I think the answer is better teacher preparation. I think colleges pump into you all the knowledge you need to know. I think they stress upon you how important those tests are and how important those content standards are. When it comes to classroom management…they fail to discuss how important that is. NCTAF talks about how one third of the new teachers leave within three years. I think it is not only because they feel this is not something they were well equipped for, but because they feel underappreciated.
By the time we start student teaching and get settled, its time for us to leave. Adelle talks about how 19% of teachers said they had been formally mentored by another teacher.
That’s awful. I’ve heard of the many horror stories about poor mentor teachers. I was lucky enough to have an amazing co-teacher. But I’m one out of that 19 percent? That’s ridiculous. A lot of our new teachers are getting off to a bad start, and it is effecting the way they teach. They finally just get fed up and give up.
Adelle talks about how the requirements for teaching in a Colonial America is a small amount of learning and a willingness to work in what was then an ill-paid, low-prestige occupation. The learning aspect of the job has changed. You spend years learning all the content of the area you would like to teach. However, teaching is still considered a low-prestige occupation. I remember when I finally told my counselor I wanted to switch from criminal justice into teaching, she looked at me funny. Then she asked me if I was sure, because teachers don’t really make that much and there is more opportunities out there for criminal justice. How discouraging.
Showing posts with label Teacher Preparation/Development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teacher Preparation/Development. Show all posts
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Connection between Student Teaching and First Year Vital
Like many issues we’ve discussed, there isn’t one clear cut answer… funding or teacher preparation. I think both must be taken into account. However, the teacher preparation portion hits close to home for me, so that is what I would like to focus on. I think the student teaching and early mentoring programs need total revamping and should be more closely related.
I came out of my undergraduate program completely prepared to work in any special education setting. I had the confidence that my coursework taught me best practices, my natural skills would have the opportunity to flourish, and my lifetime of experience would allow me to work with any group of students in special education. I had taught bedsides in a Children’s Hospital to cancer patients, in a program for students with severe behavior problems that needed to be at a separate facility, and with kids who had cognitive delay. I took my first job as a teacher at a separate school with a class of 6 students with autism and a handful of other issues. I left within 3 months of beginning the job.
Since that point I have learned this is not an “exception to the rule” situation, I have heard many similar stories from other new teachers. The “Did you Know” video said almost half of new teachers leave after their first five years... that’s 50%!!! I wasn’t there for the class discussion this week, but Adelle’s PowerPoint mentioned lengthening the teacher preparation time. For me it wasn’t more class work I needed. The problem wasn’t lack of preparation, it was assistance in the real setting.
What if we could make a better connection between the student teaching and first year... In special education especially, the broadness of the possible teaching areas is immense. You have the different settings (suburban/urban) and types of schools that other teachers deal with choosing between. But then add on the fact that you can teacher kindergarten up to 12th grade. You could be assisting with the students with learning disabilities in a room or be at a separate facility for kids with emotional disturbance in your own classroom. The range is so broad and so different. Why not have a student teaching like atmosphere in the fall at your first job? You get hired in and work with another teacher in the room. They help you with those first few months that are so important for the teacher and the student. They help develop methods for IEP goals, grade keeping, behavior management, and counseling specific to your setting. Then after a few months you have the independence in that same setting they helped you create and they still check on you some. Maybe this could be a good way for teachers leaving the profession, discussed in the New York Times article (Report Invisions Teacher Shortage) to give back. Some may wish to spend their final year in the field as a mentor.
I think an answer is that we need to find some solution, be it this or another method. The field of education is loosing too many energetic and devoted young teachers that they shouldn’t be loosing. I hope Strickland does keep this need for mentoring and assistance for young teachers a priority, or the field is going to miss out on great talent!
I came out of my undergraduate program completely prepared to work in any special education setting. I had the confidence that my coursework taught me best practices, my natural skills would have the opportunity to flourish, and my lifetime of experience would allow me to work with any group of students in special education. I had taught bedsides in a Children’s Hospital to cancer patients, in a program for students with severe behavior problems that needed to be at a separate facility, and with kids who had cognitive delay. I took my first job as a teacher at a separate school with a class of 6 students with autism and a handful of other issues. I left within 3 months of beginning the job.
Since that point I have learned this is not an “exception to the rule” situation, I have heard many similar stories from other new teachers. The “Did you Know” video said almost half of new teachers leave after their first five years... that’s 50%!!! I wasn’t there for the class discussion this week, but Adelle’s PowerPoint mentioned lengthening the teacher preparation time. For me it wasn’t more class work I needed. The problem wasn’t lack of preparation, it was assistance in the real setting.
