The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom

If you are looking for answers or quick "take aways" for your classroom - you won't find them in this book. But if you are interested in examining teaching methods through a new and different lens - then definitely pick up this book. There is enough information in other reviews that I don't feel the need to elaborate too much - but this book is a thoughtful examination of instructional methods and it will change the way you think about teaching.

American middle-school and high-school pupils continually lag their peers in other developed countries - especially in mathematics - despite years of decreasing class size, building ornate new structures, "new" math, etc. However, these efforts are bound to fail if what goes on inside the classrooms is poorly structured. The "bad news" is that we are often blind to the most familiar aspects of our everyday environment; the "good news" is that looking across cultures is one of the best ways to sharpen our view of ourselves. In "The Teaching Gap" the German and Japanese 8th-grade classes studied were comparable to the American classes - yet, substantive differences were noted. Content in the U.S. was less advanced and presented in a more piecemeal and prescriptive way - there were twice the number of definitions presented in the U.S., and more concepts were simply given/stated vs. developed/derived. There was also more topic switching in the U.S., more interruptions (0% in Japan, 13% in Germany, and 31% in the U.S.), less coherence of U.S. lessons, less student involvement in doing the work (9% in the U.S., 19% in Germany, 40% in Japan). Another difference is that Japanese teachers do not use overhead projectors - instead, they work their way around the room on chalkboards, leaving a record of the entire lesson for the pupils. Still another is that Japanese teachers focus on joint efforts at continuous improvement - a concept probably taken from Toyota's much vaunted "Toyota Production System." "The Teaching Gap" concludes that most popular U.S. reform efforts have avoided a direct focus on teaching. The evidence presented within the book indicates that it is time we did.

This book can be broken up into 3 major parts, the Introduction/Data, the findings/results, and a solution & its implications to improve student learning. Stigler & Hiebert compare teaching 8th grade math between Japan, Germany and the United States. The findings were extremely helpful in clarifying the role of the teachers, teaching, teaching as a culture and change. The solution that Stigler & Hiebert came up with is hard to imagine being implemented in the United States because the time commitment is in years, not months. In the "quick fix" mentality of Americans, this solution, "lesson study", may find takers few and far between but its validity is unquestionable. (Note: not part of book but may be of interest. Discussion with James Stiegler in a 28 minute interview on his book and the implementation of his lesson study program in Nashville TN. I will be very interested to see if his solution has any impact on the quality of teaching in Nashville.) The last chapters are excellent as a summary of the findings and laying down a foundation for change.

The amount of research that went into this book is staggering, and teachers can benefit greatly from it. This book is an important read for teachers and administrators.

This practical and readbable book is a must for any teacher. The authors and their international colleagues spent three years comparing teaching methods and test scores in Germany, Japan, and America. Their masterful use of the research from the TIMSS study brings clarity to the underlying cultural assumptions that determine the teaching methods of every nation. (American and Japanese emphasized) They note that in the last 50 years Japanese educators have taken an incremental approach to improving teaching by working together to enrich individual lessons. Teachers are given the time and resources to do the action research essential to improving daily lessons for all students. In America teachers are told by non-teaching "experts" what and how to teach and most often work in isolation. Well intentioned reform efforts over the years have not only resulted in little change in actual classroom practice, but have bred cynicism and distrust of the entire reform movement. The authors believe that when American teachers are given the time and support to collaboratively improve the profession of teaching at the individual lesson level will students achieve significant improvement in what students, know, understand, and are able to do. What Does this Suggest to American educators?We must recognize the cultural assumptions that define effective teaching for educators, students, parents, politicians, and school board members. Then we must work to change these cultural assumptions by incorporating research in learning and teaching methods so that students achieve the higher standards demanded in the global economy. This can only be accomplished with the support of the entire community and professional development leading to more effective teaching methods. All schools must give teachers the time and support to study teaching and develop more effective methods. Gimmicks and individual star teachers cannot achieve the evolution of standard educational practice in America. The star teachers of the 21st century will be those who collaborate to infuse the best ideas into standard educational practice.