What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America
Welcome to the book study for What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America by Ted Dintersmith. In this book study, we will be inspired to transform our schools into what they COULD be!
Book Study Parts
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What School Could Be – Chapters One & Two
Set A: The author argues that students in many schools today excel by memorizing content, replicating low-level procedures, writing formulaically, and following instructions — a winning formula to make the Honor Roll, but a focus that diminishes life prospects in a...

What School Could Be – Chapters Three & Four
Set A: What would happen if the main goal of a course was to get students excited about the topic? This coming school year, would you be willing to ask students at the beginning and end of each course, “How interested are you in this subject?” How would you propose...

What School Could Be – Chapters Five & Six
Set A: If parents are too involved, how can we help them realize that a micro-managed child isn’t prepared to thrive as an adult? How can we, as teachers, better prepare students to thrive as adults? How can we help parents understand that we are acting in their...

What School Could Be – Chapters Seven & Eight
Set A: The author argues that NCLB and standardized policies have pushed our schools to focus on ranking human potential, not developing it. What should the balance be? What is the balance at your school? How can you better help your students to develop their...

What School Could Be Chapters Nine & Ten
Set A: If you were trusted to design an accountability framework for your district, what would it look like? How could you ensure outsiders that your accountability approach is authentic? Set B: Could your school organize its own “Billy Madison Project”? Would you be...

What School Could Be Final Thoughts
Overall, what are your thoughts on this book and what it has to say? What actions will you take as a result? What will you do differently in class? What do you hope RCISD does going forward?