Reinventing the Education Profession
Page 156: "Teachers and administrators, working alone all day every day, cannot possibly meet the new demands for improvements that are being thrust upon them with increasing urgency from all sides."
Page 166: "Focusing teaching and learning on the new survival skills, having better tests that assess the skills that matter most, and reinventing how we prepare educators, as well as how they work together, are all necessary if we are serious about eliminating the global achievement gap."
I feel that demand for improvement every single year. Some of it I put on myself, and I think that's healthy. I think self-reflection is important, and adapting my practice based on what I'm seeing from my students helps me to get better (in some ways) at what I'm doing. Some of it comes from my administrator and my district, with "mandates" and professional development based on what is considered to be the next best thing in education. Some of the demand comes from what I hear in the media, and the messages from society that we in public education are not doing a very good job. And yet I walk into my classroom every day and work alone pretty much every day, trying to meet those demands, trying to reflect and adapt and improve. I think Wagner is right when he says we need to stop working in isolation if we're going to truly reform education. Will society make the necessary investment to make that happen?
I like his focus in this chapter, also, on the need to take a closer look at how educators (and administrators) are being prepared. I always feel for the new teachers who walk in the door that first week of school not really knowing what to expect. It's not the type of career that can truly be prepared for by sitting in a classroom. I think the ideal would be for new teachers to work side-by-side with more experienced teachers for a year or two, easing into the reality of managing a classroom on their own. Again, it comes down to an increased investment in education. But what better investment can we as a society be making?
Page 166: "Focusing teaching and learning on the new survival skills, having better tests that assess the skills that matter most, and reinventing how we prepare educators, as well as how they work together, are all necessary if we are serious about eliminating the global achievement gap."
I feel that demand for improvement every single year. Some of it I put on myself, and I think that's healthy. I think self-reflection is important, and adapting my practice based on what I'm seeing from my students helps me to get better (in some ways) at what I'm doing. Some of it comes from my administrator and my district, with "mandates" and professional development based on what is considered to be the next best thing in education. Some of the demand comes from what I hear in the media, and the messages from society that we in public education are not doing a very good job. And yet I walk into my classroom every day and work alone pretty much every day, trying to meet those demands, trying to reflect and adapt and improve. I think Wagner is right when he says we need to stop working in isolation if we're going to truly reform education. Will society make the necessary investment to make that happen?
I like his focus in this chapter, also, on the need to take a closer look at how educators (and administrators) are being prepared. I always feel for the new teachers who walk in the door that first week of school not really knowing what to expect. It's not the type of career that can truly be prepared for by sitting in a classroom. I think the ideal would be for new teachers to work side-by-side with more experienced teachers for a year or two, easing into the reality of managing a classroom on their own. Again, it comes down to an increased investment in education. But what better investment can we as a society be making?