Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works

by Elizabeth Green

Everyone agrees that a great teacher can have an enormous impact. Yet we still don't know what, precisely, makes a teacher great. Is it a matter of natural-born charisma? Or does exceptional teaching require something more? Building a Better Teacher introduces a new generation of educators exploring the intricate science underlying their art. A former principal studies the country s star teachers and discovers a set of common techniques that help children pay attention. Two math teachers videotape a year of lessons and develop an approach that has nine-year-olds writing sophisticated mathematical proofs. A former high school teacher works with a top English instructor to pinpoint the key interactions a teacher must foster to initiate a rich classroom discussion. Through their stories, and the hilarious and heartbreaking theater that unfolds in the classroom every day, Elizabeth Green takes us on a journey into the heart of a profession that impacts every child in America.

What happens in the classroom of a great teacher? Opening with a moment-by-moment portrait of an everyday math lesson a drama of urgent decisions and artful maneuvers Building a Better Teacher demonstrates the unexpected complexity of teaching. Green focuses on the questions that really matter: How do we prepare teachers and what should they know before they enter the classroom? How does one get young minds to reason, conjecture, prove, and understand? What are the keys to good discipline? Incorporating new research from cognitive psychologists and education specialists as well as intrepid classroom entrepreneurs, Green provides a new way for parents to judge what their children need in the classroom and considers how to scale good ideas. Ultimately, Green discovers that good teaching is a skill. A skill that can be taught.

A provocative and hopeful book, Building a Better Teacher shows that legendary teachers are more than inspiring; they are perhaps the greatest craftspeople of all."

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Professional Development, History, School, Parenting

400 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2014

About the author

Elizabeth Green has written for the New York Times Magazine and many other publications. The cofounder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Chalkbeat and former Spencer Fellow at the Columbia School of Journalism, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Dan Shonka · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a Goodreads giveaway book that I won. As a retired teacher of 31 years in the public schools, many of my friends were asking me why in the world I would read this. "You're done teaching," they said. Honestly, I was a little leery of reading it, and it sat on my "to-read" pile for a while. That being said, once I started reading it, I really got pulled in by Green's well written book. She tells about teaching in the past and where it could go. . . if the right people got behind it. I only wish I'd read this book years ago, because it would have made me a better teacher I'm sure. It also reaffirmed many of my core beliefs about teaching and learning. . . including the fact that politicians ought to get educated on the matter, or get out of the way. I think any teacher, new or experienced, would benefit from reading this book. It ought to be required reading along with Sam Swope's I Am A Pencil and Samuel Freedman's Small Victories (both of which I find inspirational).

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very difficult book for me to review.

It veers between some near-eloquent descriptions of how master teachers learn to analyze their own instruction--to hero-worshipping, misguided prose on constructing a no-excuses classroom climate. And then it turns around and shares the bursting of education "reformers'" collective balloon, as they realize that control and compliance come with an ugly aftertaste. Followed by a little light-hearted recognition of Erik Hanushek's "genius" in single-handedly creating "accountability." It's a hot mess, frankly, lurching from chapter to chapter.

Green tries. That's all I can say. She tries to get deep into teaching, and is sometimes successful in drawing a thick-description portrait of how deft and sensitive teachers enlarge students' understanding. Her narrative on how the rich work being done at Michigan State around dissecting classroom instruction, in the 1990s, crumbled is accurate. The problem is that Green avoids looking for the political and commercial forces that destroyed and twisted the goal of gradually accumulating knowledge around teaching. It's a book filled with chapters about what happened, not WHY things happened or what SHOULD have happened. It's good reporting, but not supported by a belief framework.

There is no moral core to the book. It's well-written and rich with detail--and, I think, worth reading, in spite of the fact that a lot of it made me shake my head. She spoke to good people, for the most part. And she reported back what they told her. But the coherence that Green claims is lacking in American curriculum and practice is also missing in her description of how to build a better teacher.

[Jenny GB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book through Goodreads First Reads.

I am a public school teacher myself so reading this was interesting at some parts and old news at others so this will color my review, I'm sure, so keep that in mind. I think Green is attempting to write a story of events in one particular trend in teaching (the lesson study idea) from Japan.

