S1-01. The Knowledge Gap: Natalie Wexler
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What's broken in our education system? Natalie joins Susan for a provocative talk about her latest book,* The Knowledge Gap*, and how a knowledge-based curriculum can bring equity into the classroom, and students' futures.

Quotes

“Kids actually love to learn stuff. They love to feel like they’re experts. It does wonders for their self-esteem.” - Wexler

“Once teachers try it and can see what can happen…they’re going to say ‘I’m never going back to what I was doing before.” - Wexler

Resources

Natalie Wexler’s books:

The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's broken education system--and how to fix it)

The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grade)

Natalie Wexler’s articles:

“Elementary Education Has Gone Terribly Wrong): The Case for Teaching Kids Stuff” (The Atlantic, August 2019)

“Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years”) (The Atlantic, April 2018)

Additional resources:

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham’s education blog)

Want to discuss the episode? Join our Facebook group Science of Reading: The Community).Episode Content Timestamps*

2:00: Introduction: Why is Natalie Wexler?4:00: The meaning of "content"6:00: How did the problem of not teaching content evolve? Why do we need to teach content?10:00: Observations from a knowledge-based classroom13:00: Education reform and the current attention on knowledge building17:00: Classroom teachers: Addressing misconceptions and confusion, and insight26:00: The knowledge gap issue beyond just the individual teacher34:00: The connection between content and writing36:00: Top things for listeners to take away from this episode*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute