How Badly do you Want a Better Future? Are you Willing to Build it?

(Confession: I originally titled this post: “Building A Better Teacher” Book Review. However, I feel its important to get this book in the hands of many, and I know my thoughts below might persuade a few people to do so if only I had an interesting title to catch their eye.)

Recently, I stocked up on books I wanted to read about education and teaching and spent much of my summer devouring the contents (hence, the above photo I took at my neighborhood pool). Click on the following titles to read my previous book review posts: “Real Talk for Real Teachers” by Rafe Esquith and “The Smartest Kids in the World” by Amanda Ripley.

I just finished my third book: Building A Better Teacher- How Teaching Works (and How to Teach it to Everyone) written by Elizabeth Green. She is a journalist who provides insight on the many reforms of the U.S. educational system as well as what qualities make great teachers. The title caught my eye because as a Teacher Development Coach, my job is to build strong teachers through the use of effective teaching technique implementation and feedback. I like the idea “building,” you know, making good teachers great, especially because “life-long learning” is a buzz word in schools now. This book was right up my alley!

This first paragraph on the front insert sleeve reads, “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?” This has to be the best hook of an educational book I have read in quite some time! My passion for helping new teachers become powerful and effective educators is fueled by this statement. Yes, teachers make an impact more than we sometimes know. I also agree that no one really knows what makes a great teacher. That recipe is a mystery as various effective teachers are lined up next to one another. They are all unique and have a perspective and approach that’s unlike any other. Yet, each of them is successful. There must be something they each have in common. So off Elizabeth went to find this truth and I was sure to follow right on her heels!

President Obama once said “The single most important factor determining [a student’s] achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from; its not who their parents are or how much money they have. It’s who their teacher is.” I couldn’t be happier that in my lifetime statements as bold as this are not only shared but believed by many. It’s meaning couldn’t be truer. The statistics for the ripple effect that a student endures from having one ineffective teacher is catastrophic. Multiply that by billions due to the many districts full of “paycheck” teachers; you know, the ones who show up, have a heart beat, and contribute little? Don’t believe me? Elizabeth sheds light on this point. “In New York, for instance, the pass rate for the teacher certification exam in 2009 was 92 percent. By comparison, the pass rate for the cosmetology certification exam was 59 percent.” We make it easy to become a teacher so we attract “paycheck” minded people.

Our children are our future and they deserve better. How can we expect our future to be bright if we do not sow the seeds for that to happen? Providing high quality teachers to each and every child is an investment, not only in them but in our future. We will not always be here, so our successors need to be as good if not better than what and who we are. They must contribute and innovate at a much faster rate to help the U.S. not only keep its global advantage but for the humane betterment of us all.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the educational system in Finland, mainly its teachers. The data suggests that students are outperforming the U.S. by great lengths. What’s even more fascinating is the view of education by its Finnish citizens. The Chicago Teachers Union shared this view, “Teaching is a respected, top career choice; teachers have autonomy in their classrooms, work collaboratively to develop the school curriculum, and participate in shared governance of the school. [Teachers] are not rated; they are respected.” WOW. Its as if describing another land where what teachers contribute is valued not solely by words but by actions. Americans SAY they support educators and admire the impact they have on children, but the money only trickles in for us to continue to provide high quality education. When it comes time to act on our believes and make our actions follow suit with our words, Americans fall flat. Teaching is not respected here. It’s certainly a popular career choice but not a “top” choice. Many people do it out of necessity for its schedule, but many also do it because college preparatory courses are pretty manageable and easy. Teachers will not be respected as professionals if the standards to become one continue to be lenient and lack rigor. Large school districts cannot give their teachers autonomy because they have to keep close tabs on all the moving parts. Thus, teachers become robots. States used to create standards, certainly not teachers, but with the Common Core its now the U.S. government dictating what to teach. Back to robots. Lastly, as if you couldn’t guess, teachers certainly have little to do with governing the school. Even worse, principals don’t either. We are all hamsters on a wheel. Some last longer than others, but most of us drop off when we just can’t take it anymore.

Elizabeth explains, “The cold truth is that accountability and autonomy, the two dominant philosophies for teacher improvement, have left us with no real plan. Autonomy lets teachers to succeed or fail on their own terms, with little guidance. Accountability tells them whether they have succeeded, not what to do to improve. Instead of helping, both prescriptions preserve a long-standing culture of abandonment.” No middle ground has been established. Therefore, “The average teacher will figure out how to become an expert teacher-alone” she says. Not much of an impact there, and at the expense of our children’s future.

HOW AND WHY IS THIS OKAY? 