I thought she was doing a nice job at the beginning of the book by writing about some teachers in America that hit upon this successful way to teach math, but ran into difficulty when the "dream team" was broken up. Then in a chapter that I found the most fascinating in the book she talks about the Japanese lesson study in great detail. I was enthralled by the descriptions. I've heard a little bit about it, but not a great deal so this was a deep introduction than I had previously. I would love to see this teaching in action. Then, however, she suddenly jumps in the second half in the book of discussing charter schools in great detail and the problem of their discipline being too harsh. I was confused. Where did talking about lesson study go? She eventually kind of worked her way back around to it mentioning that eventually charter schools did a little more critical thinking in their curriculum. I think she couldn't find any modern examples of that kind of math teaching (except in Japan) and she gave up. That's really unfortunate because there actually are some people newly reading the crusade. There are Math Talks and in particular Jo Boaler is taking the math education world on to promote the sorts of things that the Japanese lesson study promises. There's even some new technological ways to get at that kind of teaching. So, I was disappointed that the story ended with charter schools which despite her assertions are usually not more innovative than public schools.

In addition to a fixation on charter schools it might also come as no surprise that the author likes "value-added" models for teacher evaluation (read: we'll be evaluated by student test scores) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). To be fair, she does make attempts at presenting arguments both for and against charters, value-added evaluations, and CCSS, but usually the opposition she presents is weak so she can swat it away and move on with her story. That's poor writing to bring up the issues and then not wade more into them. People will get a false impression of the benefits and downfalls. In particular, she tries to paint CCCS as a cohesive whole. She mentions this test of a good design of math curriculum that has concrete curriculum, good developed tests, and solid instructional methods that all teachers are thoroughly trained in for teaching specifically the curriculum already created. Well, she tries to pass off CCSS as passing all these tests. No way. CCSS is simply a framework of standards and habits of mind that math learners should encounter. Even many years later there are no tests made available yet to help us teachers and absolutely no quality standard curriculum available for teaching it. The thought of professional development in how to teach this way at this point makes me laugh because it is completely non-existent. CCCSS is not necessarily an evil, but it has been implemented extremely poorly which is disappointing but not surprising. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now, but keep in mind that she's trying to tell the story she wants to tell and tending to ignore things that don't fit her view.

Overall, the book was enjoyable to read and I think non-teachers will be able to read it and understand what she is saying which is admirable. I also admired the "surprise ending" that she actually did attempt to teach a little bit to gain some perspective. I agree that you don't have to do something to write about it, but it really helps especially for a profession so vilified as teachers. Everyone has experienced being taught by a teacher, but it is something totally different to be one. The one fault in her organization was that because of the many decades her book spans I often had a difficult time knowing where she was on her timeline and I would have appreciated some more concrete dates sometimes as signposts. Does she ever deliver the promise of the title? I really didn't think so and if someone else sees it please enlighten me. So, in all I liked the book particularly for the chapter on Japan and I think teachers and non teachers could learn some things by reading about the recent history of math education.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

After 32 year in classrooms, I confess I'm skeptical of books about teaching by non-teachers. Despite a Epilogue where Green describes teaching with a master teacher for one day, her appreciation of what teachers do and are seems naive. And her presentation of their methods and strategies seem, to this teacher, quite tin-eared, full of startling observations on the obvious and overblown praise for the most rudimentary techniques. Green obviously impresses easily, which may be endearing for some readers, but in the process she makes the magic of education look downright robotic. Thus, building these robots only requires faith in wonky policy interventions transforming anyone into a teacher.

I don't disagree people learn to teach well. The idea of a "natural teacher" does a disservice to the self-examination, study, and collaboration contributing to effective teaching. And, as Green describes, a great deal of wisdom comes from observing and talking to experienced teachers. That said, no amount of imitation can entirely replace the empathy, keen listening skills, affection for young people, humor, self-awareness, and improvisational instincts vital to the job. Not everyone is suited to be a teacher just as not everyone is suited for sales or statistical analysis. I don't see the harm in admitting that, especially if it means acknowledging how complex the problems of American education are. But maybe Green's hopeful narrative just won't abide that level of nuance or sophistication. She wants—and her audience wants—instant answers.

It seems part of the problem (and not the solution) to cast aside all the variables and complications of education to argue anyone can become a teacher. That perspective reflects widespread American assumptions about teaching. "Anyone can learn to do it," they (and, regrettably, this book) implies, "even dummies"... which is hardly the best selling point for smart and talented people who think they might enjoy teaching's subtleties and peculiar satisfactions. Their only hang-up is that no one, no one, no one will respect them.

