What Only Teachers Know about Education: The Reality of the Classroom
By (Author) Keen J. Babbage
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Rowman & Littlefield Education
20th March 2008
United States
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
371.1
Paperback
176
Width 156mm, Height 228mm, Spine 15mm
299g
Many peoplepolitical leaders, school administrators, school board members, interest group leaders, community leaders, parents/guardiansseek to impact education, but efforts to improve education will be enhanced if they are based on reality and the experts on the classroom reality are current teachers. Anyone who seeks to improve education must listen to teachers. This book explains why and shows how.
This book is lively, interactive, practical and realistic. This book is based on research that asked current teachers to say what they would like for educational decision makers to know about the reality of teaching. These teachers expressed their dedication, their hopes, their concerns, their frustrations and their recommendations. Reading this book is one way to listen to teachers.
We can always count on Dr. Keen Babbage to distill complex, often perplexing notions about education reform into the simplest of denominators. In his latest book, Dr. Babbage begs us simply to "Listen to teachers." He supports this charge with example after example of common sense, practical ideas and concerns shared by today's teachers - our voices from the classroom. Every school administrator should hear and then commit to act upon the messages that teachers have to share. We need to develop a system that relies on teacher input, along with input from our students, their families, and the larger community. When taken holistically, with supporting data, those messages inform our practice better than virtually any other measure. -- Lu Young, executive director, UK Center for Next Generation Leadership; past chair, Kentucky Board of Education; former district superintendent
I was thrilled to read an educational work that has not forgotten that common sense, and reality are the driving forces behind all successful classrooms or schools. Keen writes in a clear, cornice manner that is both readable and understandable...I am positive that people who wrestle with the question of "What can I do to help make OUR educational system better", will find this to be a valuable and thought provoking resource. -- Dave Shepard, Middle Matters & More, Lexington, KY
Keen Babbage has been involved in education for 24 years as a teacher and administrator at the middle school and high school levels. He has also taught graduate school classes and written 8 other books about education.