Here are some questions I would like to explore today with the help of teachers and parents and anyone with a vested interest in public education.
Should teachers be prepared professionally in accredited colleges and universities? Or, does a fast-track training program that places graduate students and career changers, from various majors and possibly for-profit schools, suffice? I do think they deserve a place at the table though. I’m mostly upset with the big business trying to bounce teachers out of the classroom instead of helping to support the work they do.
Is it important for teacher-candidates to student teach (have an internship), under the supervision of a career teacher before becoming actual teachers with classrooms of their own? Or, is it better to place graduate students in a classroom, with some supervision perhaps, with no education preparation, allowing them to learn as they go?
Should teachers be taught and trusted to creatively devise their own lesson plans? Or should they learn how to follow prepackaged direct instruction programs that tell them what and how to teach?
Should teachers be involved in creating generalized standards, with the help of the school board, and with input from teachers and parents in the school district? Or should they learn how to follow the standards handed down to them by politicians, think tanks, publishers, the state and federal governments and business CEOs who are concerned about job preparation and the global economy?
Should teachers be evaluated by parents, students and the principal of the school? Or, should a standardized test taken by students weigh heavily in the determination of whether teachers keep their jobs?
Do we need credentialed teachers, who study the arts, to teach music, art and drama? Or, should schools rely on outside artisans for occasional artistic presentations and regular education teachers to blend the arts into the regular curriculum?
Should teachers specialize in what they teach? Should they take classes, study in-depth, and receive additional experience to better understand student disabilities, ELL, and giftedness? Or, should teachers get blanket crash-courses on teaching everyone the same things in the same way?
Should those who work with young children be required to take coursework in early child development and receive degrees and experience before they are employed? Or, should anyone who loves children be allowed to teach this age grop?
Should the bulk of teacher preparation, which might include some online instruction, be in traditional colleges or university classrooms, with real professors who have appropriate backgrounds to teach the subjects? Or, is it alright for teacher preparation to be mostly provided online with few regulations and little oversight?
Should there be a cap on how many teacher-prep students a college professor teaches? Or, should a professor be required to teach huge numbers online with few controls over cheating?
Should those who become highly influential leaders in education, state commissioners for example, be required to have traditional teaching preparation and experience? Or, is it fine to place anyone with any degree, in these positions, as long as they say they are interested in children and maybe have been Teach for America types for a few years?
How long should it take for one to become an actual teacher and what does the country think appropriate for those who instruct and care for their children? What kind of teachers do we want in this country?
I would like to point out there is a difference between “career-switcher” programs and TFA-style programs. Career switcher programs train educated, mature professionals for a second career as a teacher. The plan here is to put someone in a classroom who will stay there.
TFA is temps. They aren’t planning to teach for a long time, and if they “stay in education” it’s likely to be in a managerial position or in “education policy.”
There is a huge difference in these categories. Some of the finest teachers I’ve known have been career switchers. Conversely, TFAs don’t usually stick around long enough for anyone to know if they can be effective teachers or not, since teaching isn’t their career goal.
Thank you, Elaine. Sure career switchers can work out (I know of two who turned out to be good teachers). I have also heard of young TFA who have stayed and worked hard to become actual teachers. Good for them!
But it used to be that these individuals were put in teaching positions that were hard to fill. Now there is a serious push to have these models replace a real teaching profession. Instead of learning in real universities future teachers will attend for-profit fast-track programs–many online. This is what is troubling to me.
A very good set of questions that hopefully will provide great discussion.
>>Should teachers be prepared professionally in accredited colleges and universities? Or a fast-track training program that places graduate students and career changers?
Some of both, as needed. Good pedagogy is vital. Some graduate students and career changers already have great innate teaching skills, but all need some instruction on how to be a good teacher and meet the needs of all students. However, the bar should not be so high that a professional in a field or graduate student would not consider a change into teaching.
>>Is it important for teacher-candidates to student teach (have an internship), under the supervision of a career teacher before becoming actual teachers with classrooms of their own?
I’m a big fan of the apprentice / intern system and believe it should be extended in many ways, even into high school. My thoughts with most careers, including teaching, is that one day a week should be spent in that field in an unpaid capacity all throughout college as part of both instruction and finding the right fit for the individual. The student would gradually be given larger responsibilities. The student gains by determining early if the career is the right choice. The school or company gains by determining if they have found a good employee.
>>Should teachers be taught and trusted to creatively devise their own lesson plans?
The most extraordinary thing about a really good teacher is that he or she transcends accepted educational methods. Such methods are designed to help average teachers approximate the performance of good teachers. – Margaret Mead
I don’t think I could say it better.
