More schools

Gosh, I wrote that blog entry the other day about schools and systems, but didn't get to last Sunday's New York Times Magazine until my commuting time on the train yesterday. The cover story, "Building a Better Teacher," is exactly on the topic of how to train teachers to be great teachers.

The article has two different threads, the work of Doug Lemov, now of the school charter organization Uncommon Schools, on identifying the framework of what comprises excellent teaching/classroom management more generally (he has 49 factors, and is publishing a book on his method next month), as well as identifying subject-specific teaching frameworks, such as in math. On the latter, the article features the work of people at the Michigan State University College of Education, as well as a professor at the University of Michigan School of Education.