For better students, do we need better teachers?

For better schools we need better, more involved parents!

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For better students, EVERYONE needs to be on board. Teacher, students, administrators, school board and parents. Parents must be involved with their child’s education.

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If a student isn’t interested in learning and is only attending school “because they have to,” I don’t know that it matters much how good the teacher is.

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i’ll post it here too.

Once again only focus on new teacher training.

Unfortunately you could train them to do what it is you want. But when they get in the real world of teaching they will almost assuredly fall under the influence of their peers and start doing things the way “THEY’VE ALWAYS BEEN DONE”

Looks like a wasted effort unless we can somehow effect the older about to retire in a few years, stuck in the mud, hate change old timers.

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Naw, the teachers are fine, the resources and money are there

simplest answer……… the students dont wanna learn.

as prootwadl said if a student doesnt wanna learn or want the education then there’s no amount of money or specialized training that can be done.

kids in other countries beg and humble themselves for the opportunity of an education. foriegners come here daily for our large and numerous learning institutions.

yet we have students and parents who feel like school is punishment or glorified baby-sitting

you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink

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We definitely need better teachers! If you look at almost any other profession (to which we teachers so often compare ourselves), the jobs available right after college are the grunt jobs. You have to put in the time and prove yourself to earn responsibility through doing the smaller, easier jobs first.

In teaching, it’s completely backwards. I observed other teachers a few times a week for 2 semesters and then student-taught a semester, where I only taught the entire day for 4 weeks, in the middle. I didn’t have the chance to start the year (what I consider the most important and hardest part) nor did I see the true workload. Five years later, I see the need more clearly for more time in the classroom under master teachers.

The other big issue that has been brought up by other teachers on various posts today: once in the classroom, we don’t change easily. We think we reign supreme in our own little world, and in most cases, schools are happy for teachers to shut their doors and go their own separate ways.

I think more collaboration is key. In fact, I work at a school with courses divided into teams, and we’re observing other teachers this week and sharing what we learn with each other. I’ve never seen my teachers so excited about changing or trying new things. I didn’t have to bear down or say anything negative – just having them see something new was invigorating and refreshing.

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Every time I read/hear this same ole worn out arguement about “let’s get better teachers let’s get better teachers!”, I wanna vomit! All this arguement does is solidify, in kids’ minds, the notion that “the monkeys off their backs”…the responsibility of actually cracking a book once in a while, refering to class notes (what?) and STUDYING is the teachers’ responsibility…certainly not the students’. Johnny 2 Good appears to be the first commenter to express a modicum of common sense. Unfortunately, there’s no political and fiscal gain in insisting that kids perform to classroom standards. As 2 Good has ably indicated, the teachers are fine. Coming down on teachers is tantamount to coming down on the pilot because the detination airdrome is completely fogged-in.

Past generations have made some pretty impressive accomplishments: aviation advances by leaps and bounds, placing ole Neil on the Moon and getting him back in time for dinner, …etc. And all the people who had anything to do with these international achievements, in all reality, had teachers who were not of master quality, didn’t walk on water, and, in all probability, didn’t come into the classroom intent on building students’ self esteem. However, they did DEMAND the best academic performance their students’ were capable of. Todays teachers are no different. 1) Take DOE politics out of the classroom, 2) hold kids accountable, IN TOTALITY, for their academic performance, 3) parents, unless you are a bona fide educator, BACK OFF. You don’t tell the pilot how to fly the airplane…similarly, don’t dare to assume you know more about educating your morons than the teacher does.

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PLC, I certainly wouldn’t say that teachers of yesteryear were perfect…far from it. However, society placed in them a level of trust that whatever they did in the classroom was done with but one purpose…EDUCATE KIDS, both in terms of scholarly achievemen and citizenship. In the elementary grades, the latter may have been scaled in terms of deportment, behavior and the like. In later grades, factors such as student govt, student activities involvement, sports, etc served to form the backbone of civic responsibilities in years to come. All of this, academics included, was fostered by teachers…imperfect as they may have been, they were afforded the autonomy (free of parental and political constraints) to do their job. It would appear that, in far too many ways, today’s educator has been reduced to mere handmaidens of the political structure. With sincere appologies to all teachers, rookie and long-time vet alike, this is not my personal view, but rather an assessment of what I observe in young adults who can’t add single digit numbers without benefit of technology, who can’t formulate coherent thoughts…who can’t even pass simple military entrance exams without study sessions matching the intensity of those in law school.

