Earlier this month, I released a report reviewing coursework at ten graduate schools of education across the country. I won’t rehearse the findings at length here. Think lots of “queering education” and postcolonial theory and little phonics or classroom management.
Now I like to believe that these “spot the woke” exercises are useful insofar as they expose malpractice and ideological drift. They’re most certainly fun. But I also acknowledge the old truism that criticism is easier than proffering solutions or alternatives. What exactly should teachers learn if not Freire and French critical theory?
Were I made Supreme Chancellor over American education, I’d delegate “education” as a minor or licensing certificate attached to a content major—two methods courses and a student teaching assignment tacked onto another major with reduced course loads elsewhere. For the sake of this exercise, I’m interested instead in constructing an alternative graduate program along similar lines to those that I reviewed, meaning around 10–12 courses of additional learning for teachers learning to advance their careers or undergraduates looking to secure a master’s in education. And while a master’s in education can fill many roles including preparing students for leadership, policy, educational technology, and entrepreneurship, the below program is designed for either prospective teachers or those looking to advance their training but remain in the classroom (as the programs that I reviewed intended).
There’s no Platonic ideal of what every teacher ought to learn. But while still working in schools, I spent time coaching teachers and running professional development sessions, seeking out useful resources to improve my own teaching, and consuming mountains of studies and instructional manuals to research for my own books. Most of these books were pablum, others had the ideological bent of a DSA rally, and some of the most popular entries pitched enthralling ideas with no proof of concept or evidence of efficacy. A select few, however, were dense with insights, research, and practical recommendations. I built this list with such books in mind, balancing instruction, philosophy, and policy classes typical for a graduate degree in education.
|
Course |
Titles |
|
Philosophy of Education 1 - Ancients |
The Great Tradition - Richard Gamble It’s a hefty, edited tome compiling philosophers ranging from Aristotle to John Henry Newman, a genuine diversity of thought. |
|
Philosophy of Education 2 - Moderns |
Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire School and Society - John Dewey Cultural Literacy - E.D. Hirsch A disciple of E.D. Hirsch, I acknowledge that Freire and Dewey are landmark thinkers, so prospective teachers should know who they are. The above three texts are short, accessible, and introduce students to three of the primary pedagogical theorists of the 21st century. |
|
Methods 1 - General Instruction |
Two of the following: -The Art and Science of Teaching by Robert Marzano -Just Tell Them by Zach Groshell -Rosenshine’s Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington -Running the Room by Tom Bennett. There are some principles of instruction and classroom management strategies that apply across grades; these books provide concrete applications alongside concise explanations of the research behind them. |
|
Methods 2 - Introduction to Cognitive Science |
One of the Following: -How Do We Learn, Héctor Ruiz Martín -Why Don’t Students Like Schools by Daniel Willingham -How Learning Happens by Paul Kirschner and Carl Hendrick -Neuro Teach by Glenn Whitman Only one program that I reviewed included any course dedicated specifically to cognitive science, even though its findings on automaticity, working memory, cognitive load, and chunking are incredibly pertinent to the classroom. |
|
Methods 3 - Content Specific Instruction |
Text assignment depends on content area: -Making Sense of Phonics, Isabel and Mark Beck -Reading at the Speed of Sight, Mark Seidenberg -Reading Reconsidered, Doug Lemov -Teaching Secondary Science: A Complete Guide, Adam Boxer -Teaching Math with Examples, Michael Pershan -Etc. While some instructional practices are common across content areas and grade levels, others are specialized, and teachers should have at least one class tailor-made to their age-range and specialty. |
|
Education Policy |
Potential Titles: -A Search for Common Ground, Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera -No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy, Patrick McGuin -Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, Diane Ravitch 1.0 There are many quality options for surveys and overviews of education policy. What matters is setting opposing ideas alongside each other instead of peddling one “approved” narrative. |
|
Education History |
Potential Titles: -The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education, 1876–1957, Lawrence Cremin Little known outside of reform circles, Cremin wrote Pulitzer prize winning histories of American education ranging from the colonial to the modern era. The Transformation of the School straddles the classical and progressive eras, giving students a taste of both. |
|
Special Education |
Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions, Nathan Levenson The first is a practical book on supporting students with special needs; the latter provides a heterodox take on IDEA. Programs can choose the direction they want to take the course. |
|
Four Courses in Content Area |
Research consistently finds that a teacher’s subject knowledge improves their ability to teach. You can’t teach what you can’t know after all. These could be either undergraduate or graduate level courses as each program prefers. |
Through philosophy, teachers understand the ends of education, recognize the assumptions behind competing approaches, and can thus make wiser instructional choices. Through content courses, they deepen their command of what they teach. Through methods courses, they hone the practice and art of instruction. Through policy and history, they better understand their profession, where they fit into it, and how we got here.
A teacher should emerge from graduate school with a deeper command of his subject, a broader understanding of his profession, and a better idea of what to do when 25 students walk through the door on Monday morning. Right now, they get ideological hectoring and one-sided jeremiads instead. They deserve better.
The aforementioned course list and assigned texts needn’t be final. I’m sure every reader will have their own quibbles and substitutions. But I hope it can begin a discussion of crafting something better to offer teachers.
