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mattneely's review
2.0
Really hard to follow where she was going as she careened between high theory and long explanations of her nephews and a clever assignment of speed dating books.
coffeechug's review
4.0
Finally a book about education that places an emphasis on the importance of teachers in the equation of learning in school. This book explores the issues in education reform today and provides some answers to how we can improve our classrooms right now.
I found this book to be a really powerful read. It is not a long read(200 pages), but I did find the material at times a bit above my head. However, I took down many notes and really want to grapple with the issues discussed in the book.
What I found so interesting is how the author broke down all the different theories of learning from behaviorists, theories of mind, cognitive and more. I found this part quite interesting and made me think about which strand I fell in. I had to do some additional research.
If you are an educator you should read this book because it will fuel your brain with why we are a vital ingredient in the education system and development of learning. You should read the book just to gain a glimpse into how educational reform is based on these theories and the flaws in them all as well as the key ideas to work with.
With this review I am trying something different. Instead of writing paragraphs of my thoughts from my notes and sketches I thought I would just share the actual notes with you instead.
Here are my notes, sketches, and key takeaways from the book. Maybe you find this helpful or perhaps not, but I thought I would share a bit into how I read through this review.
Go read this book, work through the jargon, and reach out to me when you want to discuss the contents as I think it would allow for some powerful conversation.
I found this book to be a really powerful read. It is not a long read(200 pages), but I did find the material at times a bit above my head. However, I took down many notes and really want to grapple with the issues discussed in the book.
What I found so interesting is how the author broke down all the different theories of learning from behaviorists, theories of mind, cognitive and more. I found this part quite interesting and made me think about which strand I fell in. I had to do some additional research.
If you are an educator you should read this book because it will fuel your brain with why we are a vital ingredient in the education system and development of learning. You should read the book just to gain a glimpse into how educational reform is based on these theories and the flaws in them all as well as the key ideas to work with.
With this review I am trying something different. Instead of writing paragraphs of my thoughts from my notes and sketches I thought I would just share the actual notes with you instead.
Here are my notes, sketches, and key takeaways from the book. Maybe you find this helpful or perhaps not, but I thought I would share a bit into how I read through this review.
Go read this book, work through the jargon, and reach out to me when you want to discuss the contents as I think it would allow for some powerful conversation.
claudiaswisher's review
4.0
"We don’t expect learners to be expert learners right away; we know that becoming a resourceful, self-regulated, persistent learner happens over time. Learners develop. The same is true of teachers."
At once fascinating, boring, heavy, entertaining, challenging, affirming. Sometimes there was too much information, not tied closely enough for me to the point, and other times the stories seemed like filler.
But at the heart is the truth about teaching: it is a relationship. It only exists within the framework of a social interaction. It is a learned skill. Studies with children show everyone has the rudimentary skill, and that as we mature, so does our teaching ability.
Rodriguez went through the behaviorist theories which drive today's reform...where teaching is ramming facts into heads so students can pass tests. She makes the point that to truly improve learning and teaching, we must take the time to understand why and how we teach. And what the heck happens as we teach.
She discusses theories of cognition, emotion, the learner's brain, memory and mind. These all need to develop in order to become an expert teacher...either knowingly, or through practice.
Then there are the awarenesses...that 'withitness' we hear so much about. Rodriguez explains to my satisfaction what's going on in the brain of a 'withit' teacher without ever using that term...she also does not use the National Board term of 'accomplished teacher,' but I see connections there too.
"Expert teachers … recognize there are multiple systems in play all at once, and they have the ability to decode those that are directly and indirectly affecting the learner. Expert teachers think, behave, and change in response to the various needs of their students, the classroom environment, and their own personal contexts.
Expert teachers recognize the variables that contribute to the learner’s system of understanding and then manage the patterns they create. They keep these patterns in mind in order to make key teaching decisions and in order to adjust their interactions with the learner in a way that will help the student learn more effectively.
...expert teachers recognize the learner as one system, themselves as another, and their interaction with the learner as a third system, which we’ll call the teacher-learner system. Expert teachers are able to do this at both micro and macro levels, constructing theories of the learning system for each individual student and for the class as a whole.
Teachers who are aware and motivated to fully develop as systems thinkers also understand the level to which their own personal context affects how they interact with individual students and the classroom culture as a whole."
She uses terms I will need to look up and study later...they make sense to her, but I didn't entirely catch on: Theory of Mind, Dynamic Skill Theory, system thinkers...
Anytime a teacher is teaching, he or she could be in control of several different 'awarenesses' -- to different degrees. Awareness of the learner (or learners), of the interaction, of the teacher him or herself, of the teaching practice, and of the context...All this is bubbling in the mind of that accomplished teacher as she scans the room using feedback kids knowingly and unknowingly give her, watching the success or lack of success of the interaction...does she need to adjust? of the teacher herself...does she feel successful? Is the lesson working? Does she have the skills to adjust and rework the lesson? What is she really doing and why? All those questions that become part of reflective practice. What about the context? The setting? The school? The support or lack of support? Her freedom to work from all those awarenesses.