I take it, PLC, that you are responsible for mentoring budding teachers. Those kids are there for just one reason; don’t evaluate them based on your own “internal standards”…let them make a few mistakes. They’re not perfect now and, like their predecesors, they never will be. Just make sure they never stop caring.

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For better students, I do not think that better teachers are needed. I believe we should have better parents. In order for the students to be better in school, not only should they have supportive parents, but they should believe in them selves too.

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This is a great discussion b/c it encourages thought and relizations outside the box. Educational programs often deal w/theory and not practice. The psychological and social aspects are not discussed either. Teaching can be a traumatic experience b/c many teachers are not supported by the students, their parents, the system and administrators.

Candidates attracted to teaching are not the best either, as of lately. This is as someone already stated,”Teachers are treated like crap,” put up w/crap and get paid crap. Students realize this in their teachers’ classrooms when they realize the teachers are the last to find out information; witness the lack of professional treatment by administrators and parents; and the stress shown by their teachers. Not to mention, we are capitalist and this generation is more consumed by materialism than any other so the idea of “noble work” is not going to attract this group.

Another problem we are facing which is the most obvious is the lack of parental involvement. Parents are not concerned about the school anymore, and children are not raised anymore. So not only do you have to deal w/disrepsect f/students but also very low skill levels and behavioral issues. There are so many medicated children in the schools, problem for mommy/daddy is now the school’s nightmare. Interestingly, as the students become academically numb the standards become more unrealistic…And the teacher is accountable for it all…
The sad truth of it all is most people participating in this discussion are not the problem…

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Look at the schools that get it done. They have good administrators, great teachers, and involved parents. Compare this to schools where the problems are. The latter schools have racial problems with administrator/teacher relations, unprepared teachers or teachers who have given up fighting to change, and a large number of parents who really don’t care.

I started out with a grand idea as did many teachers, but the reality that most of us come to terms with is that there are certain schools where the politics of the situation (parents, teachers, and administrators) will never allow needed change to occur. You fight and fight with no benefit achieved and eventually you throw up your arms and move to a better school. Just the same as the like-minded teachers, parents, and administrators before you have. ….and the beat goes on…

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As the parent of two young women who became teachers, one through a traditional four-year private education and the other a less traditional route, I can tell you that their dedication is not an issue. All the preparation and top 1% scores on PRAXIS tests did my oldest little good in an inner city situation where the administration was struggling, non-supportive, and needed a scapegoat for their inability to make AYP. She was dedicated and out to change the world, but her administration did not want to hear new ideas, the parents were not involved and ultimately, failure in the classroom was the only option. ONLY the mentorship of older, wiser and interested other teachers saved her career– and she now is a first rate teacher working on a graduate degree to become even better.

Do not discount the lessons that older and experienced teachers bring to the classroom. There is NO ONE ANSWER to teaching every student. NCLB fails to recognize this fact. Teaching is a career which requires more than dedication, it requires the flexibility necessary to allow the teacher to find a way to get through to each and every student.

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Parents control your children.
Teachers need better pay.
You want the educated but don’t want to pay for it.
I feel the same toward firemen and police.
Big monet to entertain crap for educating the children.
Something is wrong.
Parents step up.

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It all needs to be revamped. NCLB is garbage. Parents and children also hold a certain level of responsibility in a child having a successful education.

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I say, “AMEN!” to most of these posts. We are going to lose a lot of teachers, good teachers due to the unrealistic demand of the profession today. PARENTS today should be ashame of their lack of guidance and accountability for their children. I know we can’t use the, “back in the day” response to all situations, but education has definitely changed.
A typical day in the classroom is filled with more disciplining that teaching students. Also, the lack of basic common respect from students and parents is appalling. Parents are short of being violent when asked to clarify not confront issues concerning their children…it’s ridiculous. I say, “save the ones that want to learn”, but in the long run that will come back to nip us as the teen pregnancy rates and unemployment continue to rise due to the lack of social skills from these future adults. Other countries appear to take teir education more serious than we do here in the US and it is beginning to show. The first educators are the parents. That is what needs to be focused on if we want to see a change in our chaotic school systems…Pray

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You can be the world’s greatest teacher but if parents don’t instill basic respect in their kids and teach them the importance of education it won’t make a difference. It is not the teachers job to parent and babysit your children. Ultimately if your child fails in receiving the proper education its your child who will suffer the most.

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