One of the key components I saw repeated time and time again in the reading was the importance of schools dedicating time and money to improve teachers. Darling-Hammond points out that, "A far greater percentage of U.S. teachers' work time is spent teaching than in most countries--about 80%, as compared to 60% on average for secondary teachers in the 31 OECD countries.
In chapter six of The Flat World and Education, the author focuses on three countries that have radically transformed the way in which they approach education in general. "Steady Work: How Countries Build Strong Teaching and Learning Systems" chronicles the ways in which Finland, Korea, and Singapore have gone from under-performing systems to those leading the way for the rest of the world, seemingly swapping places with the U.S., which went from being an educational leader in the '70s to among the worst ranking systems today. Although most of Darling-Hammond's book so far focuses on all of the failings of the U.S. system, I did find a glimmer of hope when reading about Singapore's reduction of "rote learning" of content. The nation's prime minister emphasized, "We have got to teach less to our students so that they will learn more" (185). For me, this line immediately conjured up references to Common Core, where depth over breadth is the focus. In my teaching, I'm making a concerted effort to practice close readings and multiple readings of texts, asking students to engage with the texts by making predictions, creating visual representations, asking questions, clarifying, and summarizing what they read.
One of the key components I saw repeated time and time again in the reading was the importance of schools dedicating time and money to improve teachers. Darling-Hammond points out that, "A far greater percentage of U.S. teachers' work time is spent teaching than in most countries--about 80%, as compared to 60% on average for secondary teachers in the 31 OECD countries.
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Depth is something I am also working on this year. My projects or units are a little longer this year to allow for students to develop their skills. As an art teacher I am teaching completely new concepts and it takes students time to develop those skills before they can produce something original and again that takes time. While time is always a hot commodity I have noticed this year that my students are honing in on skills my previous years of students never really did. It was a surface skill that was easily forgotten as I had to reteach or address certain issues still in May. My students this year will not have covered as many concepts but they will have a stronger foundation because they mastered the skills I did teach. It is not easy making this change but with my results so far I am convinced this is the way to go.
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10/27/2015 10:39:25 pm
I loved Chapter six as it gave me hope for a brighter future and I am so excited to see some of what she points out to train teachers is happening. I trying to find ways to make my lessons come to life and engage my students using technology in the mathematics middle school classroom.
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Roger
11/6/2015 05:37:08 pm
One of the most successful PD strategies is to provide teachers the information and TIME to incorporate new ideas. So many times it seems that we get exciting new strategies, then are not provided any extra unencumbered time to play with and develop them.
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Kirstin
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