"If you learn only methods, you'll be tied to your methods, but if you learn principles you can devise your own methods"-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (Favorite Quotes, n.d.)

Almost any cook can follow a recipe and produce an adequate meal, but an excellent chef takes a recipe and expands it by adding little extras and creates a feast. Within the classroom, the teacher who has the ability to not only follow the "recipe," but to also be flexible and add the extras needed to purposefully lead the learning process in the desired direction creates a dynamic learning environment that meets the needs of all learners. In order to have the needed flexibility and extras to add to the mix however, the teacher needs to have a cupboard that is well stocked with knowledge of instructional best practices. In 2003, Robert Marzano stated that an "expert teacher has more strategies at her disposal than the ineffective teacher" (Marzano, 2003, p.87).

While both the economic structure of the United States and the every day lives of American students have changed greatly since the days of Horace Mann, little evolution has actually taken place in the educational process. In 1989, Gallagher and Pearson, after analyzing reports and studies on educational practices from 1893 to 1979, reported that those practices remained virtually unchanged (Davis & Sorrell, 1995). In fact, the "art" of teaching did not begin to evolve into the "science" of teaching until about 30 years ago (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001). In 1966, James Coleman and his colleagues produced Equality of Educational Opportunity (the Coleman report). This report concluded that quality of schooling only effects about 10 percent of what a child achieves (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001). The Coleman report's findings were corroborated in a separate study conducted by Harvard researcher Christopher Jencks in 1972 (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001). These two reports did not leave much hope to educators who were trying to find ways to improve the standardized test scores of American students. Robert Rosenthal, John Hunter and Frank Schmidt, however, found flaws in the methods used by both Coleman and Jencks in drawing their conclusions. By looking at the data in terms of potential changes in percentile gains, researchers have now concluded that school quality accounts for about 23 percentile points. Further, more current research has shown "that individual teachers can have a profound influence on student learning even in schools that are relatively ineffective" (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001, p.3). In fact, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future "a student who has had a poorly qualified teacher for three years in a row is likely to have standardized test scores 50 percent lower than one who has had well-qualified teachers" (Daniels, Bizar & Zemelman, 2001, p.100).

In 1986, former Secretary of Education William Bennett published What Works: Research About Teaching in which he produced a list of research-based practices that were shown to be effective instructional strategies. Additionally, in 1998, Robert Marzano and his associates conducted a meta-analysis of research in instruction that resulted in the presentation of nine instructional strategies that have the greatest possibility of affecting student achievement. These two lists along with the work of Bert Creemers and John Hattie are illustrated in figure 1.1 (Marzano, 2003). As one examines the findings of these researchers, it becomes apparent that many of the instructional strategies are repeated in the various lists. Corresponding items are in red.

A variety of models of instruction have been developed and are available to teachers. However, as teachers attempt to implement these models, it is important to that the model be tied to desired student outcomes. Various models have been developed in order to target different types of learning (Huitt, 2003). Additionally, in order to increase chances for success the teacher should choose a model that "fits" his/her individual teaching style. Pajak has identified four distinct teaching styles: inventing, knowing, caring and inspiring (Pajak, 2003).

As teachers look at the large variety of instructional strategies that will work best for them and their students, they may find that day-by-day lesson planning proves to be too restrictive. One method used to avoid this problem is to concentrate on the organization of units (Marzano, 2003). In 1976, Benjamin Bloom found that about 150 "learning units" are presented to the average student every year. Further, it was concluded that about 30 of these units are addressed in each yearlong class (Marzano, 2003). The use of units also enables teachers to develop more involved projects that used multi-media and computer technologies. The success of the learning process for students is dependent on the ways in which those "learning units" are organized and presented. Unfortunately, major studies indicate that teachers are too often letting the textbook design influence the pace and sequencing of curriculum (Marzano, 2003).

Through the use of unit frameworks teachers are free to include a variety of methods that help them to concentrate on differential learning techniques in order to address diverse learning styles and the needs of individual students. What is contained in an individual unit will be based on the numbers of units being planned and the content of each. If some units are interdependent then, that interdependency needs to be a part of the course planning (Danielson, 2002).

The Critical Thinking Action Research project that is being developed addresses many of the items discussed in this paper. A variety of instructional strategies that Bennett, Creemers, Hattie and Marzano found to be effective have been included in both the unit and lesson plans. Additionally, student outcomes and teacher style and strengths were used in the determination of which strategies to use.

The science of education has clearly shown that what teachers do in the classroom is important therefore, it is evident that educators must look for ways to improve their teaching in order to improve student achievement. This research becomes more important as we look at the problem of achievement gaps between minority and more affluent students. Many of these differences can be eliminated by addressing the caliber of teaching to which the students are exposed (Daniels, Bizar & Zemelman, 2001). Unfortunately, the research related to the effects of quality teaching has not translated into action. Educators in the United States continue to devote little time to perfecting their instructional techniques (Danielson, 2002).

Barell, J. (2003). Developing more curious minds. Alexandria, VA:

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/files/mastlear.html

http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/quotes.htm

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/instruct/instruct.html

http://tip.psychology.org/