Simply Better Education Change - Book Report/Review Example

 Simply Better Education Change Critical Annotation Goodwin, B. (2011). Simply better: Doing what matters most to change the odds for student success. McRel International. Purpose of the Book This book is written from the premise that educators know what school is supposed to look like in order to be successful, but yet the problem is in getting it right. As such, the main purpose of this book is for the author to demonstrate principles designed to improve student achievement that are supported by a practical and research based framework. The approached of the book is predicated on the findings that five essential practices need to be evident in schools in order to maximize a student’s propensity of doing well in an academic environment. One practice that is focused upon in the book is to guarantee that instruction used in schools today is challenging, engaging, and intentional (Goodwin, 2011). Everything that is done in the classroom needs to have a purpose, and that purpose must be directly related to the academic development of the student. The book also focuses on the idea that it is important to ensure that curricular pathways to success are present. A third practice covered within the scope of this book is the importance of providing support to the whole child and student. This involves moving the focus away from purely academic matters, and looking to combine that with aspects that relate to a child’s overall physical and emotional health as well. The fourth practice mentioned by Goodwin is the fact that schools need to create high performance cultures where excellence is not the exception, but rather the norm. This is leads into the final purpose of the book, which is to espouse the importance of developing data driven and high-reliability district systems in which the schools in a particular region work together to provide each other with the necessary support to create the best educational system possible (Goodwin, 2011). Author Credentials Bryan Goodwin has been with the McRel International organization since 1998, and is currently serving in the capacity of its president and chief executive officer. He was appointed to his current role as CEO in 2014, after have served in various capacities on the leadership team since 2003. During his long tenure as McRel, Goodwin has published three books in the field of education. These include The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused every Day, Simply Better: Doing What Matters Most to Change the Odds for Student Success, and The Future of Schooling: Educating America in 2020. In addition to his solo-authored books, he has long since been a contributor to the monthly Educational Leadership magazine published by ASCD. Within this magazine, Goodwin is the chief contributor to its ‘Research Says’ column, which is designed to offer a unique insight into the latest trends and research endeavors in the field of education. His purpose in serving in various roles at McRel is to help equip educators with the tools and resources that they need to be successful, and to bring new research and insight to their attention, all in an effort to bring a consistently fresh approach to teaching, thereby changing the odds for student success (Goodwin, 2011). Since Godwin has been the CEO of McRel international, he has worked to assist the organization in its efforts to continue more than 50 years of work in translating educational researcher into practice in the real world. He has done this primarily by looking at different educational systems around the world to gain new insight about the best practices that could help the educational system in America better address their own challenges that the system is currently facing. Before joining McRel, Godwin was actually a college professor, in addition to being a high school teacher, in St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He also became an award-winning business journalist in his work prior to joining McRel International. He has conducted numerous studies through the years, and has presented his finding and perspectives to both domestic and global audiences. He has earned a B.A. in professional writing and environmental studies from Baylor University, in addition to an M.A. in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Virginia. The author of this book is married and has three school-aged daughters (Goodwin, 2011). Summary of Major Points This particular book is well laid out in its approach. Beginning with the introduction, the author stipulates his premise that there are five main best practices in education that have been research tested to lead to more effective classrooms. The point is made early on that the existing system of education in America is currently broken and fractured, but all of the tools needed to right the course are right in front of us. These tools revolve around research proven practices that enable teachers to better connect with their students, leading to academic success. Examples include gaining parental involvement, implementing strategies designed to establish emotional bonds with students that encourage empathy, and focusing on both social and academic areas of school. Educators simply need to begin to make a concerted effort to begin implementing this principles within the classroom. Beyond that, these same principles apply to entire school districts and the schools themselves, as the process towards equipping students with the skills that they need to be successful in the classroom is really a joint effort. The point is made that no one teacher should be going solo within a school, but rather the curriculum should be aligned in such a way that the ideals and values desired to be taught are disseminated to students equally across the educational spectrum (Goodwin, 2011). One of the common themes expressed in the book is to help determine what makes an effective teacher. There are obviously numerous possible answers to this, but the author proposes that there are certain attributes that nearly all effective teachers possess. For example, highly effective teacher challenge their students. The point here is that teachers do not accept the status quo from their students, rather they challenge and motivate them to strive for even loftier goals. They can best do this in the classroom by providing instruction and techniques to encourage their students to engage in high order thinking skills (Goodwin, 2011). A good portion of the book is also centered upon the importance of building strong relationships with students. This is often overlooked part of teaching, but educators can form some type of bond with their students are likely to see positive results. This aspect of the book is centered on the premise that great teachers work to both challenge and nurture the students that are in their charge. As one reads this text, they are mindful of the reality that teachers should aim to get to know their students and what they are experiencing in life. This does not necessarily advocate become their ‘friend’ both in and out of the classroom, but it does entail getting familiar with each student to the extent that they can provide resources as needed. This is one of the hallmarks of an effective teacher, and research shows that it leads to student success in many cases. The author provides several examples about how this practice can best be accomplished. They can, as a start, make a practice of engaging in casual conversation with various students before or after class. This conversation should revolve around student interests, and not necessarily any talk about academics. Effective teachers also work to make a practice of greeting each student by name as they enter the classroom, especially the students that tend to create problems and cause the teacher to try to avoid any interaction with them. One other practice that has been noticed to be successful in this realm is to wok hard to ensure that the teacher makes eye contact with every student in the classroom at some point during every lesson (Goodwin, 2011). This is a silent message to the student that they matter and are important. Evaluation of the Usefulness of the Text This text is valuable at either the district, school, or classroom level. The focus is on demonstrating to educators that they do not have to create new pedagogy in order to be effective today. Much research and practical field experience has already gone into determining certain best practices that, when implemented, will help teachers achieve success in the classroom. It is also noted the highly effective teachers create positive classroom environments, and that they are intentional about their teaching. Both of these characteristics can be achieved by any educator that has a passion for the profession and is willing to embrace principles that have been proven to lead to student success. The points are well made and explain how teachers who are no currently implementing their traits in their own classroom practice can begin to do so almost immediately. This text is written by a professional educator with several decades of classroom experience and research prowess behind him. The best practices that he presents are valuable for both beginner and veteran teachers alike as they remind each professional about the various reasons why they chose to enter the profession in the first place. In order to help maximize student success in the classroom, teachers must work to implement these best practices in order to create a complete classroom environment that is focus on the academic achievement of the student, in addition to the personal growth as well. This, as the book alludes to over and over again, is the hallmark of an effective teacher. References Goodwin, B. (2011). Simply better: Doing what matters most to change the odds for student success. McRel International. Read More