Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone)

by Elizabeth Green

3 . . . ask questions to encourage reasoning, not regurgitation.

In Japan, the most common type was what Stigler called “explain how or why”: How did you find the area of this triangle? Why is the area here 17? In the United States, by contrast, the most common type was what Stigler called “name/identify”: What kinds of triangles have we studied? What is the length of this shape?

In American classrooms, students helped initiate the solution to a problem in 9 percent of lessons; in Japanese classrooms, the figure was 40 percent.

4 . . . make their thinking visible.

It is not enough, after all, simply to tell a student who can’t understand a text to “read it again” or to ask a student whose essay is weak to “make it better.” The teacher needs to be more specific, showing students what this kind of thinking looks like by illuminating the invisible mental steps that go into it.

5 . . . are supported by a solid educational infrastructure.

The single most important conclusion I hope my book has underscored is that teachers cannot create better students on their own.