[Kin · Rating 4 out of 5]

เราชอบสมมติฐานของหนังสือที่ว่าสุดท้าย การเป็นครูที่เวิร์ค มันเป็นทักษะที่ต้องฝึกฝน การคิดให้ลึกถึงปรัชญาของความรู้ การเข้าใจธรรมชาติของความรู้ในสาขาที่สอน รวมถึงการมองเห็นความรู้จากมุมมองของผู้เรียน พวกนี้เป็นหัวใจพื้นฐานของการสอนหนังสือที่เข้าท่า และเหล่านี้ไม่เกี่ยวกับ 'พรสวรรค์' มากเท่ากับทักษะการฝึกฝน

แต่นี่ไม่ได้แปลว่าคนเป็นครูที่ดีทุกคนต้องเรียนจบครุศึกษา และคนจบครุศึกษาต้องเป็นครูที่ดีทุกคน เพียงแต่ทักษะของการเป็นครูที่เวิร์คจำเป็นต้องผ่านการฝึกฝน ไม่ว่าจะอยู่ในรูปของการเรียนการสอน การอบรม การสังเกตการณ์ การคิด เขียน ทำวิจัย หรือการเรียนรู้ในลักษณะอื่นๆ ตลอดชีวิต

ดังนั้น มายาคติเกี่ยวกับจิตวิญญาณความเป็นครูจึงอาจผิดตั้งแต่ต้น เพราะจิตวิญญาณไม่ใช่พลังพิเศษที่ติดตัวหรือซ่อนอยู่ใน 'หัวใจ' แต่เป็นทักษะที่คิดได้ ตั้งคำถามได้ และฝึกฝนได้ พูดอีกอย่างคือ จิตวิญญาณของมันคืออะไรต้องผ่านกระบวนการคิด ถกเถียง ตั้งคำถาม และหลายอย่างต้องฝึกฝนเอา การกำหนดมาทื่อๆ ว่าจิตวิญญาณความเป็นครูคืออย่างนั้นอย่างนี้ และบังคับให้ทำตาม ก็คือสิ่งที่ทำลายความเป็นครูอย่างร้ายแรงที่สุด

ขณะเดียวกัน อาจารย์มหาลัยก็ไม่ควรเข้าใจไปว่าตัวเองสอนหนังสือเป็นโดยตัวเอง และเก่งกว่าครูในโรงเรียนด้วย ทั้งที่จริงตัวเองแทบไม่มีทักษะและความรู้พื้นฐานเกี่ยวกับการเรียนรู้เลยแม้แต่น้อย และยังอุตส่าห์ 'กล้า' ดูถูกคนกลุ่มอื่นด้วยว่ามีความรู้น้อยกว่าตัวเอง ไม่มีความรู้พอจะทำงานวิจัย หรือเป็นผู้ทรงคุณวุฒิ ออกแบบหลักสูตร หรือออกข้อสอบส่วนกลาง

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this as Goodreads Giveaway. I am a member of my local school bloard and teach quality control and statistics as an adjunct professor. I taught remedial math at Ohio State. I hoped to learn something about the art and science of teaching I was very disappointed.

The book is far too anecdotal. I expected something like concrete lessons learned and got a newspaper article depth summary of feel-good stories. The author shared very little that might help me understand how teaching works except in cases where the person doing it is already an exceptional teacher. How do we teach that? There were too many pages sharing stories of people who figured it out and not enough about how to teach some else to repeat that.

I realize a lot of people won't like this review. The author failed to conect with me, a student trying to learn from a teacher. Sorry about that. There must be other, more concise and productive books to read about this topic.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painstakingly researched, scholarly, and beautifully written. A must read for all who care about the future of education in this country.

[Jasmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think, for a journalistic effort, this is really well-done, and Green really tries to get into the history of teacher education in relation to ongoing issues. She tries to take a few different perspectives, while at the same time taking a stance on what's important. She also manages to weave her research together into a neat narrative. From the point of view of someone steeped in the academic research and the field, this is missing huge pieces of the puzzle, including substantive aspects of the equity fight (particularly salient when she brings in the no-excuses/Lemov stuff). The neat little narrative is a little too neat for me, and I think a lay reader will miss a lot of the (sometimes tacit) arguments she makes (and conclusions that can be drawn from them) about what makes for good teaching/teachers, that content matters, that behavioristic orientations don't work, that the accountability movement has been blind to the fact that good teaching can be learned, and the efforts we've been making have been largely misdirected and often preventing that idea from being put to work.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book would be better served if it was renamed "Building a Better Teacher: A History."

As a teacher, I found this book to be extremely fascinating! And very true about teachers and teacher reform. And I actually liked Green's writing habit of building a particular movement up as amazing before dismantling it in the next section. It truly shows how teaching has to evolve as time progresses. I also took some of the math techniques back to my classroom with great success (and I'm now hyper aware of all the interruptions that take place in a single lesson .....).

That being said, I don't think this was a true "better your teaching" book. There's a lot of explanation of the how it came about with little thought in what it is. I will say that the resources I've pulled for further research have been great (such as Teach Like a Champion 2.0) but there weren't many techniques I could take back to the classroom just from this one book. It was as if this book was the stepping stone in to bigger and better methods.

Overall, I still think the book would be enjoyable and thought provoking for many teachers, if not for the everyday person.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably would have given this two and a half stars. There's no doubt Green is an intelligent woman and good writer. But even for someone with multiple graduate degrees and who grew up in education (both parents are in education and my family had a tutoring/testing business), I found her confusing and wordy - at times, even a bit disorganized. I'm not sure who her audience is - parents won't find it helpful, but I don't think teachers, will, either, for the most part. Especially taking into account various socioeconomic and disability issues. It's heavily skewed toward teaching math, and doesn't even explore children with learning disabilities or how to reach that population. The interpersonal dynamic of teaching is largely ignored and is biased toward the Common Core. In the end, it doesn't have any real concrete ideas, in my opinion. It may be over 300 pages, but it doesn't say much.

[Ope Bukola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Green does a fantastic job of explaining why teaching is difficult, and why most of us don't understand how difficult it is. She digs into the history of teaching teachers to help readers see how/why the craft of teaching has been neglected for so long. I left the book feeling a bit hopeful and dismayed. Hopeful that the craft of teaching is getting the attention it deserves in academic circles, but dismayed that politics may prevent us from doing what is right for our nation's teachers and learners.

[Ilib4kids · Rating 3 out of 5]

370.711 GRE
CD 370.711 GRE

My summary: Really, teaching need to be so complicated? I am not convinced so. I believe people borne with ability to learn. It is precisely what we so emphasize teaching making people feel that they doubt themselves, believing lacking the ability to learn by themselves. Chap 5 author really praise charter school, quite opposite opinion from author "Reign of error". I do not like this kind of style of writing, I find this particular popular in authors who are from liberal art study. Always telling a story, let the reader deduce what points are. It seems these authors lack abstract thinking, unable to form high level logical statement, can not separate from real examples from world. Still do not believe the children can learn by themselves, on page 261-263, 3 + 7 + 3 = 13 is a good example.

Chap 1 Founding fathers
Nate Gage(early, behaviorism approach, he called his method "process-product" paradigm. By comparing the process(teaching) to its products(learning), researchers could k now effective teaching acts): Handbook of Research on Teaching by Nate Gage (unofficially known as "Gage Handbook)

Lee Shulman(later, Cognitives, epistemology), information process.

Eric Hanushek book "Education and race", 1. High expectation 2. Teacher Accountability, called his method "value-added"

Math education: p123
Japan reform begin in 1985, influenced by
1. George Pólya How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by George Pólya: classic reading
2. NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics)
3. John Dewey, American philosopher
4. William Edward Deming: Statistician. the idea of continuous improvement. Organizations could improve only if they constantly studies their practice, always looking for little things they could do better.

Math examples in the books
1. p62 explain 123 *645 2 rules: 1)place value 2) distributive property
2. p63 explain ( 1 3/4 ) / ( 1/2) how many 1/2 go into 1 3/4. Or A recipe call for 1/2 a cup of butter, how many batches can one make if one has 1 3/4 cups of butter? 3 1/2 batches, or 3(1/2) halves
one teacher explain: getting 3 pizzas, one whole pizza, 3/4 of another pizza, and 1/2 pizza. Image placing the 1/2 pizza on top of one pizza and 3/4 pizza, how many times would they perform?
my comment: 1 3/4 = ( 1 + 2/4 + 1/4) 1 contain 2 half, 2/4 1 half, 1/4 half of half, so answer is 3 1/2. I guess division always involving how many time dividend consist of divisor?
3. p98 more math about partitive division vs. quotative division and 7 * 4 is different 4 * 7 ( I am not sure if the explanation in book is right)
see better explanation in this book
Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics: Teachers' Understanding Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States by Liping Ma
4. p142 Subtraction 13 - 9, subtraction -addition method ( that is break 13 to 10 and 3, subtract 9 from 10 and add the remaining 1 to get 4) vs. subtraction - subtraction method ( take away 3 to get 10, and subtract remaining 6 to get 4).--my comment: my child use subtraction-subtraction method figured out by herself, me and her Dad use subtraction and addition method. But after think twice, without my current deep understanding of base system, I actually use 9 + ? = 13 to figure out this problem.
5. p263 A common course for young children was to see "3 + 10" and mistakenly add 3 and 1 together, since 1 is closed to 3, getting 4. Then, not knowing what to do with 0, and not fully grasping the difference between the tens and ones places, they would write 0 next 4: 3 + 10 = 40. (Example in first -grade student)
--my comment: whoever made this mistake certainly has no concept of number 数的概念一点的都没有。虽然这样的联想在数学是错误的，在别的领域不落俗套，innovation. This all confirm that current the math education attempts too early in children, and children have ability to learn by themselves when they grow old, have more abstract, cognitive ability.
6. Teaching Problems and the Problems of Teaching by Magdalene Lampert (the teacher cited most in this book, this book for k-5 grade math)
7. p296 California math educator Marilyn Burns (for k-5 grade math)

