Dr. Steven Witt is passionate about transforming education.
The opportunity to transform education
You don’t need to ask a teacher to know that education is in crisis. Teachers spend their day racing to the top, which often means they miss out on quality time for deep, meaningful learning with their students. Additionally, teachers constantly get second-guessed by politicians and parents. Assessments and interruptions seem to control valuable learning time. Dr. Steven Witt offers some solutions for teachers who are feeling beaten down by all of the demands and noise surrounding their profession. His new book Opportunities: Transforming Educational Research and Teaching Practices uses research-based methods to encourage teachers to explore their pedagogical perspectives.
Witt gets it. He’s working with teachers and administrators all the time in his role as both the Director of Graduate Education and Director of Literacy at Concordia University Wisconsin. He also serves as the university liaison to the Closing the Achievement Gap consortium. Witt is passionate about helping teachers explore the latest theories of educational research, and he offers much-needed encouragement along the way.
Witt’s experience includes a PhD in Literacy and two Master’s degrees. Dr. Witt is a former executive director of a private school and a licensed Reading Specialist. He is a national and international presenter with knowledge in transformative leadership and continuous improvement practices. Dr. Witt is a published author and has supported educational leaders and teachers on four different continents. Dr. Witt is focused on helping educational leaders and organizations reach academic excellence.
The pandemic’s impact on an already bleak trend
“Our classrooms, schools, and communities are in an educational crisis,” Witt shares. “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this crisis and the effects on learning are severe. Teachers are leaving the profession in historic numbers.” In his third edition of this book, Witt presents teachers with an opportunity to reclaim the teaching profession. It’s an invitation to accelerate student learning and support educational leaders and schools as they become more equitable, efficient, and relevant. Witt believes that in order to transform education, we need to ask difficult questions. “We need to draw on new research paradigms and theories. We must be courageous enough to ask how we can make a difference in the lives of our students.”
Equipping teachers with a pedagogy of hope
In his book, Witt sets out to provide teachers with what we calls a pedagogy of hope. A pedagogy of hope intends to inspire teachers to seek meaningful purpose in the work they do. From this place of hope, teachers can prepare future leaders with unbounded opportunities. Witt includes a narrative account of his own transformative learning journey. He gives specific strategies that invite readers to consider how they can apply the process of transformative teaching and learning.
What you’ll gain from this book:
- Think carefully and deeply about your pedagogical perspectives
- Explore key assumptions forming the bedrock of your professional life
- Learn more about why you should stop assigning large amounts of homework that was not meaningful and instead connect and empower your students with more choice
- Explore the pathway of transformative learning
- Integrate activities that guide and encourage readers
Do you want to know more?
Dr. Steven Witt’s book Opportunities: Transforming Educational Research and Teaching Practices is available here. If you’re interested in learning more about graduate education at Concordia University, visit us here.
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