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Reno, NV, August 13, 2018 ― Few would deny there’s room for improvement in the American public school system, where policies are created by those with no background in education, and standardized tests are used as barometers of a district’s overall value to the community. Somewhere along the way, doing what is best for the nation’s youth got lost in the shuffle.
Full-time teacher and prolific author David Michael Slater offers well-thought-out solutions in his latest release, We’re Doing It Wrong: 25 Ideas in Education That Just Don’t Work – And How to Fix Them.
We’re Doing It Wrong is a thought-provoking, unapologetic dissection of the issues plaguing American public schools. Each chapter identifies a major problem in the education system, exploring its roots and repercussions.
Slater gives readers an insider’s perspective on topics that have been at the center of ongoing debates as well as recent hot button issues, such as:
• Standardized testing
• Teacher evaluation practices
• Helicopter parents
• Class sizes
• Poverty’s effect on performance
• Anti-bullying programs
• Writing proficiency
• Curriculum goals
Slater explains why our current approaches simply aren’t working―for students, for teachers, for the colleges that these students may eventually attend and for society at-large. Unafraid to ruffle a few feathers, We’re Doing It Wrong highlights defects in policy and theory, calls out administration and questions long-held beliefs. Every chapter concludes with a suggestion for improvement, offering light at the end of the tunnel. Administrators, teachers and concerned parents will come away with a better understanding of the current state of education and ideas for moving toward progress―for themselves and for the students they support.
Education departments at Harvard, UCLA, Stanford, Columbia, Wisconsin, Penn, Brown, NYU, Washington, Northwestern, and Michigan have already requested copies of We’re Doing It Wrong, and the book will be required reading this fall at the University of Nevada, Reno.
David Michael Slater is a veteran middle and high school teacher who was named Educator of the Year in 2012 by the City of Beaverton, Oregon. He is also an acclaimed author of over 20 works of fiction for children, teens and adults. His work for children includes the picture books Cheese Louise!, The Boy & the Book, and Hanukkah Harvie vs. Santa Claus; the early chapter book series Mysterious Monsters; and the teen series Forbidden Books. David’s work for adults includes the comic-drama Fun & Games, which the New York Journal of Books called “hilarious.” David teaches in Reno, Nevada, where he lives with his wife and son.
You can learn more about Slater and his work at www.davidmichaelslater.com.
We’re Doing It Wrong: 25 Ideas in Education That Just Don’t Work – And How to Fix Them
Skyhorse Publishing
Release Date: April 2018
ISBN-10: 151072561X
ISBN-13: 978-1510725614
Available everywhere books are sold
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TIP SHEET:
Qs & As available upon request.
Reviews:
Richard O. Davies, Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus and Academic Vice President of the University of Nevada: “Master teacher David Slater’s book is a masterpiece! It is written in clear and concise prose that has the impact of a sledgehammer as the author dismantles one myth after another… His blunt, no-holds- barred assessment of the growing crisis in public schools cannot be easily dismissed. This is the most important common sense approach to fixing our public schools that I have ever been privileged to read.”
Cindy Cisneros, VP of Education Programs, Committee for Economic Development:
“David Slater’s book should be required reading for the new president and congress. His is a straight-shooting voice with thoughtful and sobering reflections directly from the field. We need to heed the compelling insights and solutions laid out in his new book about our system of education.”
James Paul Gee, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies and
Regents’ Professor, Arizona State University: “It is perhaps no surprise that in an age of ideologically polarized educational research and politics—matched with a widespread disrespect for teachers and public schools—a book of such straightforward sanity as this one needs to be published and read widely. It will miff people at the poles of opinion, but it is thoroughly supported by empirical research and experienced teachers’ craft knowledge.”
Shelly Vroegh, 2017 Iowa Teacher of the Year: “From the moment I started reading David Slater’s We’re Doing It Wrong: 25 Ideas in Education That Just Don’t Work – And How to Fix Them, I thought, ‘WOW … this guy really gets it!’ His experience as a teacher gives him the unique ability to connect with his readers in order to help them reflect on the challenges we face as educators and in education today. Not only that, but he also provides thought-provoking solutions to those challenges. It would benefit every teacher, administrator, school board member, parent and legislator to read this book.”
Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto: “If you want a book with fresh ideas on perennial issues in education that are commonly and deeply misunderstood, David Slater’s We’re Doing It Wrong is a relentless page-turner. Everything old is reinterpreted with new understandings and invitation to act differently: school choice, merit pay and accountability, scripted curriculum, high needs parents, sage or guide, tenure, and 19 other ideas are sliced and diced in new ways. This is a ‘makes you think’ treatment of major myths and education conundrums—read it, think and act differently.”