Why Don't Students Like School?
Have you ever had a spirited discussion about the art of teaching?
A few of weeks ago, this happened to me with a few colleagues after school. In fact, this happens quite often in our department. Like other schools, I’m sure, our district is making some changes in the way we are expected to go about teaching our students. This presents the opportunity for lots of good discussions around how things are going, whether these changes are good for students, and what is the best ways to achieve effective classrooms.
I enjoy these discussions, a lot.
During this spirited talk, our psychology teacher handed me a book and told me that I should read it. The next day, I began reading it and couldn’t put it down. In fact, I finished it in two days, which is out of the ordinary for me.
This book is called Why Don’t Students Like School? and is written by a cognitive scientist, Daniel T. Willingham.
To be honest, it had been a long time since I read a book about the craft of teaching. Since becoming a financial planner, most of my reading has been about the craft of financial planning. I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t done a ton of reading on how to become a better teacher besides the professional development that our district has provided - at least, nothing on my own.
The concepts in the book have been on my mind the past couple of weeks as I developed lesson plans. It has also affected how I think about parenting my children. It even made me reflect on how I put together a practice plan for my daughter’s 4th grade basketball team that I coach!
When has been the last time you have purposefully read something to improve your craft?
If you are looking for something to reflect on your teaching, I highly recommend this book. HERE and HERE are two reviews about the book and HERE is the author’s website, which is full of other articles and research, if you are interested.
Are there other areas in your life that you should be improving? Should you be reading books on your finances? Your health? Your marriage? Parenting?
Lastly, are there other books out there that I, or others, would benefit reading? Please email me book suggestions and/or share how a particular book changed your teaching. I would love to compile a list for another blog post.
