This is, quite possibly, the best description of the state of affairs in our schools I have ever read.

Thank you, Arthur.

And where does all the money intended for education go? Lately, it is to companies who have created and sold the district the latest professional development topics, THE NEW THING. In the last few years, we have been subjected to differentiation, ELL strategies, scripted reading programs, "walk throughs", posted learning objectives, behavior intervention programs, Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, common core standards, to name just a few. THE NEW THINGS cost a great deal of money that could better serve the students with smaller class sizes and added resources.

As usual, thank you for your candor. It also made me wonder if the reason why some people like teachers leaving so early from their careers is so they can't remember what that "thing" was 10 years ago. Even in my seven years, I've seen some trends that I heard about when I was in school. But if you're so young, you have less reason to believe that it won't work. Thanks again.

Well done, Arthur. The best part about reading your article was doing it during a faculty meeting!

As a teacher of 36 years, I have seen every fad, trend, innovation, NEW THING come and then, mysteriously, quietly, without any fanfare, just...disappear somewhere between June and September. You, Arthur, have described in the most spot on way, the whole burdensome NEW THING process we are subjected to every year. Thank you for doing this, because we all know we are not alone in our loss of patience, eye-rolling, and scorn! <3, Kathy Moran

Too bad Doctor Seuss isn't still alive. I could just see a book about the New Thing!

Consultants have to justify their existence. It's all just a rehash. Philosophy, some argue, is the same. Since Plato and Aristotle, it's just old wine new bottles.

The funniest term I have encountered in the edubabble world is "research based" techniques. The term is funny because in the education world it has the same validity as the clinical research the infomercials use to hock their wears. Honestly, when you read some of the literature that supports the claim of the "new thing" it often states the opposite of the claim made byt he supporters or the "new thing." Research for example on collorative groups, group work and the 18 other names it has is laughable. Research often involves two "researchers" each just reflexively citing the "research" of the other with almost no real hard data behind it.

As a highly cynical 15 year classroom veteran in several states I can relate to this very well. I've been that teacher who is labeled as negative because I had valid questions. The odd thing is now I am a consultant traveling to schools. We know what works in teaching and learning and it's not a new "thing", it's something that we need to refine and improve our practice on. Creating a culture where students think critically, collaborate and communicate effectively isn't about a new plan or product, it's about effective instructional design and delivery and that does indeed vary from teacher to teacher.

Arthur,
You hit the nail on the head(sorry for the cliche). Administrators are bombarded with teaching the "new thing" by their supervisors and try to lambaste us into performing. They so want to be the school that has the highest test scores that they fail to see that each new theory has to be tested, retested, edited and tailored to the teacher's particular class. Their is no one perfect method. Maybe if these new administrators were actual teachers they would understand that each teacher has to implement change gradually. Nothing done haphazardly works consistently. This instant implementation is always done haphazardly.

Too bad Dr. Seuss is not alive anymore... I could just a book on this new Thing.

Hey, educational consultants have to justify their existence. They are in the silver bullet business and we are in the era of NCLB - No Consultant Left Behind.

So, get in line. Next year could be your turn to introduce the next Thing!

I've often described this process to people not in the field as follows. "It;s as if they desperately feel the need to re-invent the wheel but in doing so, MADE IT SQUARE!!!! When we as teachers point this out to them, they're response is "Yeah, but it's new," "Yeah we know but...... it's square!" "Yeah, BUT IT'S NEW.""
OK..........WHATEVER. Is it June yet?

This is priceless. It's as true in New York as it is in San Francisco, both places I've taught. And usually the "THING" has to take time during the first few days when teachers need that time to do the real things they need to do to get their classrooms ready, to get organized, etc. But no, we have to listen politely to whatever the new thing is.

After more than forty years teaching in MD and, I had to laugh when I read this. It is so true and the county that I was in seemed bent on "Out-Thinging" everyone in the country. There is nothing new under the sun really in how teaching and learning takes place... but there is always a new way for people to try to make money and justify their positions. And people wonder why Faculty Meeting Bingo was started!!!!

I started teaching in 1973 with "inquiry method." The next year it was "organic curriculum." And you're right, every year it was a new Thing. I came to call it "this year's model" after the title of an Elvis Costello alblum. As the year's passed I became convinced there was a doctoral student in some school of education writing a dissertation which would morph into a book, the book would morph into presentation, and the presentation morph into "this year's model." I believe the cycle continues until this day; too often with horible consequences.

What a great article Arthur. I am a teacher in England and I can certainly relate to what you are describing. As teachers, we have to reclaim our professionalism. The Thing is used to trick us, divide us and confuse us. Just look at how much money some people who 'invent' the latest Thing make.

It is funny that everybody knows that, agrees with this article but nothing changes...

As a student, reading this article made me chuckle. I've always thought to myself, how come teachers are always changing up their methods? And now it is now because it has been brought to my knowledge that their is someone sitting conjuring the "next big thing". Your closing statement stood out to the me the most because we are learning how everyone is different; students learn differently and just like students teachers should have the right to teach just as they please. If there are results than they obviously are doing something right. I do recall i had a professor whom was so strict and everyone used to hate her in my class but not I, I thought she was phenomenal because although she was strict, she got to the point and we always walked out learning something. I say screw the next big thing, let the teachers and students their there own thing.

I'm currently pursuing a degree in secondary education, and The Next Big Thing is the only thing I'm dreading about going into education. It is deeply upsetting to me to know that teachers aren't considered "good teachers" unless they follow The Next Big Thing, and if The Next Big Thing doesn't work, it's still their fault as teachers. We put so much pressure on teachers to do their jobs well - as we should - but we do it in all the wrong ways by forcing styles and techniques down their throats. A truly good teacher will know how to reach their students, and will know how to help each student do their best. Why can't we let them be?

I too am a teacher and a parent of children who have gone through the system. How many ways did they change teaching h.s. math until they went back to the way I did it in h.s. in the 1970s.

When my kids where in school I was more interested in their getting matched with a teacher whose teaching style worked best for their learning styles. Now we are all supposed to be cookie=-cutters, scripted, Stepford Teachers. If we recognize that there are many different ways of learning, why, oh, why do we feel that this year/s their is only one correct method of teaching, or evalutating?

It is amazing how things in education continue to change without letting the initial thing become a true thing. It would seem that each year’s new thing is now treated as last year’s something. Teachers become angry and frustrated because of that thing that was imposed on them each school year. Then, they did so well with the thing and they use it with everything. Now another thing! This is the issue that irks me about the powers that be anything.
These haphazard thought out things that come from Tweed’s Think Thing Tank will lose its momentum to become “the good thing” in the schools if proponents of the thing keep changing it. So now we have teachers wondering about the new thing that will be used in their classroom and how this thing will be used as per part of their evaluation. Nothing is worth the aggravation as long as teachers know what’s best for their students. I agree with Arthur where he states, “…can’t we at least ponder the possibility that teachers can teach differently, and still teach well?”
This is my thought on the thing: It’s my thing and you can’t tell me how to use it. As long as my students learn, then I’m doing a good thing.

It is so true. As an educator myself with one son already teaching, I looked at his curricula and think, same thing just repackaged. After all everyone needs to learn to read and write. If you can not do that, all the beautiful expensive systems do not work. The path to reading and writing truly needs to rest on the teacher's strengths and not prepackaged curricula. I always believed, give us the tools and we will add the expertise.

Yea! Teachers have to do what works for kids. But what works for the kids also has to be something that works for the teacher. If teaching doesn't work for teachers, how can it possibly work for kids? Thanks, Arthur

Peter aka Teachbad

It's called CONTROL, leading to profits, i.e. money, and tighter control. We did have the Emancipation Proclamation, etc., which kind of got in the way of easy profit, but there are ways of getting around that.

THIS SAYS IT ALL! Wow! WELL-SAID!

Thank you .... well said. It is the same THING we hear in Florida. Lord help us all. I love teaching, I wish the powers that be would just trust us to be the professionals we are. After 28 years experience I'm very sure I know what to do. We don't need another new THING this year. Thank you.

Thank you for speaking for all of us. With 28 years in the classrooms of Florida, I'm happy to know it's not just me feeling this way.

Professional Learning Communities. The new Thing here.

I could not agree more. Well said!!

In Texas we hear Rigor! Used to be we were told not to work harder, work smarter; now we are not working hard or smart and we had better get with it!

The education industry needs the Thing to come out every year, because otherwise how are they going to continue to make money. I remember when the "New Thing" in science was the Science Core Curriculum. This was actually a case where the "new thing" was a good thing, because they were asking Middle School Science teachers to adopt a spiraling curriculum, where we teach outside of our content specialty. I guess there is a new thing coming down the pipes, because it's no longer being supported by downtown. Of course, I had to find that out from our suppliers...sigh.

What a brilliant (and witty) article! As the mother of a high school student, this really resonates with me! I am going to forward this to my friend who teaches Kindergarten. Great article, Arthur!

