Free Topic

In Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, he discusses several problems with education. One of those problems is teachers not providing criticism and feedback to other teachers about their teaching style. Clearly this is a problem, especially among teachers with tenure. How can teachers fix problems or get out of a rut if no one is there providing constructive criticism about their teaching? Sure, teachers have the occasional review, but they are informed in advance of people coming to their class to watch them. Is this the best way to get an accurate idea of how the teacher really teaches? Wagner takes "learning walks" through many classrooms throughout his book and shows us what goes on in classrooms when teachers don't have time to prepare for a formal observation. Kids are doing busywork. Rarely do students have to do anything that involves critical thinking or problem solving.

Wagner also suggests teachers are "teaching to the test," as in standardized testing. Students are going a mile wide and an inch deep. When I've asked why I have to do something this way? or how does this work? I've actually been told that's just the way it is because we won't be learning the theory behind it. Basically teachers were telling me to turn off my brain and just "plug and chug" which is a phrase my friends and I used to describe math and science. "Plug and chug" means mindlessly putting numbers into the equations without thinking what the equations are doing. That was fine for them, but I always wondered what I was doing and how I was doing it. Personally, I would like to go an inch wide and a mile deep. But in today's world, teachers only have time to teach what is going to be on the next test. I think standardized testing is a waste of time and money, and does not accurately measure improvement or failure.