Chapter 11 - Next Steps...

The last chapter of the book speaks of the steps we must take to bridge the gap between what is happening in the classroom and the research that determines what must be done different in the classroom.

I am reminded of one workshop I attended a long time ago. It was a PREL workshop regarding the use of technology in the curriculum. We were brainstorming within my assigned group and we were asked to critique a certain research finding. One of the members in my group said something to this effect: "The researchers must know what they are talking about. Let's just copy their findings. After all, they are researchers!" And the other one in my group said sarcastically, "Yeah, and we are just teachers."

Between the researcher and the teacher, between the administrator and the teacher, we must put more stock into what the teacher says than anyone else. And I am not saying this just because I am a teacher. We are the ones in the classroom, we are the ones who will be directly affected by anything and everything that these researchers will insist that we do to support their hypotheses. Which is ok if they are always right. But they are not. I can think of numerous "new findings" that didn't pan out because of lack of merit.

I say that teachers should also take a more active role in research. (Yeah, with 5-6 classes a day, how?) I know that in China, math teachers only teach 2 classes a day because the rest of the day is spent collaborating with colleagues, to learn useful techniques from one another, and to design effective lessons. They reserve half-a-day each week for in-service training. The trainors are all master teachers, not researchers who have never set foot inside a classroom. Is it any wonder how the United States is so far behind China in terms of math? They must be doing something right.

I know this idea above is going to be met with skepticism (!) but the state of education in our country is not so great. Maybe it is time that we begin to look for answers from people who know the state of education inside and out --- teachers.