Reflection

Book Reflection
This book had an interesting feel for me at times I was motivated and inspired by the book and then one page or even one paragraph later I was angered or frustrated with the author. There was even times I would laugh at or with the author.
A lot of the reasons for so many different or mixed emotions during the book are because of the good ideas that make a lot sense, yet we as teachers have only so much control of. For example with the survival skills and problem solving style of teaching/learning the teachers and students of today I believe are in favor of this. Yet, society, politics, school boards and state governments tell us that students will be evaluated by a standardized test as well we as teachers will have curriculums that must cover all the standards and get the students to master every single standard. This leaves little to no room for inquiry based/ problem solving techniques, yet the ideas inspired me and did lead me to alter and adjust some of my lessons and projects to do a better job of using problem solving skills.
At times I would get angered by the way it appeared the author was judging the education world and educators abilities. Then during the same segment of reading I would have to agree with the author and his ideas to improve teacher training. The idea of using a “residency” was very intriguing as well the results of the charter schools cannot be argued with due to student success.
Overall the book did work some magic for me to find some ways or at least explore some ways for me to close the gap the students have from the classroom to “real live” application. In the beginning of the book I was frustrated and disappointed at times. Now when I look back I laugh a little about the different ideas that I started with compared to what I finished with. The book “Global Achievement Gap” did help me find some new ideas and revaluate some of my own classroom techniques.