What if we could make a better connection between the student teaching and first year... In special education especially, the broadness of the possible teaching areas is immense. You have the different settings (suburban/urban) and types of schools that other teachers deal with choosing between. But then add on the fact that you can teacher kindergarten up to 12th grade. You could be assisting with the students with learning disabilities in a room or be at a separate facility for kids with emotional disturbance in your own classroom. The range is so broad and so different. Why not have a student teaching like atmosphere in the fall at your first job? You get hired in and work with another teacher in the room. They help you with those first few months that are so important for the teacher and the student. They help develop methods for IEP goals, grade keeping, behavior management, and counseling specific to your setting. Then after a few months you have the independence in that same setting they helped you create and they still check on you some. Maybe this could be a good way for teachers leaving the profession, discussed in the New York Times article (Report Invisions Teacher Shortage) to give back. Some may wish to spend their final year in the field as a mentor.
I think an answer is that we need to find some solution, be it this or another method. The field of education is loosing too many energetic and devoted young teachers that they shouldn’t be loosing. I hope Strickland does keep this need for mentoring and assistance for young teachers a priority, or the field is going to miss out on great talent!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Teacher Preparation
People often debate whether it’s the preparation of the teacher or the amount of money a school receives that makes a better education. I think both help in advancing an education but in the end I believe it’s the preparation of the teacher that will have the greatest impact. Even if a teacher has the best tools (i.e. active boards, lab rooms, lab equipment, computers, and more) the students will not receive a good education if the teacher is not properly trained to use such tools or prepared to teach the subject matter. Money can help advance the teachings of a good teacher but can’t on its own create an enriched education.
So what is the best way to prepare our future teachers? I think no matter how much education a person gets to become a teacher, his/her real education will start once he/she enters a real classroom to begin teaching real students. Ohio Governor Strickland is considering changes to a teacher’s education where the first few years in a classroom are treated more like an internship. I believe this could be effective if done correctly. Right now first year teachers do have a mandated mentor but often the mentors are too busy themselves to help out a lot and often they only help out by getting their teachers prepared for the Praxis III. I actually like the idea of the first year being more like a paid internship rather than first year on the job. To make this work though I think the teacher needs to be equipped with a mentor that would check on them every week to help answer questions about paperwork, lesson planning, grading, what they should or could do with certain rule violations and so on. I feel it would be well worth the cost to hire one mentor in each school district to guide teachers that could get quite lost during their first year of teaching.
Robert Holland discusses how beneficial value added can be for the classroom and in improving a teacher’s ability and willingness to teach. Value added is when they rate a child’s growth in the classroom and often can affect how much a teacher earns based on their growth. I do believe this can be beneficial in seeing how much a student is learning. At the same time, however, it will determine how well the teacher can “teach to the test” and not necessarily develop better all-round teachers. With the value added concept we are again using one test to determine how much a childs had learned. I think we need to stop focusing on teaching for a test and start focusing on teaching to help make the child want to learn and grow as an individual.
Teachers should be more prepared for the subject area they are going to teach or for the actual process of teaching. I feel like it’s important to be well educated in both areas of the spectrum. Even if you are a master in a given subject, if you do not know how to convey this knowledge to the level of students you are teaching the student will never understand the information. Instead, the student will lose interest and give up. This is where we have to get rid of the idea that anyone can teach. I believe a lot of people have the ability to teach but need to be properly trained just like any other occupation. In both the Darling-Hammond article and in class we discussed the idea of Teach for America. The program takes well educated people and trains them for two weeks before they enter a classroom to teach in more challenging areas. In the article it mentioned how many of these teachers felt ill prepared and were frustrated because they couldn’t pass on the knowledge they had to their students. I think this shows that despite how knowledgeable the teacher is, the teacher has to be able to break down the information and represent the information in many ways and levels so everyone can understand. Other than classroom management I think this is one of the hardest skills a teacher has to learn. Colleges and universities need to prepare teachers with a variety of skills and ways to convey information. They also need require teachers to practice these skills before entering the work field to make sure they are comfortable with presenting information in various ways. Also, it’s important to learn and understand the pros and cons of each teaching style and method to better determine what is going to work best for the type of students they are working with.
In the end I believe money can help advance a child’s education, but without a good educator leading the advancement money will have no effect. No matter how much technology is involved younger kids still need well-trained teachers to guide them through the knowledge and challenge them to think more in-depth.
So what is the best way to prepare our future teachers? I think no matter how much education a person gets to become a teacher, his/her real education will start once he/she enters a real classroom to begin teaching real students. Ohio Governor Strickland is considering changes to a teacher’s education where the first few years in a classroom are treated more like an internship. I believe this could be effective if done correctly. Right now first year teachers do have a mandated mentor but often the mentors are too busy themselves to help out a lot and often they only help out by getting their teachers prepared for the Praxis III. I actually like the idea of the first year being more like a paid internship rather than first year on the job. To make this work though I think the teacher needs to be equipped with a mentor that would check on them every week to help answer questions about paperwork, lesson planning, grading, what they should or could do with certain rule violations and so on. I feel it would be well worth the cost to hire one mentor in each school district to guide teachers that could get quite lost during their first year of teaching.
