The Myth of Teachers Not Changing
Look back at schooling in 1900 and compare to schooling today.
Then: bolted down-desks and wood-burning stoves, teachers teaching a lesson to the whole group, students standing to recite textbook answers, dunce caps, teachers disciplining students with switches and sticks, and classes running to 50 or more students in city schools.
Now: movable desks and tables where students sit and face one another, air-conditioning and central heating, students giving PowerPoint presentations, small groups and pairs of students working together, computer devices strewn around the classroom, after-school drama, athletics, and robotics clubs and cafeterias where students eat breakfast and lunch. And classes that have between 20-30 students.
Schools have, indeed, changed. What about teaching?
Policymakers, dressed up as reformers and reformers dressed up as experts,
