Going Public with Our Teaching
Summary
There are many issues that face teachers on a daily basis.
Teachers must make decisions concerning these issues each time they enter a
classroom. Teachers often lack support from their profession as a whole and
sometimes require assistance to resolve these issues. Going Public with Our Teaching is a collection of anecdotes and
examples of situations from the field of education. The purpose of the
collection is two-fold: to serve as a voice for teachers; and to offer insight
and solutions to a variety of pedagogical and sociological issues in the
classroom. The introduction of the book acknowledges that each individual
teacher has little ability to voice their concerns and receive widespread advice
and affirmation. Each school supports its teachers; however, there is a lack of
communication between each teacher and almost every other member of their
profession. Going Public with Our
Teaching addresses a number of prominent issues in the field of education. The
lack of communication between teachers (across the field of education) means that
teachers don’t necessarily have the resources and strategies to meet the needs
within their classroom. This book outlines strategies, based on real
experiences, that can be applied in a classroom when issues arise.
The introduction sets the reader up for twenty-one chapters
of resources and personal accounts. Each chapter is written by a different
author, with experiences in negotiating and resolving different educational
issues. The chapters are divided into four major categories: school and
classroom culture; curriculum and student understanding; sociological issues of
race and culture; and pedagogical issues. The four categories encompass a large
amount of issues in the field of education.
The first section of the book explores the value of school
culture. There are six chapters that discuss different themes and issues under
this topic. The section starts with one author detailing the importance of the
first school day as a foundation for school culture throughout the entire year.
The author outlines their experiences in building school culture with new
students, and offers strategies for other teachers to use. The next chapter
discusses the importance of culture as a defining aspect of school. The author
emphasizes vision and teamwork of teachers in building culture. There is
discussion of “pull-out” programs (students are removed from class to work on
literacy or numeracy goals) and how they affect students in a particular
classroom culture. There is an artistically-presented personal account of experiences
in the classroom. Another author explores the academic effects of school
culture. The section ends with a chapter
that places school culture into the context of a surrounding community with its
own culture.
The second section of Going
Public with Our Teaching discusses curriculum content and student understanding.
This section approaches issues and findings concerning different academic
subjects. These include English language
arts, mathematics, and social studies. Each chapter (that addresses curricular
understanding) explores issues with teaching these subject areas. They include
personal experiences in each subject and strategies that were derived from
these experiences. The section also explores learning styles, including
participation and oral learning.
The third section of the book explores a variety of
sociological issues surrounding education. The first chapter discusses
differentiated education in response to marginalized minorities. The next
chapter explores the role of teacher expectations on student growth and
achievement. Chapter three discusses racism in schools and the impacts on
academic growth and success. The next chapter recounts the story of an
immigrant student. This student had always been underprivileged, and then
marginalized by education and society. She hadn’t achieved any major academic
success because there were low expectations for her and little effort was made
to help her. This chapter outlines an unfortunately common situation in
education. The section ends with another account of children that were afforded
low expectations by educators and marginalized. This chapter includes the
personal account of a teacher who addressed this issue and their reflections on
the strategies and methods used.
The last section addresses a broad topic: the issues of
teaching and instruction. Each chapter offers perspective on a pedagogical or
sociological issue concerning teachers. The first chapter discusses teaching individuals
within the context of classroom management. The second chapter discusses how a
teacher must balance student empowerment and enforced standards of the
encompassing education system. The author outlines their personal struggles
with finding and maintaining this balance. The third chapter explores the role
of chaos in the classroom. The author defines chaos as a force that leads to
new variables within the classroom environment. They offer perspective on recognizing
and acclimating to this change. The last chapter offers personal perspectives
on a number of general issues in teaching. Often the resolution of one
situation in a classroom can contribute to the development of another issue.
The author writes about analyzing the possibilities associated with the actions
of teacher utilizing classroom policies and procedures.
Resources
Going Public with Our
Teaching is purposed as a resource book. Each chapter responds to a
different educational issue. The chapters involves personal accounts and the
strategies used by the author. There is a website for the book (http://www.goingpublicwithteaching.org/).
The website provides a number of resource links (including
some associated with chapters in the book):
These are extra resources written by the authors of
individual chapters in the book. The website includes several other resource
databases and toolkits, which were developed by the Carnegie Foundation:
-
CASTL K-12/TE
-
Quest Project
-
Knowledge Media Laboratory
-
KEEP Toolkit
When addressing any of a variety of pedagogical issues, it
is important for teachers to communicate with others. Communication between
teachers (and teachers to students) can be the most valuable tool in resolving
any classroom issue. It is important for teachers to seek resources and the
advice of others.
Critique
Going Public with Our
Teaching is well-purposed. It is written from the viewpoint that educators are
often voiceless in a field that relies upon communication. It was designed to address
issues and give a voice to teachers. The book uses a number of articles from
different authors (all who are practicing teachers) to explore different
educational issues.
The book has a number of strengths. There is a good intent
behind the writing. The offered conclusions aren’t based on theory, and are
instead founded upon real experiences. The authors also wrote their individual
chapters professionally. Many of them collected data (concerning their topic)
and completed analyses and reflections based on their findings. The collection
of individual chapters allows the book to address a number of issues in
education. It can offer insight on a lot of different topics, which can be
valuable to a teacher seeking help.
There aren’t many weaknesses of this book. There are a few
concerns. The devotion of chapters to a diverse range of topics prevents any
topic from receiving adequate depth. There are many issues touched upon, but
greater depth and clarity in the chapters would benefit the book. For a
resource book, it uses strongly-academic language. This is a side effect of the
professional authorship, but it increases the difficulty of interpretation of
findings and strategies in each chapter. The chapters were written by teachers
in the United States of America. There is a different landscape to American
education than Canadian education. Readers may not recognize this throughout
the book. Many of the situations presented in the book are exclusive to
American education. This is especially important to recognize concerning
sociological and racial issues of education.
Going Public with Our
Teaching is a good resource. It aims to meet a need for communication
between teachers. It can offer a number of valuable strategies for different
educational issues. It is also important to recognize the context of the
personal accounts within the book. Going
Public with Our Teaching has information and resources needed to resolve classroom
issues. It could be a beneficial part of a teacher’s resource collection.
Literature Reference
Hatch, T., Ahmed, D., Lieberman, A., Faigenbaum, D., White,
M. E., & Pointer Mace, D. H. (Eds.). (2005). Going public with our teaching. New York:
Teachers College Press.
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