Knowing how to teach. Effectively.

Something I like about the Italian educational system. The emphasis on oral testing. More so than on written tests.  Allows for nice dialogues. Between students and teachers. Give and take. Which determines what students have learned. And how they express themselves.  Orally. Wish there was more of it in America. In elementary schools. In high schools. Everywhere. My Italian true love teaches English and English literature. In an Italian high school. She’s less than enamored with the Italian educational bureaucracy. But she loves oral testing. She’s on a special three-week assignment now. Outside of her own school district. For oral testing of students in another high school. That way, Italian students aren’t tested by their own teacher. But by another. Which is a good idea. The outside observer/teacher/tester tends to be more objective. I’m an outside observer, too. Encouraging my true love to be fair in evaluating the Italian educational system. She often puts the emphasis on what’s wrong with it. Rather than what’s right.  And maybe what’s most right are teachers like her. They know how to teach.  Effectively. –Jim Broede