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Friday, May 17, 2019

The Hype of “Transforming” Teaching and Learning | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Hype of “Transforming” Teaching and Learning | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Hype of “Transforming” Teaching and Learning


Three years ago, I published this post. I didn’t expect anything much to happen with the over-use of the word “transform” and nothing did. The word continues to be used both seriously and casually without much scrutiny. So here is that post again. While I am modest about my reach and influence among educators, I remain an optimist at heart.

We have the opportunity to completely reform our nation’s schools. We’re not talking about tinkering around the edges here. We’re talking about a fundamental re-thinking of how our schools function—and placing a focus on teaching and learning like never before…. With the first decade of the 21st century now history, we’ve committed to securing the vitality of our nation by transforming the way we teach our students.  U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, 2010

Transform the way teachers teach and how children learn by replacing group-based, teacher-centered instruction with personalized, learner-centered instruction….
Transform the quality of work life for teachers, administrators, and support staff by transforming a school system’s organization culture, its reward system, job descriptions, and so on, to align with the requirements of the new teaching and learning processes….
Transform the way in which educators’ create change by replacing piecemeal change strategies with whole-system change strategies.... Francis Duffy, 2010

Computers, the Internet, online courses, smart phones, cameras, CONTINUE READING: The Hype of “Transforming” Teaching and Learning | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice