This book provides an array of strategies that can help teachers, administrators, and staff-development personnel as they plan, develop, and deliver content within extended periods of instructional time. It emphasizes the importance of teachers and administrators working together to improve instruction and contends that staff development remains the key to the success of instructional changes. Professional development allows teachers to develop active learning strategies and helps them successfully implement these strategies. Chapter 1 addresses key decisions related to program implementation, whereas chapter 2 discusses brain research on learning and how such information can be used when teaching students during extended class periods. The remaining 12 chapters discuss such factors as creating a climate conducive to learning, designing the curriculum, lesson planning, generating and sustaining attention, selecting instructional strategies, active learning, using technology to enhance learning, concluding the lesson and homework techniques, planning for differentiated learning in the block, classroom-management strategies, understanding and assessment, and suggestions for practice and learning from the field. The tips offered in the book have been used successfully by practitioners in various types of school settings and are designed to be practical. Each chapter closes with a summary. (Contains an index and 76 references.) (RJM)