On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 3:59 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > 1. Students learn more from good teachers than bad teachers. > 2. Teaching credentials and masters degrees are uncorrelated with good > teaching > 3. The only advantage of teaching experience is between novice (first year > or two) teachers and experienced teachers (students learn significantly less > from new teachers than experienced teachers, but there is no difference > between how much they learn from teachers with 5 years of experience and 15 > years o experience).
I wholeheartedly agree on points 1, 2, and 3 > 4. Principals and parents and other teachers can reliably identify both good > and bad teachers (defined as teachers whose students learn more), even in > the absence of any complicated or fancy tests or ratings scales. My barometer has nothing to do with grades. I list my successes by how students and former students act or react when it matters. For instance, one of my students was inspired by my babbling about Peace Corps and the importance of understanding other cultures that -- as a high school freshman -- he led a crusade to save the school district's dying Chinese language program. He decided that it seemed a good idea for students to be able to study Mandarin and did independent research on how to fund the program, working with the Chinese consulate to provide supplies like keyboards with Chinese characters on them. Or there was a girl in my class who, after being introduced to Photoshop (something that would not have happened to her in the 7th grade had I not been teaching at that school) has become enamored with graphic design as a career and this teenage girl is already learning about specific designers and techniques. Then there was an underperforming girl in sixth grade who, upon realizing I would be her homeroom teacher in seventh grade, rose to meet my expectations and went from a B-/C student to making honor roll -- others had dismissed her as flighty or lazy, when in truth nobody had bothered to challenge her. And while I cannot point to any specific thing I do, I can state emphatically that all of those things happened because they had me in their classroom. That isn't ego -- after this summer I am incapable of ego -- that is just the way it is. > 5. Tradition, inertia and politics result in practices that are in > opposition with almost everything we know: The only basis for retaining, > promoting and rewarding teachers is credentials, graduate degrees and years > of teaching experience. We don't allow principals to use their own best > judgment (informed by peer and parent evaluations) in who to keep, who to > fire, and who to give raises to. So, lazy and incompetent teachers with > credentials/gradate degrees and years of service get retained and raised, > and non-certified teachers (no matter how effective) get replaced by what > everyone knows are the least effective teachers - first year ones. It is all politics, and having worked in relatively small schools (at least in comparison to big school districts), no school is immune to the crap. I know there is bullsh*t in every work environment, but in teaching you get it from three angles: administration, parents, and students. However, a teacher who sets down the ground rules gets less BS from students. A teacher who maintains proper documentation gets less BS from parents. But there is nothing to prevent the BS from an administration. I did my best to rise above the BS. I didn't want to be a big fish in a small pond. For nearly two and a half years, I was content to be a minnow, off to the side of the pond, just trying to earn a living. But then something happened -- something massive -- and I felt compelled to step in for the safety and well being of my students. And the suggestions I made went against tradition and the actions I took were presented to the school board (by the administration) in a skewed and distorted manner. And though no specific incident or action was ever given for my contract not being renewed, I know why -- and I know I did right by my students while the school administration, be adhering to their traditions and BS, did not. In spite of the misery of the last several months compounded by the pain of being fired, if I had to do it all over again I would not hesitate. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