chap 3
Practice of "lab school"

p119 118 American vs. Japan difference
Culture script: America: "I, We, You", Japan "You, Y'all, We";
Type of questions: America: Name/Identity; Calculate questions
, Japan Explain how or why? Check status? (who agree).
Japan has jugyokenkyu aka:lesson study; Japan is single-problem style.

p131jugyokenkyu: Early planning based on the curriculum and potential student response; the observation of another teacher; teaching a public lesson; finally, a discussion of to observed events. Each public lesson posed a hypothesis, a new idea about now to help children learn, and each discussion offered a chance to determine whether it had worked. Japanese teachers hone their teaching craft, from observing each other and study curriculum with colleges.

chap 5 Lemov's Taxonomy
American Education Reform: Accountability and quantitative metric lead to standard, stakes, and tests.

p194 American use "I, We, You" ( I explain, we try an example, and then you practice), asked the questions designed mainly to generate simple answers rather than to "explain how or why", and devoted most of their students' work time to practice, rather than the equally common Japanese activity, "invent/think". It was no wonder that they valued quiet, "eyes on me" -style so highly; as for many American teachers, attention held the keys to learning.
-My comment: Japanese method is more superior. The technique author talked about is the book I read before, called
Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College by Doug Lemov

Chap 6 The Discipline of Discipline
Academy of the Pacific Rim (APR), Rise Academy - very strict Discipline, follow Stacey Boyd "Broken window" theory (squashing the littlest signs of disorder before they exploded into chaos.--my comment: Not good.

The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom by James W. Stigler

Square One TV ( no DVDs format in our library, looked in Youtube, seems good)

Terms:
1. pedagogical content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge for discipline p222, see Culture, Literacy, and Learning: Taking Bloom in the Midst of the Whirlwind (Multicultural Education (Paper)) by Carol D. Lee
2. No-excuses movement
3. Zero tolerance
4. p78 MKT MKT (Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching)
5. p37 the anatomy a turn.
Mary Budd Rowe's study of "wait time"
6. p66 TKOT (This Kind Of Teaching)
7. Stacey Boyd "Broken window" theory (squashing the littlest signs of disorder before they exploded into chaos.

People:
Magdalene Lampert, Deborah Ball, David Cohen (University of Michigan): TeachingWorks www.teachingworks.org
Judith Lanier: The Teacher Education Redesign Initiative
(Michigan State University)
Takeshi Matsuyama, Akihiko Takahashi, Toshiakira Fujii
Bob Zimmerli, Colleen Driggs, Darryl Williams

Project:
PLATO (Protocol for Language Teaching Observation)
MET (Measures of Effective Teaching)
Tom Kane's Hamilton Project: which address good teachers can raise achievement gap.

[Aleksandar Tasev · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is full of fillers with some bits of useful information in-between.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't at all what I expected. Instead of reviewing best pedagogical practices, Green's book consists of a lengthy walk down memory lane of educational reforms and movements from the last 30 years. Some of the stories were interesting, but I kept waiting for the promised tagline of the book, "How teaching works and how to teach it to everyone" to take center stage. It never did.

However, I did glean a few resources and articles from the book I'm eager to dive into, so that bumps my overall rating up to a very weak 3 stars.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really got me thinking about how my school produced such great teachers and how I will find a school for Thomas too!

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is more of a history of the movement to improve teaching than a guide to teaching well. If you're looking to learn how to teach well, go for another book.

That said, I really liked this book. It gave me a great understanding of the current state of American education, and cleared up a bunch of confusion I had about why things were done the way they are. It also offers a glimpse of how things may improve, while pointing out lots of sources to find out more.

[Houda Jubaili · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thesis of this book is that teaching in America overall is ineffective not because of insufficient spending, lack of teacher autonomy, or lack of accountability, but because of inconsistent teacher education infrastructure. While other more educationally successful nations, such as Japan, and some schools in the United States, such as certain charter schools, have a consistent curriculum, testing, and effective teacher education culture, including a emphasis on feedback and improvement, the United States as a whole is incoherent in it's approach leaving many teachers effectively winging it. Without this infrastructure in place, neither autonomy, in which teachers are treated as professionals and left to use their best judgement, nor accountability, in which teachers are promoted and fired based upon such measures as "value-added" statistics, provide a solution to the deficit in teaching effectiveness that the United States experiences today. The author outlines how the Common Core standards and education researchers in the United States are driving towards a solution that incorporates such a educational infrastructure while pushback from teachers and states rights proponents are harming the effort. She provides extensive examples of what effective teaching and effective teacher education looks like both in the United States and Japan as well as some pitfalls and historical details of the development.

At the end of the book, the problems appear unresolved and I would have liked to have seen more on what the author thinks is the likely outcome over the next few decades. The core of this book could be boiled down more succinctly and still have been effective in getting its point across. I would have also liked the author to elaborate on why other countries seem to have figured out how to roll out educational infrastructure decades ago while the United States has not. She does this briefly by blaming the federalist system in the United States but this doesn't seem satisfying to me as an explanation.

[Sandy Sopko · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the education system in Japan and about the struggles of American teachers to replicate constructivist math lessons in their own classrooms. I still struggle with the disconnect -- somehow American education is all wrong, but we have lead the world in virtually everything. Why are we trying to adopt other systems? Because their students surpass ours on global tests? Why should we care when our education system has driven creativity, innovation, and technology in ways that far surpass any of them?! I am tired of reading about how following scripted lessons does not work -- duh. In any classroom of 30 students, all 30 will be at a unique place in their learning -- there can be no script! It is 4-6 live shows a day, each uniquely responsive to the participants gathered for the hour. Some students will be way ahead of the pack and in need of extension, others hopelessly behind by years and years, especially in the upper elementary and middle school grades. In systems where students are "failed by their schools" the real issue appears to be society's reluctance to hold communities accountable for poverty and lack of parenting. Couple that with social promotion -- grouping students solely by their chronological age rather than their level of learning, and you have a problem. Until children are safe and secure, well fed, nourished physically, emotionally, and spiritually, supported by their parents, families, and communities and allowed to climb up off of the lowest rung of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, it will make little difference what a school can or cannot offer them. Until state departments of education decide what the goals of public schools are (to socialize? or to educate?) teachers will face the daunting task of teaching all levels of learning simultaneously, meeting the needs of virtually no one. My recommendation to my own children for the educations of any children they may have: private school.

[Delia Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear, readable history of US teaching reform since the mid-20th century. A candid look at efforts such as charter schools, TFA, accountability, No Child Left Behind, and Common Core. A discussion of the Japanese jugyokenkyu process, and the way that the Japanese made the American reform of NCTM work so well when the Americans couldn't that researchers in the US thought it was an entirely Japanese reform. A biographical tracing of the work of Magdalene Lampert, Deborah Ball, David Cohen, and Pam Grossman. And an argument that teachers are made, not born, and that good teaching can be taught.

American public education by its nature lacks an infrastructure for learning to teach, an agreement on what to teach, a set of central subject-matter competencies, and a consistent agreement about what makes for good teaching. David Cohen calls it the "coherence problem." And most of the reforms are of the "black box" variety - changing the input and assessing the output, without looking at what goes on inside the box.

I highly recommend the book. It ought to be a first reading for anyone who wants to teach or supervise teachers, and for administrators who want to help their faculty improve. It is probably too optimistic, and perhaps a little too easy to read, but it gets some important main ideas right and doesn't misrepresent the history of teaching reform in the US.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a book about teaching that emphasizes process over product, training over talent and practice over policy. Unfortunately there probably isn't much money to be made by corporate ed reformers if our national policymakers begin pursuing specific methods of teacher training that are based on research. Politicians can't score many points with voters by "holding lazy teachers accountable" if they place the focus on actually training teachers to do their jobs rather than allowing universities to keep charging them thousands of dollars for degrees that often don't provide them with methods that produce effective teaching or give them enough guided and supervised practice to gain confidence that they know what they are doing. Trial and error becomes the way forward for most teachers. In order to pursue the process Green lays out for training better teachers we would have to take lessons from other countries like Japan and make teaching into a well-respected and understood science. I was fascinated by accounts of Japanese teachers watching other teachers practice techniques. Green's research into teacher training, and why we have taken the path we are currently on is a must-read for anyone who cares about American education and wants to remain committed to improving it despite the many ineffective and even counterproductive policies being implemented today.

[Dr.Given · Rating 5 out of 5]

What impressed me most about Green's treatment of the topic of education was the way she connected the main researchers and movements in the field in terms of who was doing what at what point - where their strengths and limitations fell and most importantly, impressed upon me the challenge of scale. (3.7 million teachers!!) I appreciated her balanced and informative treatment of many educational efforts I support (Lesson Study, Shulman's Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Lab Schools) as well as those I don't (charter schools, TFA, value added as accountability for teachers) and skillfully argued the positives and limits of each so that my own understanding is now more informed and nuanced. It is rare that an author can present the complexities of such a core issue while leaving me with some hope at the end. Perhaps best of all was Green finally engaging in and laying bare her own forays into teaching a single lesson to help non-teachers get a glimpse into all of the thinking and decisions that go into running an effective learning environment.

[Whitney Sorensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea that teachers are made rather than born is an extremely important one. Especially in light of teacher evaluations, changing and new policies, and all the other things going in in education right now. This book concentrates on the big names in education that have worked or contributed in some way to showing that you can teach teachers how to teach--like Magdalene Lampert, Deborah Ball, Pam Grossman, Doug Lemov, etc. Some I've heard of and some I haven't, but now am interested in work they've done. Plenty of great takeaways for teachers (I liked the ideas behind community "lesson study" from Japan, Instructional Activities, and the approach to academic rigor), but it also provides an overarching view of teacher education--where it has been and the direction it's headed.

[Darrenglass · Rating 5 out of 5]

You won't agree with everything in this book. You may disagree strongly with some of it (I certainly did) but for anyone who is interested in elementary or secondary education over the last few decades in the US (which includes anyone who is a parent, teacher, or student. So most of you) this book about the strengths -- and serious flaws -- of our educational system is a must read.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding story of some of the most intriguing attempts at education reform in the past 40 years.

Advice: ignore the misleading subtitle. This is not a "how to" book.

Rather, it's an extensively-researched chronology of attempts to improve teaching by improving teacher education.

Thought-provoking and important. Loved it!

[Mary Louise Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree that a great teacher is the best indicator of student sucess but would have liked to see a summary of what makes a great teacher instead of stories about some great teachers.

[Renata Chilvarquer Citron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gave me a whole new perspective on the teaching process, the vision of student's learning and models on how to develop the teaching skills.

[Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me begin this review with a bit of transparency. I am a new teacher who is certified to teach high school students, and I am always on the lookout for what I can read that will help me become a better teacher. So, when I saw this book, I jumped at the chance to buy it. Then, I saw that it was written by a journalist, and this gave me pause, since I have not had a great experience with their writing on education in the past. Yet, I forged ahead, taking the chance to see what Elizabeth Green had in store with this text. As I kept on reading, I found that the book’s title was misleading, as it is more an exploration of ideas about teaching, rather than explaining any sound pedagogical advice.

Let’s begin with one of the ideas explored in this book: the history of how higher education prepared teachers to enter the workforce. This section, while interesting on its own, seems to be completely useless, and I do not say that about history that often. What does this have to do with how one can become a better teacher? All the reader learns about this is how teachers in the 60’s were not prepared for the workforce, with their professors seeing schools of ed as little more than stopping points to the departments they really wanted to attend. Little if anything is revealed that can help the teacher in the classroom, which can make it frustrating to read. More to the point, there is another book that does a better job talking about this: The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession by Dana Goldstein. There, the reader sees the development of teaching as a profession in the US in its entirety, not just from the 1960’s onward, which gives it a far more comprehensive look than what Green presents.

Another point explored is the development of discipline, from Zero Tolerance policies to Restorative Justice. Zero Tolerance Policy was taking discipline to the hardest measure possible, expelling students for having drugs in the classroom, or suspending them for too many tardies to class, and even in one example, making a student walk home in 95 degree heat so that he could get a belt to go with his uniform. Restorative Justice is swinging the pendulum in the other direction, where the student tries to spend as much time in school as possible, regardless of the disruptive behavior. Instead of expelling a student for their tardies, one would have them write an essay about ways to make sure they arrive to class on time. Instead of expelling students for fighting, they would talk out their problems, and try to come to an agreeable solution. Green presents glowing examples of both approaches, never drawing any conclusions overall, with the result that the uninformed reader may not know what to think. Those that are in Education need to use a discerning eye to cut through the shining examples to understand why both approaches have their positives and negatives.

