Chapter 4 Reinventing the Education Profession

This chapter talks all about the education system in the United States failing to provide an adequate education due to lack of teacher and administration training and a lack of streamlining and teamwork. It begins with this interesting quote, “the district that has ten priorities really has none” (p. 127). As we all know, we often see this as the case when some motivational speaker comes in saying all the right things, or we get a glimpse of a new education fad. This seems to occupy our agendas for a short while, but it eventually fades out when we either hear of a new fad or go back to our old ways because it’s “easier.” This chapter also shows us the author’s position that we often fail to reflect on our teaching and work together as a team to improve. Too often our districts search for someone outside who is thought to have all of the answers, and, because of this, we lose focus on the learning process, teaching, and teachers. We also often fail to agree on what makes a good teacher, as made evident by some of the author’s research in this area. He strongly suggests making professional development meaningful by reflecting on what a good teacher is by consistently observing fellow teachers and reflecting on teaching videos. In his example of “The Hawaii Story” he talks about how beneficial collaboration and reflection were between administrators and teachers. At one point, he quotes the administrators who took part in this project naming their presentation, “From Castles to Kingdom.” This, of course, means that, instead of working in isolation behind closed doors, it’s much more beneficial to the learning process for teachers to open up and collaborate. (This is a great idea, but let’s not forget that time is extremely valuable and often lacking!) From this reading, the doors need to be open and the critical reflective process needs to be an integral part of teaching.

There was one part in the text that was a bit offensive. On page 150, this is stated:

“…to get and keep a teaching license, teachers would have to show evidence that they’re competent--and that they have continued to improve—in the skills that are critical for effective teaching.”

I think most of us would agree we are competent teachers and quite effective with the requirements we have been given. However, we are sometimes limited by 20 content standards to master in a short amount of time AND a multiple choice test that we need to make sure our school passes so our jobs aren’t in jeopardy. Because of this, we often have to push the “7 survival skills” to the back burner.

The author’s idea of having programs for teachers similar to medical residencies is also alarming. After this statement it would appear the author is asking a lot out of educators especially those under paid and asked to work a lot of extra hours. He also stated that in this type of program for educators us educators would have to see a pay increase and be properly compensated. I would have to agree with the author as long as we can convince those at the state capitals and Washington.