Fantastic article! I just finished reading Daniel Willingham’s book Why Don’t Students Like School, and I would heartily recommend it to every educator. Thank you for continuing to highlight the problems in public education today; and even more, for showing how we can fix them.
Thanks for another common sense article. As a thirty-five year veteran teacher, instructional and literacy coach, mentor, and now an elementary school librarian, much of what you write about is what I have practiced for years (intuition and research combined). I strongly agree with 1, 3, 6 and 7 in this article. Based on my experiences as a special education teacher, K- 12, and classroom teacher, grades 4-5, explicit instruction always wins. It builds confidence so that discovery and critical thinking may develop and become more intrinsic. The challenge that I have seen over the years is preparing teachers to teach using explicit instruction, and finding teachers who are willing to research content and to admit that we never know everything. There is always more to learn.
I love reading your articles, Ms. Wexler, and I know they are hitting the nail on the head. I'd love to hear your views on how English teachers should best approach teaching books. Every year I meet fewer and fewer Language Arts teachers/schools that incorporate novels into the larger L.A. curriculum. Wouldn't classic (or award-winning) books be ideal in helping students gain a deeper, more history-based knowledge than a compilation of short excerpts?
Fantastic article! I just finished reading Daniel Willingham’s book Why Don’t Students Like School, and I would heartily recommend it to every educator. Thank you for continuing to highlight the problems in public education today; and even more, for showing how we can fix them.
Thanks for another common sense article. As a thirty-five year veteran teacher, instructional and literacy coach, mentor, and now an elementary school librarian, much of what you write about is what I have practiced for years (intuition and research combined). I strongly agree with 1, 3, 6 and 7 in this article. Based on my experiences as a special education teacher, K- 12, and classroom teacher, grades 4-5, explicit instruction always wins. It builds confidence so that discovery and critical thinking may develop and become more intrinsic. The challenge that I have seen over the years is preparing teachers to teach using explicit instruction, and finding teachers who are willing to research content and to admit that we never know everything. There is always more to learn.
I love reading your articles, Ms. Wexler, and I know they are hitting the nail on the head. I'd love to hear your views on how English teachers should best approach teaching books. Every year I meet fewer and fewer Language Arts teachers/schools that incorporate novels into the larger L.A. curriculum. Wouldn't classic (or award-winning) books be ideal in helping students gain a deeper, more history-based knowledge than a compilation of short excerpts?