Then there is Green’s presentation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Common Core State Standards. Green describes some of the ways that NCLB came into being, and how the Common Core supersedes it. To the uninitiated, the way Green presents the latest Common Core standards can seem like the holy grail of education, but to teachers, they are just another set of standards to adhere to that will be replaced by something ‘better’ in another 20 years. Besides, Green’s treatment of the subject feels short, compared to what has been done in other books. If you want to hear more about NCLB, then I’d recommend The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch. For a more comprehensive look at the positives and negatives of the Common Core English standards, pick up In the Best Interest of Students: Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom by Kelly Gallagher. Both texts present each of these education acts in a fair light, without any of Green’s biases.

This all culminates into my initial impressions of the book. I thought that I would find descriptions of proven pedagogical ideas on how to improve my classroom, but what I got instead was an amalgamation of ideas that are better explored by more experienced authors. Green does not mention many ideas that one does not already know to use in their classroom, and when they are mentioned, they are so few and far between as to not make it worth my time. This leads me to ask who this book is for. Teacher’s won’t learn anything new, and there is little for a parent to apply at their child’s school, leaving me sure that I am not the only one who will be left disappointed.

Still, I’ll say this, Green does try to understand education. The Prologue and Epilogue are some of the best writing from the viewpoint of an outsider trying to sympathize with teachers that I have ever read. Still, these two parts do not make my experience worthwhile. I give this book a two out of five. Pick up anything I mentioned above. They are all vastly superior to this.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How do you know that?" "What do other people think about that?"
You, Y'all, We:
You: Come up with as many solutions as you can
Y'all: Give the answer and the reason for your answer
We: What did you learn from today's problem, or what new questions do you have, if any?
Who had the same thinking? Anything to add to this way of thinking? Did anybody else use another way?
Check status: Who agrees? Is anyone confused? What kind of __ have we studied so far?

"positive group correction": describing the desired group behavior: "We're following along in our books" "You should be following along" anonymous individual correction narrate the positive
"When you get angry, we get angry back. What do you expect us to say?"
"building more intricate systems with more deliberate supports--the stuff teachers call 'scaffolding'"

Reading:
First write out questions: literal and interpretative, then review with each other, getting feedback on how to improve questions, then debrief of the conversation centered on how they could have gotten even more out of talking to each other.
"modeling": walking the students through the processes: not just reading and writing, annotating a text to help understand its meaning or using evidence to construct an explanation:
"Here are my highlights" "this sentence right here!" "making your thinking visible"

Stock responses:
"I don't know, but I will try to find out and get back to you."
"I regret to say I am not prepared."
"Would you please repeat (or restate) the question?"
"Please come back to me; I'm still thinking."

In Yvonne's class, every class began with an "anticipation guide" a list of questions designed to get the students thinking about subjects covered in a reading before they began it. Next came a reading response prompt, that each student answered individually, complete with reminders about the best way to read: mark up the text in the way you choose, including the use of highlighters and metacognitive marking"--and instructions asking the students to write questions of their own.
Restatement/revoicing/relating to particular side of the discussion
A challenge move responded to a claim by taking the opposite stance, just for the sake of argument
Press asked the speaker for more information
Post held up student's claim and solicited comments on it: who thinks they can articulate what Jim is trying to say?

1) Make content explicit through explanation, modeling, representations, and examples
2) Leading a whole class discussion
3) eliciting and interpreting individual students' thinking

Break down the drafting and revising process into smaller parts. In the case of a persuasive essay, for example, students should learn not just to identify evidence, but to discover ways to collect it (by highlighting and making deliberate annotations_ and explain it (build it into an argument by describing its importance). By modeling what it looked like to identify and then explain evidence, she helped her students to take their writing (and their thinking) to a higher level.

Poetry:
How to read
How to spot a metaphor
How to write one

Think about all the ways good teachers need to depart from the normal human protocol:
1) deliberately provoke disequilibrium"
2) sometimes first let them struggle
3) probe post common ground

[Gillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating study of teacher training (and lack thereof) over the ages. A pervasive belief that good teachers are born, not made, combined with a failure to recognize the impact of teachers' skill on student outcomes, has led to massive inconsistencies in the U.S. education system. Green traces the history of this problem. Then she looks at lots of the people -- from innovators in education schools to charter school innovators -- who have tried to improve teacher education. She also outlines a lot of the skills that, according to research, make teachers more effective...and ways to teach them. (Spoiler alert: Teachers need a lot more time to observe other teachers and to evaluate their own teaching with mentors.) As someone who has lived this problem as a teacher and an observer of education, I found the book extremely persuasive and interesting. This is a dense book I would only recommend to education nerds, but I loved it!