Everyone agrees that a great teacher can have an enormous impact. Yet we
still don't know what, precisely, makes a teacher great. Is it a matter
of natural-born charisma? Or does exceptional teaching require something
more?
Building a Better Teacher introduces a new generation of educators
exploring the intricate science underlying their art. A former principal
studies the country's star teachers and discovers a set of common
techniques that help children pay attention. Two math teachers videotape
a year of lessons and develop an approach that has nine-year-olds
writing sophisticated mathematical proofs. A former high school teacher
works with a top English instructor to pinpoint the key interactions a
teacher must foster to initiate a rich classroom discussion. Through
their stories, and the hilarious and heartbreaking theater that unfolds
in the classroom every day, Elizabeth Green takes us on a journey into
the heart of a profession that impacts every child in America.
What happens in the classroom of a great teacher? Opening with a
moment-by-moment portrait of an everyday math lesson--a drama of urgent
decisions and artful maneuvers--Building a Better Teacher demonstrates
the unexpected complexity of teaching. Green focuses on the questions
that really matter: How do we prepare teachers and what should they know
before they enter the classroom? How does one get young minds to reason,
conjecture, prove, and understand? What are the keys to good discipline?
Incorporating new research from cognitive psychologists and education
specialists as well as intrepid classroom entrepreneurs, Green provides
a new way for parents to judge what their children need in the classroom
and considers how to scale good ideas. Ultimately, Green discovers that
good teaching is a skill. A skill that can be taught.
A provocative and hopeful book, Building a Better Teacher shows that
legendary teachers are more than inspiring; they are perhaps the
greatest craftspeople of all.
