Review of Joyce, Weil and Calhoun’s Models of Teaching

I have not posted to the blog since the beginning of the year, but I got caught up in the final semester of my instructional design program and needed to take a little time off from writing after I graduated. Thank you for your patience!

For the IDT 535 course, Instructional Strategies and Universal Design Issues in Learning Environments, one of the two required texts was Models of Teaching (9th Edition) by Bruce Joyce, Marsha Weil, and Emily Calhoun. I still refer to this book even after I have graduated, and consider it a valuable purchase. This is saying something as this 480-page book is $140 if purchased new and $113 used. I bought the used one…

There are few things that I had to get past when I started reading this book. For starters, the general format of the text is that a real-world example is provided, and then there is a discussion of the model(s) of teaching that are applicable to the situation at hand. This did not fit is well with my note-taking style, so there were a few adjustments that I had to make, and after awhile I would usually skim the examples and go straight for the meaty stuff. The other thing that was a little tough for me is that the focus of this text is K-12 learners, so I had to put a little extra thought into how I would apply this knowledge to what I actually do in the corporate world. But, I got over both of these things after a few weeks of class.

All of this being said, Models of Teaching has a lot of great stuff in it, and the material that you will find within is very helpful beyond the K-12 setting. The authors start with a discussion of where teaching models come from and what they are, and then they cover the basic information-processing models. There are also in-depth explanations of the special purpose information-processing models, the social family models of teaching and the behavioral family of models of teaching, Finally, Joyce, Weil, and Calhoun finish up with practical advice regarding the conditions of learning, learning styles, and conceptual levels.

This book is considered a classic reference for teaching models, and since 1972 there have been nine editions, so apparently I am not the only one that thinks there is something valuable to be gained from this text. The print quality of my copy was not great (for a $111 used book, especially), but it is still a keeper, and I recommend that you buy, not rent, Models of Teaching.

Thank you!

Joyce, B., Weil, M., & Calhoun, E. (2014). Models of Teaching (9th Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon