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Teaching Around the 4MAT® Cycle
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Teaching Around the 4MAT® Cycle
Designing Instruction for Diverse Learners with Diverse Learning Styles

Foreword by Gordon Cawelti


November 2005 | 120 pages | Corwin

"4MAT® has transformed my teachers from adequate to outstanding."
—Robin Kvalo, Principal
Rusch Elementary School, Portage, WI

"Principals and teachers have continually requested 4MAT® training as the 'basic core' of knowledge for teachers in our 80,000-student district. We have trained literally hundreds of teachers over the past ten years to 'teach around the 4MAT® wheel' and meet the learning needs of all their students."
—Patricia Shelton, Director of Certification and Professional Development
Brevard County Schools, FL  

What we need to know about our students is not "How much?" intelligence, but "What kind?"  

Learning styles are linked to preferences in the ways people perceive and process experience. Bernice McCarthy's unique 4MAT® cycle is a brain-based teaching method that emphasizes diverse learning styles, honors learner individuality, teaches concepts as well as facts, and improves student thinking and performance on traditional as well as high-stakes assessments.

With 25+ years of field testing and field use supporting its effectiveness, the 4MAT® method uses a 4-quadrant cycle of learning that begins by engaging learners through direct experience, moving them toward

  • Reflective observation
  • Abstract conceptualizing
  • Active experimentation and problem-solving
  • Integration of new knowledge and skills

Learning happens as we unite our experiences and their meaning with actions that test those meanings in the world. This exciting new resource offers schools a powerful tool to enhance teaching and learning for students with all learning styles, backgrounds, and preferences. 


 
Foreword by Gordon Cawelti
 
Prologue
 
About the Authors
 
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1: Learning Styles
A Cycle of Learning

 
How Perceiving Defines Us as Learners

 
How Processing Defines Us as Learners

 
The Processing Dimension and John Dewey

 
Perceiving and Processing Style

 
Type One Learners: Why?

 
Type Two Learners: What?

 
Type Three Learners: How Does This Work?

 
Type Four Learners: What If?

 
Putting It All Together

 
 
Chapter 2: A Cycle of Learning
First We Experience

 
Then We Reflect

 
Then We Conceptualize

 
Then We Act

 
Finally We Integrate

 
The Cycle Begins and Ends with the Individual

 
Any Successfully Completed Cycle Will Flow to Reflection on Itself

 
The Cycle Is a Consummate Design for Curriculum

 
The Cycle Encompasses Important Assessment Benchmarks

 
The Cycle is a Showplace for Different Styles at Different Places

 
Think About Yourself

 
Other Ways to Look at the Quadrants

 
 
Chapter 3: Teaching Around the Cycle
Quadrant One: Answering the “Why?” Question

 
Quadrant Two: Answering the “What?” Question

 
Quadrant Three: Answering the “How?” Question

 
Quadrant Four: Answering the “If?” Question

 
Plot Your Quadrant Teaching Score

 
 
Chapter 4: The Brain-Mind Learning System
Left- and Right-Mode Processing

 
The Brain Research

 
Left and Right: The Two Hemisphere Continuum

 
Knowing

 
Language

 
Emotion

 
Memory

 
Student Learning Strategy Preferences

 
Teaching Strategies That Favor the Right Mode

 
A Bushel Basket of Right Mode Activities

 
Graphic Organizers

 
 
Chapter 5: Overlaying Right- and Left-Mode to Complete the 4MAT Cycle
Connect

 
Attend

 
Imagine

 
Inform

 
Practice

 
Extend

 
Refine

 
Perform

 
All Real Learning Leaves Us Changed

 
 
Chapter 6: Teaching From Concepts
Working With Concepts

 
Different Teachers, Different Concepts

 
Concepts and Standards

 
4MAT in Action

 
 
Chapter 7: The 4MAT Design Overlay (Lesson Planning)
The Information Delivery

 
The Skills Practice

 
The Intended Outcomes

 
The Connection

 
Sharing the Connection

 
The Learning Used

 
Critiquing the Work

 
The Image That Connects

 
Adding the Assessments

 
Your 4MAT Plan: A Final Look

 
 
Epilogue
 
Bibliography
 
Index

"As a parent and a teacher, I would truly love to see all  teachers teach with the depth and intention that fully understanding the 4MAT Cycle instills...this book is different because it is not a "theory" book. It is more of a "how to" book...A holistic, step-by-step framework for addressing the diversity of learners is presented rather than a few helpful strategies to try."

Julia Koble
Minot High School

"4MAT has transformed my teachers from adequate to outstanding and made them different educators...knowledge of the 4MATmodel keeps my teachers searching for a variety of lesson approaches around a concept that will enable all our students to learn and achieve."

Robin Kvalo
Principal, Rusch Elementary, Portage, WI

"Principals and teachers have continually requested 4MAT training as the 'basic core' of knowledge for teacher in our 80,000-student district. We have trained literally hundreds of teachers over the past ten years to 'teach around the 4MAT wheel' and meet the learning needs of all their students."

Patricia Shelton
Director of Certicfication and Professional Development, Brevard County Schools, FL

"I have worked with teachers using 4MAT while serving as a high school principal and I have personally utilized the planning tools as a staff developer and superintendent...teachers are energized by the training and find it to be an invaluable tool for planning instruction as well as a powerful way to think about learning."

Fred Morton
Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools, Christianberg, VA

"The 4MAT system has had a positive impact in several schools througout Illinois ranging from rural to urban, impoverished to affluent. It is a proven model for improving instruction, and the leadership component has enabled formal and informal leaders to create a culture of success."

Max McGee
School Superintendent, Wilmette District 39, IL

"Through 4MAT, teachers are able to meet the needs of individual learners, address hemisphericity, and successfully engage students in the learning process."

J. Kay Giles
School Superintendent, Prarie Hills ESD 144, IL
Key features
  • A concise new guide to 4MAT teaching and learning by the creators of this powerful and popular teaching method.
  • Can be used as a freestanding guide to 4MAT or as part of pre-service or in-service teacher training.
  • Integrates brain-based learning theory with teaching strategies and lesson planning for the "why?", "what?", "how?", and "what if?" learning styles of students
  • 25+ years of field testing and field use show improved student performance on traditional and high-stakes measures of learning.

 

Sample Materials & Chapters

Foreword

Prologue

Chapter 1


For instructors

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Paperback
ISBN: 9781412925303
$28.95