Evolution of Teaching

The Evolution of Teaching invites teachers to rethink what teachers and schools do. The need to rethink the role of teachers is driven by an abundance of data showing that teachers are increasingly unhappy with their work. Most critically, they feel a loss of control over their work and their profession as they witness teacher voices being marginalized by impersonal authorities outside of schools who dictate more and more of what teachers and schools must do. The antidote to this condition is the evolution of teaching. Teachers need to take charge and lead change. They need to redefine teaching and schooling in such a way that it authentically supports student learning and teacher learning. They must redefine it in a way that supports every teacher’s desire to have a personal impact on students while having control over their own work, stakeholder standing as respected professionals, and a full career of professional growth. As A Guidebook to the Advancement of Teaching, Teacher Education, and Happier Careers, this text will assist teachers in reconceiving the profession of teaching in ways that will make it more personally satisfying while acknowledging that the work of teachers in the twenty-first century must necessarily be different from what we have now, legacy practices of standardization left over from the industrial age.

Dr. Waters' unique approach to 21st Century learning challenges and inspires early career teachers and all educators to reflect on the past and to consider using many new learning models that stand to do a better job meeting the diverse needs of 21st century learners., The Evolution of Teaching uniquely contributes to the conversation about the need for change in the American public education system and teacher education itself in order to keep in step with the 21st century learners...  He boldly encourages teachers, especially novice teachers, to 'take charge of their collective destiny' -- to be leaders and change agents who will leave behind schools of 'industrial age design' as they create new schools to meet the demands of the 21st century.

Rich Waters is a veteran high school teacher and Ph.D. whose interests in school reform and teacher education led him to assist in the creation and co-coordination of a professional development school and later to become a founding member of the National Association of Professional Development Schools. His decades of work and recent research in a high school helped him to see the need to reconsider the very concepts of teaching and schooling in the 21st century.