Comments on: Teacher quality news seems to be everywhere today

By: Rural Education

Rural Education — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:31:44 +0000

The truth is we continue to create one educational reform movement after another because the only part of education that can be regulated are teachers. If students are unmotivated it is the teachers fault, if a student refuses to do homework it is the teachers fault, if the student will not study for a test it is the teachers fault. As long as it is always the teachers fault, things will never get better.

By: Sarge

Sarge — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:21:39 +0000

Jonesy, you hit the educational nail square on the head! Previous generations were brought up, in the home, the schools, and in society in general, with the firm knowledge that their actions, their behavior(s), held a direct tie to consequences…the carrot and stick approach to leadership. More-recent generations, out of pc-orientation, are all but guaranteed the carrots, consequently, they see no point in altering and controlling impulsive natures. Bottom line…generations of kids who have absolutely no inkling of the meaning of self-discipline. This situation is made worse by the mindset, flipantly expressed by one of the commenters, that because this is simply a classroom management situation, student misbehavior must, somehow, be the sign of bad teaching. It must be nice living in the ideal Alice in Wonderland world. (Perhaps when, as young adults, these kids are fired for stupid behavior on the job, they can sue their “bad” teachers)

By: Peabody is right.

Peabody is right. — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:02:02 +0000

Word. They need to be getting a better quality of students, not teachers.

By: jim d

jim d — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:34:25 +0000

Peabody,

Cant happen as long as NCLB is the law of the land. (sorry)

By: Come on, Peabody!

Come on, Peabody! — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:46:06 +0000

Peabody, you must be kidding. Isn’t that (classroom management) a part of teaching???

By: Current Ed Student

Current Ed Student — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:32:07 +0000

Re: education majors’ in-service requirements

I’m a junior in my college’s brand-new Bachelor of Science-ECE/Spec Ed. degree program. We have three practicums, one each semester, prior to our “student teaching” semester. Each practicum requires 100 hours of classroom observation on top of our regular coursework. I don’t know about anyone else, but I average about 10 hours a week in my placement classroom on top of carrying a full academic load in what is essentially a double major: early childhood education and general special education.

From what I understand, more Ga. Education schools are requiring the dual certification of students and 900 in-service hours prior to taking the GACE certification test.

If you want to look at what our program is, you can find it at Gordon College’s website: w w w dot GDN dot edu. I’d be interested in hearing some of your professional opinions on our program.

Thanks.

By: oldtimer

oldtimer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:42:33 +0000

their

By: Peabody Jones

Peabody Jones — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:42:11 +0000

Tweak teacher education programs all you want . . . but until someone makes these kids shut up and behave, our schools will continue to deteriorate.

By: oldtimer

oldtimer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:40:50 +0000

I worked as a supervisor with GA’s Alternative Teacher Prep program for two years. It is amazing how well many of these people do even with a very short summer program. They are mature, responsible, and dedicated. There enthusiasm was a joy to see. I saw new ideas they brought from a previous life. It just seems, sometimes, that good teachers are born and not made.

By: AlreadySheared

AlreadySheared — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:40:37 +0000

Recipe for Gypsy chicken:
1) first, steal a chicken…

ScienceTeacher671 – what you said, exactly. If there are already not enough candidates for certain fields, raising standards and increasing training requirements won’t increase the number of available teachers.

The first step is to make teaching a job that more people WANT to do. THEN, raising standards and increasing training makes sense.