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by stevesearer
5008 days ago
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The high school I taught at for several years was working to lessen the usage of textbooks and primarily work with literature and primary source materials. In the history department, we delivered facts using lectures or a textbook reading. Basically, the idea was to give the students enough facts that they could then interpret and critically think about literature and the primary source materials. My testing was mainly essay based as it gave me the best view of whether or not the students actually understood the material. It also gave them the opportunity to learn how to better communicate what they knew, as opposed to only what a teacher was asking. For instance, students might completely know the circumstances and events surrounding the War of 1812, but forget things like the names of forts or specific battles or dates. That student could perform poorly on a multiple choice exam, but do tremendously well on an essay test. Scantron test = easy as hell to grade.
Essay test = you actually have to know what you're teaching. I also believe that teacher credentialing has backfired. Credentialing programs are basically made up of $10,000 of busywork and make it so anyone that can put up with doing busywork can get through (exceptions exist). If I were in charge, I would have some sort of apprenticeship system where new teachers learned from the best teachers. End note: it is also kind of silly that you need a college degree and a credential to teach elementary school. Shouldn't everyone be proficient enough at elementary school concepts when they graduate high school that they could then teach the basics to others? |
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This is a really important issue to understand. Good teaching is difficult, even at the elementary level. Good teaching includes: - responding to each student's learning style; - answering questions in a way that sets students up for deeper learning in later years; - meeting each student where they are at, and allowing them to progress at their own pace each year; - dealing effectively with students who come to school hungry, abused, neglected and so forth; - a host of other situations that are difficult to deal with effectively, but for which solutions have been developed.
This ties in well with one of your other observations: I also believe that teacher credentialing has backfired. Credentialing programs are basically made up of $10,000 of busywork and make it so anyone that can put up with doing busywork can get through (exceptions exist).
In my experience as a teacher, I have seen this consistently. There is one local teacher ed program where I live, and the administrators pride themselves on running a "challenging" program. It is challenging in the volume of work required, not in the intellectual effort required. There are so many bad effects of this approach, and so many potentially good effects if an intellectually rigorous and challenging program took its place.
I have also had an incredibly frustrating experience dealing with certification. I started teaching in one state, and taught there for 7 years. When I moved, I was granted temporary certification based on having held full certification in another state. I have hosted student teachers, and generally been recognized as an effective teacher. But after a few years in my new state, I was told I had to go back and do a student teaching program because the paperwork from my old state didn't fill in the right boxes on the paperwork in my new state. Utter BS, and this is exactly the kind of stuff that drives good teachers out of education.
I chose to stay in education and not let myself get pushed out by stupid bureaucratic issues. I resolved to do my part in addressing these issues, though, and I am grateful to be working with a staff that is tackling hard education issues effectively.