Robert Holland discusses how beneficial value added can be for the classroom and in improving a teacher’s ability and willingness to teach. Value added is when they rate a child’s growth in the classroom and often can affect how much a teacher earns based on their growth. I do believe this can be beneficial in seeing how much a student is learning. At the same time, however, it will determine how well the teacher can “teach to the test” and not necessarily develop better all-round teachers. With the value added concept we are again using one test to determine how much a childs had learned. I think we need to stop focusing on teaching for a test and start focusing on teaching to help make the child want to learn and grow as an individual.
Teachers should be more prepared for the subject area they are going to teach or for the actual process of teaching. I feel like it’s important to be well educated in both areas of the spectrum. Even if you are a master in a given subject, if you do not know how to convey this knowledge to the level of students you are teaching the student will never understand the information. Instead, the student will lose interest and give up. This is where we have to get rid of the idea that anyone can teach. I believe a lot of people have the ability to teach but need to be properly trained just like any other occupation. In both the Darling-Hammond article and in class we discussed the idea of Teach for America. The program takes well educated people and trains them for two weeks before they enter a classroom to teach in more challenging areas. In the article it mentioned how many of these teachers felt ill prepared and were frustrated because they couldn’t pass on the knowledge they had to their students. I think this shows that despite how knowledgeable the teacher is, the teacher has to be able to break down the information and represent the information in many ways and levels so everyone can understand. Other than classroom management I think this is one of the hardest skills a teacher has to learn. Colleges and universities need to prepare teachers with a variety of skills and ways to convey information. They also need require teachers to practice these skills before entering the work field to make sure they are comfortable with presenting information in various ways. Also, it’s important to learn and understand the pros and cons of each teaching style and method to better determine what is going to work best for the type of students they are working with.
In the end I believe money can help advance a child’s education, but without a good educator leading the advancement money will have no effect. No matter how much technology is involved younger kids still need well-trained teachers to guide them through the knowledge and challenge them to think more in-depth.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Answer...
The answer to American education is teacher preparation. How can we help students learn if we feel that we are not prepared to teach after stepping out of four long years of college? Adelle showed us stats on how many teachers felt unprepared coming out of college going into there first year of teaching. I personally felt that BG prepared me very well, along with Lindsey and Megan stating that BW prepared them. But what about the teachers who aren't prepared who have spent all that money on an education? Linda Darling-Hammond states that changes in course taking, curriculum content, testing or textbooks make little difference if teachers do not know how to use these tools properly to diagnose students learning needs (Holland). Which makes sense. We are taught all of these concepts and ideas in college but are we really showed how to use them effectively and in a variety of ways to help our students succeed? I came out of college feeling ready to get in the classroom and teach. But there are those who don't.
After listening to Strickland's plan again, I had time to rethink his idea about teacher preparation, in that new teachers out of college should be required to intern for four years before receiving a permanent position. I do feel it would provide first year teachers with much more preparation than what some of us had in our four years of college. But this plan brings also about several questions. Will these graduates have to pay for this program? Will they get paid for four years of teaching? Will they have their own classrooms? Or will it be similar to a student teaching experience in college? I would like to know more about this part of his plan.
Colleges do need to change some things in the curriculum for education. I do feel that more field experiences should be implemented in the area of expertise. I felt that I did a lot more pre-school practicums and observations than I did in the public school setting with students I would be licensed to teach. I also think that the core curriculum classes should be cut down, and more speciality classes dealing with education should be implemented. We need all the experience we can get in order to be considered when we are on market for a job. School after school turn down candidates who have just graduated because they have no experience or not enough. How are they supposed to get experience if not a soul will give them an opportunity in their school system?
Who knows, maybe Strickland's idea on a teacher internship after college will ensure that new teachers receive jobs that they deserve, due to their dedication and hard work. I believe it has much potential to succeed.
After listening to Strickland's plan again, I had time to rethink his idea about teacher preparation, in that new teachers out of college should be required to intern for four years before receiving a permanent position. I do feel it would provide first year teachers with much more preparation than what some of us had in our four years of college. But this plan brings also about several questions. Will these graduates have to pay for this program? Will they get paid for four years of teaching? Will they have their own classrooms? Or will it be similar to a student teaching experience in college? I would like to know more about this part of his plan.
Colleges do need to change some things in the curriculum for education. I do feel that more field experiences should be implemented in the area of expertise. I felt that I did a lot more pre-school practicums and observations than I did in the public school setting with students I would be licensed to teach. I also think that the core curriculum classes should be cut down, and more speciality classes dealing with education should be implemented. We need all the experience we can get in order to be considered when we are on market for a job. School after school turn down candidates who have just graduated because they have no experience or not enough. How are they supposed to get experience if not a soul will give them an opportunity in their school system?
Who knows, maybe Strickland's idea on a teacher internship after college will ensure that new teachers receive jobs that they deserve, due to their dedication and hard work. I believe it has much potential to succeed.
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