Book Review: The Global Acheivement Gap: Chapter Four

The main concept of this chapter is reinventing the education system.  Mr. Wagner conducts a three-day workshop with teachers and superintendents. He displays a videotape of a lesson from a random teacher and then asks the teachers to grade the lesson from A-F. I was surprised at the results, as they ranged from an A-F.  I could not believe that a room full of teachers could not even come close to agreement on a simple lesson. Also, that most teachers are uneasy about the concept of being videotaped, or even observing a colleagues classroom. The main point that I learned from this lesson was that to reinvent education, we need to understand how educators are prepared for teaching, and how they learn and interact with their colleagues, which is a condition for transforming public schools.

The next part of the chapter was talked about through the eyes of a new teacher and the reservations that this new teacher was going through. As I read this part of the book, I realized that I have many of the same reservations about being a new teacher as this new teacher had.  Before graduating, this new teacher spent most of the time watching another teacher during the student teaching. When he finally did get to create and perform a 5-day lesson, all the feedback that he received was that he was doing fine. There was not any constructive criticism, or suggestions on how to improve. This new teacher had many unanswered questions about his performance and doubted his effectiveness as a teacher. After graduation, this new teacher went through more of the same, unsure about his teaching abilities. One day the principal came in to observe his classroom. A few days later, they gave him his review and he thought he might finally get some feedback about his teaching abilities. But all he received was a sheet full of satisfactory check marks. This went on for the next three years in a row, a then he was tenured. A teacher for life, but still full of reservation about if his lessons are effective or why one had gone badly. I really worry about this aspect of teaching myself. Will I be able to put together an effective lesson? I just keep hoping that St. Cloud State will effectively teach me the skills I am going to need. It is scary to me that adequate teacher preparation and support is why most teachers leave after five years.

To become a certified teacher is nearly identical to graduating from high school. We take a bunch of classes and pass tests that rarely measure the skills that matter. We need to identify the competencies that are important to be an effective teacher and then develop proficiency. Not having student teachers memorize the parts of a car, they need to actually demonstrate how to drive the car.  I loved that analogy, and I think it is very relevant to future teachers and students.

Wagner talks about what a new kind of teacher might be. He says they would have new requirements that would make teachers have better preparation, and supervision that is more effective. Teacher training would be like a system of internships, which would include much more hands on experience and mentoring. I think this is a very good idea. I think that new teachers need time to build their skills, and they need feedback about why a lesson was bad or good in order to improve their teaching skills. It seems to me that once you graduate, you are thrown into a classroom full of kids, and you figure it out on your own. Reinventing how teachers are prepared, well as how they work together, are all a necessary part to closing the achievement gap in the future.