Fads trump effective teaching
Differentiated Instruction — grouping students by abilities, personal interests and “learning styles” — is a time-wasting fad that is backed by no evidence of effectiveness, writes education consultant...
View ArticleWhat Elroy Jetson needs to learn
We can’t predict the future, but we can teach “timeless knowledge and skills that all students must master to succeed in any environment,” writes Kathleen Porter-Magee on Flypaper. She doesn’t think...
View ArticleTeachers, here’s the Thing
As a New York City public school teacher for almost three decades, Arthur Goldstein is tired of back-to-school meetings on The Next Big Thing, which teachers must do immediately. Students need more...
View ArticleWhat’s the big idea?
A liberal arts education puts fads in perspective, writes Diana Senechal in the new American Educator. ”Today’s biggest fad” is “bigness itself.” Education reformers are especially susceptible to the...
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Teachers vs. bad research, evidence-free fads
Tom Bennett’s new book, Teacher Proof: Why Research in Education Doesn’t Always Mean What it Claims, and What You Can Do about It, is the work of “one pissed off teacher,” writes cognitive scientist...
View ArticleEveryone’s favorite fad is now ‘core aligned’
Rialto Unified’s idiotic essay assignment — is the Holocaust a hoax? — was justified as meeting the Common Core’s call for teaching “critical thinking” skills, writes Greg Forster on Jay Greene’s blog....
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The magic of experience
Veteran teachers get no respect from education reformers, writes Paul Karrer in the Californian. The reform movement has rejected teachers’ “vast wealth of experience” for “chants, mantras, beliefs...
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Tried-and-true vs. innovation
Educators are obsessed with innovation, while ignoring the tried and true, writes Mike Schmoker in Education Week. For example, “ongoing monitoring and adjustments to teaching, informed by feedback,...
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From Next Big Thing to Next Big Nothing
Robert Pondiscio is happy about the wave of interest in “how children learn to read, what it means to be a proficient reader, and how to ensure that teachers are prepared to teach reading effectively.”...
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