As I read, I would stumble across perfect descriptions of that flow that can happen in a successful lesson, and the true power of what an accomplished teacher is capable of.
Is it juggling? Walking a tightrope without a net? Is it conducting an orchestra?
I will go over my quotes again and add them to this review.
But then...right in the middle of my own 'flow' of reading, she would hit passages with 'too many words' that all needed deep analysis...passages that made sense to her, but did not work for me.
This book is part of a study she did, interviewing teachers others had identified as 'expert'. The interview excerpts were strangly interspersed, and they did not work.
What did work was the idea of teaching as a social act, of the ability of a teacher to improve, of the theories we have of our own teaching, and the awarenesses that are tools for us to deepen our teaching within that social setting...of our obligation to use every tool to be the best teacher we can be.
Fascinating and frustrating...
Why is teaching hard, sometimes impossible? "Teaching is not a linear process of inputting knowledge into the learner. Teaching consists of at least two variables, the learner and the teacher, and each of these variables is in turn defined by a practically infinite number of variables."
At once fascinating, boring, heavy, entertaining, challenging, affirming. Sometimes there was too much information, not tied closely enough for me to the point, and other times the stories seemed like filler.
But at the heart is the truth about teaching: it is a relationship. It only exists within the framework of a social interaction. It is a learned skill. Studies with children show everyone has the rudimentary skill, and that as we mature, so does our teaching ability.
Rodriguez went through the behaviorist theories which drive today's reform...where teaching is ramming facts into heads so students can pass tests. She makes the point that to truly improve learning and teaching, we must take the time to understand why and how we teach. And what the heck happens as we teach.
She discusses theories of cognition, emotion, the learner's brain, memory and mind. These all need to develop in order to become an expert teacher...either knowingly, or through practice.
Then there are the awarenesses...that 'withitness' we hear so much about. Rodriguez explains to my satisfaction what's going on in the brain of a 'withit' teacher without ever using that term...she also does not use the National Board term of 'accomplished teacher,' but I see connections there too.
"Expert teachers … recognize there are multiple systems in play all at once, and they have the ability to decode those that are directly and indirectly affecting the learner. Expert teachers think, behave, and change in response to the various needs of their students, the classroom environment, and their own personal contexts.
Expert teachers recognize the variables that contribute to the learner’s system of understanding and then manage the patterns they create. They keep these patterns in mind in order to make key teaching decisions and in order to adjust their interactions with the learner in a way that will help the student learn more effectively.
...expert teachers recognize the learner as one system, themselves as another, and their interaction with the learner as a third system, which we’ll call the teacher-learner system. Expert teachers are able to do this at both micro and macro levels, constructing theories of the learning system for each individual student and for the class as a whole.
Teachers who are aware and motivated to fully develop as systems thinkers also understand the level to which their own personal context affects how they interact with individual students and the classroom culture as a whole."
She uses terms I will need to look up and study later...they make sense to her, but I didn't entirely catch on: Theory of Mind, Dynamic Skill Theory, system thinkers...
Anytime a teacher is teaching, he or she could be in control of several different 'awarenesses' -- to different degrees. Awareness of the learner (or learners), of the interaction, of the teacher him or herself, of the teaching practice, and of the context...All this is bubbling in the mind of that accomplished teacher as she scans the room using feedback kids knowingly and unknowingly give her, watching the success or lack of success of the interaction...does she need to adjust? of the teacher herself...does she feel successful? Is the lesson working? Does she have the skills to adjust and rework the lesson? What is she really doing and why? All those questions that become part of reflective practice. What about the context? The setting? The school? The support or lack of support? Her freedom to work from all those awarenesses.
As I read, I would stumble across perfect descriptions of that flow that can happen in a successful lesson, and the true power of what an accomplished teacher is capable of.
Is it juggling? Walking a tightrope without a net? Is it conducting an orchestra?
I will go over my quotes again and add them to this review.
But then...right in the middle of my own 'flow' of reading, she would hit passages with 'too many words' that all needed deep analysis...passages that made sense to her, but did not work for me.
This book is part of a study she did, interviewing teachers others had identified as 'expert'. The interview excerpts were strangly interspersed, and they did not work.
What did work was the idea of teaching as a social act, of the ability of a teacher to improve, of the theories we have of our own teaching, and the awarenesses that are tools for us to deepen our teaching within that social setting...of our obligation to use every tool to be the best teacher we can be.
Fascinating and frustrating...
Why is teaching hard, sometimes impossible? "Teaching is not a linear process of inputting knowledge into the learner. Teaching consists of at least two variables, the learner and the teacher, and each of these variables is in turn defined by a practically infinite number of variables."
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