Competing Traditions of Teaching: An Old Story Written Anew
Everything has been said before but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and begin all over again. Andre Gide
Yes, I know that starting a post with the Gide quote makes me sound arrogant. Not my intention. I begin with these words because most people, I include entrepreneurial school reformers, academics, and practitioners, either ignore or forget past reformer-driven conflicts over changing teachers and teaching. I should add a third group: those who already know about those battles and try to convince others that something can be learned from the past. These three groups of people, and I include myself in the last group, need to be reminded that much has been said and done to alter how teachers teach over many decades.
Today, reformers push Common Core Standards into classrooms. They champion charters and more parental choice of schools. They want teachers to be evaluated on the basis of student test scores. Policymakers, philanthropists, and vendors send tablets to classrooms. These current reforms aim at changing