Old habits die hard, particularly when they are part of the unexamined norms of schooling. In Why Are We Still Doing That?, the best-selling authors of Total Participation Techniques lead a teacher-positive, empathetic inquiry into 16 common educational practices that can undermine student learning:
* Round robin reading
* Teaching to learning styles
* Homework as the default
* Using interim assessments as "formative assessments"
* Asking, "Does everybody understand?"
* Traditional Q&A
* Data-driven everything
* Publicly displayed data walls
* Content breadth over depth
* Adhering to rigid pacing guides
* Teaching to test samplers
* An analysis-only approach to reading
* Elevating English language arts and mathematics over all other subjects
* Ignoring curriculum experts
* Using behavior charts
* Withholding recess Pérsida Himmele and William Himmele provide straightforward, research-informed accounts of what makes each of these practices problematic. And, they share easy-to-implement instructional, assessment, and classroom management strategies you can use to meet the goals those problematic practices are intended to achieve... without the downsides or the damage.
