Teacher Education

What Everybody Ought to Know About Teaching

June 13, 2013

In this post I am going to share some thinking about teaching that I learned along my journey as a teacher from three people. I future posts I’ll share thoughts about teaching from other people who I’ve met along the way. What everybody ought to know about teaching is a response to what Henry Giroux calls “critical pedagogy in dark times.” Education is dominated by conservative and neoliberal paradigms which has reduced teaching to skills, economic growth, job training, and transmission of information.… Read more

Cameras in the Classroom: A Good Idea?

By Jack Hassard

June 9, 2013

The practice of medicine is not an exact science and that No Guarantees or Assurances have been made to me concerning the outcome and/or result of any procedure.

Consent statement from a medical care provider

Anthony Cody, over on Living in Dialog, was right in questioning the motivation of the Gates Foundation which wants to place a camera in every classroom and to use the video tapes to improve teaching.… Read more

Assault on Teacher Education

By Jack Hassard

April 29, 2013

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) is leading the assault on teacher education in the U.S.

According to the President of this organization “Ed schools don’t give teachers the tools they need.”

NCTQ’s president, Kate Walsh, has led the assault claiming that teacher education has no real authority because it lacks specialized knowledge. She writes about teacher education, yet she lacks professional training in educational research and has no experience as a K-12 teacher or a university professor.… Read more

We Teach Science Not Because It Nurtures the Child’s Imagination, but Because It Might Help Get a Job

By Jack Hassard

October 10, 2012

Reform in science education for the past two decades is based on the ideas that American students receive an inferior education in mathematics and science, and as a result will not be able to compete for jobs in the global marketplace. In this scenario, the purpose for teaching math and science is to get a job. Standards-based reform coupled with high-stakes testing has created a model of education in which science achievement is the only worthy goal.… Read more

¿Is it Not Possible to Charter Teachers for a Change?

By Jack Hassard

August 30, 2012

¿Is it not possible that if teachers were chartered to design curriculum and assessment methods geared to their own students they might provide an education that is closer to the lived experiences of their student? ¿Is is possible that by enabling teachers to carry out their work as professionals the way most of them are prepared, school would be a better place?… Read more

Anthony Cody: Dialogue With the Gates Foundation: How Do We Build the Teaching Profession?

By Jack Hassard

July 31, 2012

Guest Post by Anthony Cody

Note: This is the first of five posts on the dialog between Anthony Cody and his readers, and the Gates Foundation. This post was originally published on Anthony’s site over on Education Week Teacher. This dialog is a major contribution to educational reform. Anthony Cody is one of the leading voices in America questioning the nature of present day reform.… Read more

The Hip-Hop Generation: Implications for Teacher Preparation

By Jack Hassard

June 20, 2012

The current wave of reform in science education, including teacher preparation, is not in the best interests of the diverse cultures that make up the population of the United States. The reform is standards- and test-based, and seeks to create schooling that ignores differences in people, and instead creates an outline (read that “standards”) of what is to learned for all students regardless of where they live.… Read more