I should teach in Finland. 
According to recent test scores, students in Alberta and Finland are neck and neck in math, reading & science. The main difference is that Alberta (being the pseudo-Americans that they are) is obsessed with standardized testing, while Finnish students NEVER EVER write a standardized test.
This comment in particular made me smile:
Dr. Sahlberg credits Finland’s top marks to the fact that teachers are given the flexibility, and, more important, the respect, to manage their own curriculum under a national framework. Testing restricts potential, he said, adding that teachers in Finland are allowed to be innovative in their classrooms.
This is the way I teach. I don’t give tests. I assess through projects, journals, essays, reports, board games, presentations, debates…any way in which a student can actually APPLY and COMMUNICATE the information they learn. A parrot can regurgitate information and dates…I’m in the business to share understanding of material. What good is it to know that Napoleon was crowned Emperor in 1804 without understanding the politics and reasons behind his rise to power…or the symbolism of the coronation itself.
So, I’m thinking I should now describe my teaching method as Finnish — and I’m blessed to be working in a school AND a department that allows me considerable freedom to be imaginative and innovative with the curriculum. A pity Alberta teachers can’t do the same…
