5 Great Teachers You Should Know

TakePart:

On the national stage of American school reform, big name players like Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates and Joel Klein are change-makers in the spotlight.

But as Alexander Russo pointed out in his This Week in Education blog, a slew of distinguished teacher leaders across the country are quietly making a mark on the world of teaching and learning.

Read the whole story: TakePart

Comments

[LearnMe]

10:51 AM on 03/07/2011

When I talk to my students about the importance of unity and coherence—consistency within and between paragraphs, a logical relationship between the parts of a piece of writing and the whole—I begin by saying, “This is the only thing I learned in high school.” I’m exaggerating, obviously, but what is not an exaggeration is that Don Looney, the man who taught me this and other things, was the only excellent teacher I had in my seven years in the award-winning Wilton school system. There may have been a few good teachers, most meant well, but Looney was the only one who gave me anything worth holding on to. http://learnmeproject.com/2011/01/14/unity-coherence/

[builderman55]

12:23 PM on 03/06/2011

I taught for many years and shared the school some great teachers, but there were plenty of mediocre ones who should have been doing something else. I was also one who believed that teachers should not be given higher salaries until the profession improved itself bybgetting rid of deadwood. In this regard, teachers unions are more destructive than they are good for the profession. Like the AMA, and ABA, they protect bad members of the profession in order to prevent any meaningful input into what they do. The FACT is, that ifnUnions wanted to advance the profession they would find ways to weed out the bad teachers and make it easier for truly committed individuals to get INTO the classroom. My teacher education classes were a joke--good teachers are born, not made by education schools, though some fine-fine tuning be helpful. I remember a colleague of mine who went to the same teacher training program I did who remembers a 90 minute lecture on why lecture was a bad technique to use in the classroom. For anyone interested about what makes a good teacher, read, "The Courage to Teach." The author's point is that good teaching arises out of an individual's passion, and defies categorization or reduction to technique. He went around the country and watched excellent teachers. There were excellent lecturers, facilitators, etc. Good teachers loved what they did...

[raechel]

07:27 AM on 03/06/2011

It's a lot of work following all of the links in this article. But ...

Alex Kajitani's Rappin' Mathematician -- you teachers probably know all about him, but what a wonderful eye-opener for me. I read an interview he did where he talked about the impact of the "rap" math lessons he did in his class and then watched a bunch of them on YouTube. Try this one on the number line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EWq9EZmIKg Gonna have my preschooler grandkids watch it.

And then I found Conversations with America's Best Teachers by J. William Towne.

Lots of good stuff here.

[raechel]

06:51 AM on 03/06/2011

Great article. I'm going to follow all of those links and learn about every one of these teachers, what their ideas are, how they're tackling the problems that concern so many of us. Thanks!

[hairydodger]

01:27 AM on 03/06/2011

Rather than the centuries old vertical teaching system we should try something new. How about a horizontal teaching system where the students teach each other?

[veteran teacher]

07:54 PM on 03/05/2011

Phil Bigler is the best! What a loss to James Madison University when he retired.

[Last Gasp]

07:16 PM on 03/05/2011

deification of "super teachers" also serves as propaganda for the No Child Left Behind scheme to privatize education.

Be aware of the education privatization bamboozle. It won't be straight-forward.

[raechel]

06:54 AM on 03/06/2011

Why don't you get down off your paranoia horse (the one that helps to diminish the regard for teachers in this country) and read about whatever it is these teachers are suggesting we do? Then decide whether you agree or not. You know, an exchange of ideas.

[researcher]

03:41 PM on 03/05/2011

the american way look for hero teachers.

dont change the system to a national system that works for all schools based on knowledge but look for hero teachers that can make it work in spite of the system.

a paradigm shift is needed and americans are in no mood for a paradigm shift.

ie they already think they are know or they already think they are best in the world. ie rome thing occurring in america.