How We Discredit Teacher Knowledge
I started this blog with the goal to engage in civil, intellectual discourse befitting the fact that I have “Dr.” in from on my name now. Some things, however, just make my blood boil to the point that the CapsLock may just have to come out. We have reached one of these moments with this article by Robert Pondiscio featured in EducationNext as well as some other sources. The gist of this article one of the many failings of our horribly inept teaching force is that mere teachers are creating or finding their own materials instead of relying on experts to provide expertly designed, expert instructional materials.
Here are some highlights:
“A new study from the RAND Corporation finds that nearly every teacher in America—99 percent of elementary teachers, 96 percent of secondary school teachers—draws upon ‘materials I developed and/or selected myself’ in teaching English language arts. And where do they find materials? The most common answer among elementary school teachers is Google (94 percent), followed by Pinterest (87 percent). The numbers are virtually the same for math. But don’t blame teachers. These data, for reasons both good and bad, reveal a dirty little secret about American education. In many districts and schools—maybe even most—the efficacy of the instructional materials put in front of children is an afterthought. For teachers, it makes an already hard job nearly impossible to do well. Expecting teachers to be expert pedagogues and How We Discredit Teacher Knowledge | The Patiently Impatient Teacher: