Exchanging writing, exchanging cultures
Subtitle: lessons in school reform from the United States and Great Britain
By: Sarah Warshauer Freedman.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 270
Subjects: English language -- Composition and exercises -- Study and teaching -- United States.; English language -- Composition and exercises -- Study and teaching -- Great Britain.; English language -- Composition and exercises -- Ability testing -- United States.; English language -- Composition and exercises -- Ability testing -- Great Britain.; Educational tests and measurements -- United States.; Educational tests and measurements -- Great Britain.
Description: "Exchanging Writing, Exchanging Cultures offers concrete lessons to school reformers, policymakers, and classroom teachers about the value and effectiveness of different approaches to teaching writing. For U.S. educators, the British experience provides cogent reasons for rethinking the adoption of a "high stakes" national examination on the British model - a model Freedman found detrimental to learning. At the same time, the book highlights British educational policies and structures that could improve instruction in U.S. schools. British teachers, for instance, can aspire to positions of leadership and increasing responsibility within their schools, while professional opportunities for U.S. teachers generally take them away from their schools to share their expertise elsewhere. In observing the varied classrooms in both countries, Freedman looks anew at Vygotsky's and Bakhtin's theories of social interaction and their implications for learning, and she explores ways to meet the needs of all students when classes are not tracked by ability level." "Freedman's cross-cultural comparison stimulates us to envision new possibilities for our familiar school organizations in order to reshape our urban schools into institutions of high-quality education for all students."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-263) and index.
"National Council of Teachers of English."