Dive Brief:

• Chalkbeat Founder and Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Green's new book "Building a Better Teacher" argues that the nation's education schools are not doing their jobs when it comes to preparing teachers for the classroom.   
• Green argues that the idea of a "natural-born" teacher is a myth and that teaching is, in fact, a skill that must be learned.  
• The book is not about producing a new ideology or approach to teaching teachers, but rather discusses various education reformers who have introduced more nuance to the art of teacher education.  

Dive Insight:

Green argues that the accountability movement implies teachers know how to teach, which isn't necessarily the case. Firing teachers and replacing them doesn't necessarily fix the problem. Instead, we should be focusing energy on preparing teachers for the classroom. While Green knocks down the accountability argument she also finds fault in the autonomy argument that says teachers just need freedom. Both scenarios place a lot on teachers to create and find their own methods in the classroom versus providing supports for these educators.