Whenever we as outside professionals and so-called experts are called upon to provide assistance in changing educational environments, an interesting dance occurs between us as the outsiders to the school culture and the insiders to that culture, teachers. "We've seen reforms come and we'll see them go. We'll outlast them including this one," or, "you're expecting us to change again?", or "we do these things already." In most instances, we all know that the truth is somewhere in the middle, and that is where the conversation needs to start. For the educational planning process to be effective and successful holding the Creative Tension between current reality and future possibility is key. Not only do educational planners/reformers need to listen to the stories of classroom realities, but teachers need to consider possibilities for change. Somewhere in the middle is the best fit solution for both students AND teachers.
For understanding more about the current realities of teachers in their workplace, the classroom, a new book review by Joan Y. Pedro of Mary Kennedy's new book Inside Teaching: How Classroom Life Undermines Reform in the April 26, 2007 edition of Teachers College Record helps those of us on the outside to understand more about what is going on inside classrooms that makes reform difficult if not impossible.
As Pedro states, "Mary Kennedy has produced a very interesting and thought-provoking book which captures the heart of teaching and the many drawbacks that teachers encounter in the classroom. The main aim of this book is to portray the way teaching “really” looks and to learn why reform efforts are not generally successful. Kennedy puts forth the notion that teachers are aware of reform efforts but that they are so burdened with the everyday orchestration of teaching and learning that reform is not always at the forefront of their thinking or practice. Kennedy carefully and in a very powerful way has produced research on teaching that is valuable in this age of reform, and which represents the constant struggle faced by educators as they seek to balance high-quality instructional practices with external calls for accountability that often come from corporate and public leaders."
Pedro concludes: "Teachers can gain many thoughtful insights into teaching, and reformers can gain a better understanding of how teachers operate and move away from their narrow lenses of how teaching should be performed. School reform needs good teaching and can be improved when we consider the complexities of teaching."
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