Does EL Meet Your Needs? Yes!
I'm a special education teacher of 2nd and 3rd graders in an affluent, suburban school system. I'm also our district's teacher-on-assignment for elementary math, collaborating with educators in five elementary buildings.
I thoroughly enjoy your magazine and would not encourage you to change its format, nor its content. If I wanted to read more articles directed to teachers, I'd subscribe to more teacher magazines. I enjoy knowing what's going on in school systems across the country and appreciate your timely coverage of issues. The time it takes me to read the magazine—often more than one evening—is always well spent, and I share many articles with colleagues. Please, continue.
—Terry Palardy, Sanborn School, Andover, Massachusetts
Closing the Cover with Disappointment
While I look forward to reading Educational Leadership, I usually close the cover with disappointment. The articles about successes are so pat. There are always supportive principals, understanding parents, proud communities, and no mistakes. Eager students (never more than eight) hover around a table, supposedly illustrating miraculous growth in learning. Where is the rest of the class?
The many administrators who read your publication have an enormous effect on school environment. Yet little is mentioned about the importance of their nurturing their teaching faculties. Forming committees and study groups is not enough; genuine communication must be fostered. In this respect, your publication has let teachers down. I look forward to articles that encourage more soul-searching on the part of the people whose names appear on the letterheads of school stationery.
—Isabel Wasserzug, West Simsbury, Connecticut
Editor's Note: We invite your comments: How could EL better meet the needs of teachers (our fastest growing segment of membership)?
Teacher Educators Not All the Same
It's too bad Robert Ciscell placed all teacher educators in the same bag (“Who's Teaching America's Teachers,” March 1993). While it's true that staying current is a challenge for teacher educators, most education programs are addressing this challenge. Sabbatical leaves, professor/teacher exchanges, and field-based programs are all realities.
Unfortunately, Ciscell does not address the fact that although teachers are marvelous for sharing strategies “that work,” they often are short on a solid research basis for determining which programs truly make a difference and which are a flash in the pan. We need both classroom practitioners and university professors in today's comprehensive teacher education.
—Jay A. Monson, Elementary Education, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Stop Feeding Complacency
“Japanese Education: No Recipe for Authentic Learning” (Nordquist, April 1993) reflects an unfortunate one-sided position. Having been educated in both Japanese and American systems, I believe that the two can learn much from each other.
While no one would benefit more from the injection of inquiry-based learning than the Japanese, American students must begin with a mastery of basic skills before they can successfully problem-solve. The exaggerated and oversimplified claim that creative and analytical qualities coexist in American education tends to feed self-complacency. As is true in so many arenas, authentic learning must be found somewhere in the middle of these extremes.
—Isao Yamada, Managing Director, Kumon Educational Institute, Washington, D.C.
