Training Teachers

Elizabeth Green has a long article in the New York Times Magazine about training teachers. The basic idea is that there are too many teachers needed in the country to fire a huge number of them and rehire new ones. The alternative is to do a better job of training the teachers we have.

Green reviews two different broad strategies to improve teaching. One is to teach teachers better techniques, such as how to hold students' attention better. The second is to teach teachers more content, specifically content that helps teachers understand how students think.

(3/7/10 -- Read a negative review of Green's piece at Schools Matter.)