It saddens me to think that nothing is urgent when it comes to education. Parents feel urgency when it comes to their own child, but suddenly when their child is lumped into the masses of students across the country, working quickly and efficiently to find answers falls on deaf ears with a lack of support. We need a solution and we need it now.

Connecticut Congressman Abraham Ribicoff agreed and responded, “increasing spending per pupil, more and better libraries and books, education devices- wont solve the crisis in our schools.” We keep throwing money at schools haphazardly thinking the new program, manipulatives, or resources will be the next big reform.”The same old wine in new bottles;” Elizabeth accurately described this reform merry-go-round. “Things” do not make students learn and achieve at high levels. “Things” alone will not reform our educational system. However, teachers, the ones providing a service from their talent, can overhaul this very corrupt and lost system. (Refer to A Nation at Risk written in the 1980’s to get an accurate picture of this.) But we must allow teachers to be the leaders in the reform; they’re the key ingredient.

“The Teaching Gap,” written by James Stigler and James Hiebert, said “Standards set the course, and assessments provide the benchmarks, but it is teaching that must be improved to teach us along the path to success.” They’re right. We need to dig into what defines great teaching and how we get more teachers doing it. One of the educational gurus and entrepreneurs mentioned in Chapter 6 of the book is my all-time favorite, Doug Lemov (author of the book for new and aspiring teachers “Teach Like a Champion“). He was able to create a successful link of schools named Uncommon Schools where he bred great teachers. They realized they couldn’t hire high quality teachers because that pool was limited and dried up once others began to get the same idea. Therefore, he had to create a team of people to help make any teacher great. His book is a list of teaching techniques that highly effective teachers utilize and therefore serves as an almost “how-to” book for newbie teachers. (Even after 8 years in the classroom, this book changed the way I taught and allowed me to not only have a stronger perspective on delivery of a high quality education every moment of each day, but I was able to share this knowledge with my mentees, student teachers, and multiple new teachers I coached through the help of The New Teacher Project.) “The job of administrators” he went on to say  “was not to punish bad performers for poor teaching. It was to give them opportunities to learn. To teach them.” Yes! Teach teachers. It’s a novel idea considering most people think teachers were natural born classroom leaders out of the womb and can figure it out on their own, but they actually can’t. Not only that, but most teachers are not born natural teachers, they are built through ongoing support and guidance. No other professional field puts an individual in the arena without proper practice and tools. Oh wait, that’s what happens to teachers. They’re expected to be great and if they’re not, they’re expected to figure it out. Good luck and good riddance. What a message this sends to the ones creating our future leaders’ paths of influence.

I found it interesting, through the various classrooms the book let you become a voyeur and all the stories shared along the way, that many successful people in our society were bred out of memorization and compliance. They did little thinking out of the box yet lived in an innovative world. How did their education prepare them for the work force they now face? What about the opposite experience; the example of the 12 year old Brazilian boy who was selling coconuts on the side of the road. He was able to accurately calculate a customer’s purchase with ease; however, once in the classroom with the same numbers and same multiplication equation he didn’t know where to begin. Some would look at this student as a failure. He can’t do math. On the contrary, he can do math in very authentic settings with accuracy and ease. That is something to celebrate and reward. He can function effectively in society, not the student that can crunch numbers like a calculator while sitting in perfect formation under a desk for hours. What do we value? What are we preaching? What will help students become successful in the world around them? That is what we need to teach. That is what we need to cultivate out of teachers.

What’s even more fascinating is that Japan had looked to the U.S. for how to make their educational system better. We had such knowledgeable teachers in the field writing and reporting on their findings. All Japan did was read and implement. Suddenly, they excel WITH OUR IDEAS. How is it that someone else can take our ideas and make them work but we, the originators, cannot make it work? This infuriates me. We have the knowledge. We have the tools. But we’re blind. Outsiders can make sense of our formula. We’ve had it all along. We just don’t know how to translate our own findings. What an embarrassment.

This book is full of stories of real teachers who have made an impact and helped our country’s educational system progress. But its also full of a lot of sad realities, especially when looking at the data, that will surely stir up some feelings inside. I highly encourage all citizens who care for their future to read this book, not only to understand where we came from but where its headed, because its bound to be the same place. We need a knowledgeable society to stand up for teacher’s rights for providing a high quality education to all students. That means higher standards for preparatory courses so that we produce quality teachers reflective of the degree they earned, higher accountability standards once teachers are changing lives in the classroom, but most importantly, expert teachers who can provide feedback to teachers in the trenches so that they all can grow to be the most effective asset to a child’s success both in life and learning.

Elizabeth Green is a talented writer and her work is an inspiration for what we must achieve as a nation. Go out and be part of the solution!

Any an all perspectives on the U.S. educational system are welcome to share!