In the 1830s, Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet’s method of teaching reading to deaf children was evolutionary and became inviting enough that  the then secretary of education, Horace Munn, adopted to teaching it to neurotypical children; the logic being, if the teaching strategy works for the deaf it must work wonders for all. It wasn’t until much later that that it was discovered how ill-fitted such an extrapolation was. For far too long the culture has harbored a dreamy notion that gifted teachers are born and not made and they turn naive children into the learned ones with some magical powers and the techniques involved in teaching are a matter of personal will. What if that’s simply a myth?

On this episode, author, journalist, and CEO and co-founder of Chalkbeat, Elizabeth Green, discusses that becoming a great teacher is attainable to all through the mastery of specific learned key skills unique to the profession of teaching. As Thomas Jefferson warned us, “we cannot be a powerful nation and illiterate too”; we must acknowledge the dazzling intellectual challenge teaching poses and prepare accordingly.

About Elizabeth Green
Elizabeth Green is the CEO and co-founder of Chalkbeat, the nonprofit news organization dedicated to improving educational equity through local, independent, high-impact journalism. Since launching in 2014, Chalkbeat’s reporting has spurred changes in education funding, legislation, policy, and practice and is regularly cited or republished in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Vox, and more. Elizabeth also co-founded the American Journalism Project, the first venture philanthropy firm dedicated to local news. Her book Building a Better Teacher was a New York Times bestseller and notable book of 2014. She has also written about education issues for The New York Times Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, and other publications. Elizabeth has been a Spencer Fellow in education journalism at Columbia University and an Abe Journalism Fellow studying education in Japan.

Book:

• Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone)

About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.

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