If you want good insights and data about why lectures are a lousy tool for learning, what the fundamental flaws in school systems are, and why students are not engaged Chalkbored (by Jeremy Scheider 2007, a former high school chemistry teacher) is a must read.

Schneider makes the point that all popular movies depict US secondary schools as weak or downright bad. While there are some good teachers that rise up, they do it against the bleakest of conditions (such as in Freedom Writers).

Savvy enough to avoid the “L” word (or lecture), teachers and administrators call them discussions. In Chapter 1, Scheider writes: “In a one-hour class, a teacher who speaks 87% of the time leaves eight minutes for students. If you divide this by thirty students, each student gets to speak for 16 seconds (and listen for 59 minutes and 44 seconds). If I had a conversation like that (it sounds like a really bad blind date), “discussion” would not be the first term to pop into my head—“lecture” or “nightmare” would be closer.”

Scheider weaves great factual information with lively narrative. He makes the point often that it isn’t the teachers’ fault; it is the system that pushes them into this mode. I agreed with many of his points because they are logical and data based.

Here are some points and questions he raises. See if you agree or disagree:

• If we want students to take high school math and science classes, why do we punish them by making these classes have the lowest average grades? (Example science course average = 2.68, while Physical Education is 3.34)
• “Grades should never be used unless followed by clear explanations and opportunities to correct mistakes.”
• The focus on Shakespearean literature and classic literature in schools has more to do with avoiding paying royalties to current authors than it does with truly trying to excite students about reading.
• “Parents who want their children to succeed must insist upon higher standards than those set by the school.”
• “Students should be given as much choice as we can cram into schools.”
• It would be more efficient and produce more memorable learning experiences if great lessons were prepared in one place with a big budget and distributed to teachers using various media, rather than asking individual teachers to make their own great lessons.
• “All meta-analyses agree that computers are more effective than traditional instruction.”
• “There is no more CAI [computer assisted instruction] in high schools today than there was forty year ago.”

The book is certainly an interesting and provocative read. But if you are a classroom teacher, you probably should read this during the summer, when you can develop plans to do things a bit differently. But if you are an administrator, you might want to get a copy immediately. Scheider doesn’t just suggest change; he is trying to instill an uprising.