As a young teacher who found herself seeking answers to all the things I never learned in my undergrad program or student teaching, I immersed myself in professional organizations and professional reading. (Hmmmm…maybe teacher education programs should consider this?!?!)
One organization I grew to love and depend on, was ASCD. From their Education Leadership magazine to their conferences to their books…I devoured whatever I could. One book that changed my approach to teaching was Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works. Practical solutions grounded in research. It truly was a game-changer for me.
Fast-forward 20+ years and Bryan Goodwin writes The New Classroom Instruction That Works. I immediately got a copy and once again devoured its content. I shared thoughts and had conversations with colleagues and peers before I could even finish reading it. It is just as good as the first publication.
What has struck me though is that while we have effective strategies proven by research, not much has changed in our educational institutions since my days in the classroom two decades ago. As I chat with teachers, their conversations are de ja vu. This weekend I talked with a teacher still early in her career; the recipient of new teacher of the year her first year; and the conversation was eerily familiar. She is considering leaving the profession. And, she will be a real loss if she does leave. The system is just stuck in an antiquated mode of operation.
Students are different now. They are born into technology. They don’t recall a time of rotary dials, cable boxes, radios, or Kodak cameras. They carry a computer in their pocket. Our world is different now. Magazines are online now instead of printed. Ads are what is in social media, not the newspaper. Assembly lines are operated by computers controlled by a few people. AI can write text and answers for us. Your plane ticket and credit cards are now on your cell phone. How is it then that our education systems have yet to evolve when everything else has?
It is my challenge to all education leaders, secondary to postsecondary--consider how you can help change the system to better serve the students of today for an unknown future. We can’t simply keep doing what has always been done and expect different results. Some would define that as insanity. Rather, what can you do? What is one change you can make within your power to cause a spark? It only takes a spark to start a fire.
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