So here's the thing. I don't teach; have no desire to teach, but I do remember teachers from my school daze. Some were good, supportive, actually one told my Mom my IQ was above average and someone needed to boost me up and make me realize that. It was long after I married that that happened, but I remember that teacher. I also remember the one who made me cry. The point: teachers are different as people are different and I feel a great deal of pain for the state of our educational process these days. Teachers need the support of parents, students, government educators. What is the end result of what is going on in our school system now? Support teachers' differences and students' differences as we support everyones' differences. Please. What a great article.

This is great! I've only been teaching 2 years & am already being forced to conform to the new Thing!

I'm not a teacher but remember Dick,Jane and Sally sight reading. Did absolutely nothing for me. I then got phonics and started to learn to read.
I volunteer my time to take care of very small kids so their moms can have a time of studying together yet find that what worked quite well with my kids is no longer acceptable. I'm not talking about spanking, just getting a firm tone (not talking about raising the voice either) in my voice when one of the kids refuses to take guidance to his behaviour.--Yes that's the way I spell behaviour ;)
Enjoyed the "rant" :)

This tired trope belies the more important element of educational struggle which is teachers' malaise. I do not hear the writer's intention to do anything productive to meet these many challenges, just cynical snipes at all that we have to do already. Reforms have been under way for decades yet teachers continue to fail to adapt to this climate. Perhaps this helps explain why teachers leave the profession early and often. The nimble practitioner who knows all the tricks and can adapt new ones quickly will soon discover there's plenty of opportunity for meaningful teaching, sometimes even through the newer better practices. Look, our performance is dictated by the expectations of our audience and they want the show they want. If teachers obsolete themselves by failing to please that audience, then we will leave the classroom altogether and become totally useless to all of our students.

Great article Arthur!
All the "new things" create a lot of noise and paper, don't they!
You can find me in my classroom doing my "thing"!

Yet, for all the word-to-word scripts that teachers must follow during instruction or be subject to bad observations by the administrations, they are still blamed for all the woes of education.

This is sooo true. The older teachers who can control a classroom better than the principals get no respect. They are "burnt out" because they don't just jump on some egotists "new idea band wagon". It is just so tiring.

Wish I had written this!! So eloquently stated! Kudos to you.

I'm currently pursuing a degree in secondary education, and The Next Big Thing is the only thing I'm dreading about going into education. It is deeply upsetting to me to know that teachers aren't considered "good teachers" unless they follow The Next Big Thing, and if The Next Big Thing doesn't work, it's still their fault as teachers. We put so much pressure on teachers to do their jobs well - as we should - but we do it in all the wrong ways by forcing styles and techniques down their throats. A truly good teacher will know how to reach their students, and will know how to help each student do their best. Why can't we let them be?

I really this article because it reminds of the teachers I promised myself not to become. Teachers need to proclaim the education system not the government. The government is not the ones teaching the students teachers are. The Thing is created by the government to cause a separation amongst the teachers but if they stop questioning each other as well as fighting they can fight together to help make education better. There is so much pressure placed on the teachers; not only to bring up test scores but also teach them about the real world.

As a student, reading this article made me chuckle. I've always thought to myself, how come teachers are always changing up their methods? And now it is now because it has been brought to my knowledge that their is someone sitting conjuring the "next big thing". Your closing statement stood out to the me the most because we are learning how everyone is different; students learn differently and just like students teachers should have the right to teach just as they please. If there are results than they obviously are doing something right. I do recall i had a professor whom was so strict and everyone used to hate her in my class but not I, I thought she was phenomenal because although she was strict, she got to the point and we always walked out learning something. I say screw the next big thing, let the teachers and students their there own thing.

I've been saying this for a long time. How come the students get to have multiple intelligences, multiple learning styles, and a whole truckload of accommodations, but the teachers who work with them are supposed to be clones and robots?????

Thank you Arthur for reinforcing and corroborating what myself and most of my experienced colleagues have been saying all along. What? Another learning curve? We just spent 2 years of intense PD and the state (which And now it's..."Oops, never mind." Here's the Rule: The amount of the the funding to implement the new THING is directly proportional to the number of bureaucratic, pencil-pushing jobs created, which must validate their existence by having the new and improved data bounce off their desks (at least through several modifications and changes of implementation deadline), with the quantified results (certified to be made public by the media) disseminated, distributed and analyzed long after the erstwhile beneficiaries of said results (ie; our students) have long since moved on to another grade level, another building (ie; middle school to high school) or left the system through graduation, moving, or dropping out. The education al blue plate special of the day, served up by the same career-building bureaucrats, is too many times just yesterdays leftovers with a fancy new name and a garnish. Why can't these Olympic gods come down from on high and actually ask the the professionals who deliver real learning to the customers (our students) in the last three feet...THE TEACHERS! When a general really wants to know what's going on with the troops, if things are working, he asks the sergeant!