>>Should teachers be involved in creating generalized standards, with the help of the school board, and with input from teachers and parents in the school district? … politicians, think tanks, publishers, the state and federal governments and business CEOs who are concerned about job preparation and the global economy?
Many of these do have a vital role. I think at least parts of the CCSS were a step in the right direction. There should be a set of standards that are a national minimum. This should be created by educators, business leaders, and educational interest groups. Educators are needed because they bring the expertise and ultimate buy-off for these standards. If the purpose of school is to prepare students for work, business leaders should have some say. And standards always seem to forget many subgroups, like special needs and gifted, so it is important to have those interest groups have a voice. At the district level, parent input is vital too. It is part of the partnership of education.
>>Should teachers be evaluated by parents, students and the principal of the school? Or, should a standardized test taken by students weigh heavily in the determination of whether teachers keep their jobs?
So many factors go into my performance reviews. The most comprehensive and best reviews include input from co-workers, clients, direct reports, managers, and others in addition to metrics the employee needs to meet. A standardized test alone is not sufficient, but can a district afford to keep a beloved teacher whose students show little growth? Should a teacher of gifted students and a teacher of special needs students be held to the same growth? Or what if a teacher has incredible scores yet is racist or blocks communication with parents? Numbers don’t tell the entire story, but neither do subjective measures.
>>Do we need credentialed teachers, who study the arts, to teach music, art and drama?
Studying engineering in college, I had several professors who were great at teaching the material, but completely out of touch with what material should be taught. Even as an intern, I knew that I would be working in a Windows world and not UNIX. I think both are needed: teachers with an arts background and local artists who can help keep the material fresh.
>>Should teachers specialize in what they teach? Should they take classes, study in-depth, and receive additional experience to better understand student disabilities, ELL, and giftedness? Or, should teachers get blanket crash-courses on teaching everyone the same things in the same way?
If we required teachers to have recent courses in every group they could encounter, they would never graduate college. There are so many unique needs of students and a teacher never encounters most of them. But if it is something that affects 3-5% or more of students, it should be required as part of teacher training and there should be an expert-level resource available to teachers on this in the school or district.
Just my opinion as a parent on several of your questions. I’m interested to read more on this!
Thanks, Joshua. I am shaking hands on most of this. I would disagree on giving business leaders so much control over what is taught students and how schools are run. Most think in terms of profit not so much children. And why would you think they would understand pedagogy?
And I’m not sure why you don’t think teachers can specialize? Don’t you want someone who really delves into what makes gifted kids tick leading them in the classroom?
But as always you make me think and you have far more points here that I think are really excellent. Thanks for taking the time to comment and lend us your expertise which I very much respect!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nancy
Thanks for the response.
I don’t think most business leaders understand pedagogy, but they do understand what is needed in the business world that most of these students will be entering. Particularly for high school, I think their input would be extremely valuable. One of my favorite high school models is the one Cristo Rey uses where students work at a business for one day a week. These are professional level jobs, not typical teen jobs. The skills they learn set them apart from other students when they hire on after college, but they also see what skills are vital for the professional work world.
What courses would I recommend having worked with a significant number of interns? Business communication, fundamentals of business, data analysis, and ethics. I would also recommend a class that explores their strengths, interests, and personality type to determine good fit and a healthy dose of “work isn’t usually going to be fun, fulfilling, and interesting.” I deal with too many young people who are shocked it is actually work.
I would love to see specialization for teachers, but that requires the cooperation of the schools. If one teacher specialized in gifted education, yet they follow the practice of dividing up the gifted students in different classrooms of the same grade, it doesn’t help much. Under the current system, it is probably better if teachers get some of everything. However, I find the current system of apportioning kids by characteristics rather abhorrent as it removes peers for those students. One gifted, one special needs, one Asian, one Black, one tactile learner, one troublemaker, etc. per classroom may be more ‘fair’ or ‘equal’, but it isolates the child and reduces the chance that a teacher will have time and energy to spend on that student’s needs. Why celebrate Kwanzaa for one student, but five is a better reason. And if it is one student and the class celebrates Kwanzaa, the child feels singled out. Same for gifted. One student is not a reading group and she can’t play math games by herself. One-on-one instruction is sometimes necessary, but it sets the child apart as different. But putting a group under a teacher who has that specialty would be great! I just wish it happened more often.
A most wonderful Thanksgiving to you and yours! We have much in this country to be thankful for, including the freedom to dialogue like this and educators who teach students how to evaluate and form opinions on issues.