is passionate in his belief that schools must change so that they can effectively prepare students for the rest of their lives.