Time to Teach, Time to Learn. - Review - book review

School Administrator, April, 2000 by James Redfield

Time to Teach, Time to Learn is about giving students the chance to learn and their teachers the chance to teach. The book's central concept is that a need exists for a balanced integration of social and academic learning throughout the school day and year.

Author Chip Wood has taught this instructional system, which he calls The Responsive Classroom, to thousands of teachers since 1985. The seven basic principles of The Responsive Classroom are repeated in this book.

The book has three sections. The Foundations section reviews how time is or can be used for teaching and learning. The Observations section shows the reader specific examples of students and teachers in different classrooms and settings. The Transformations section outlines suggested courses of action at the school level and in the classroom.

Wood provides a vision of the school of the future in which time is structured to meet children's needs and where social and academic learning are integrated. The book presents useful ideas that are important to educators and policy makers.

(Time to Teach, Time to Learn: Changing the Pace of School by Chip Wood, Northeast Foundation for Children, 71 Montague City Road, Greenfield, Mass. 01301,1999, 322 pp. with index, $16.95 softcover)