Online College Club

I’m worried about education and learning in this country.

Does that sound too cliched?  Possibly I should alter my statement.  I’m concerned about the training of teachers in this country. 

About 7 years ago, I completed an MA in Teaching program in that i learned nothing at all.  My evening classes were evenly taught by older individuals (generally males, they were all Caucasian) and the 3 hour classes overwhelmingly consisted of one teaching technique:  lecture.

Imagine, if you will, a high school art class where the teacher lectures on technique, but the students never lift a paintbrush.  Or a science class that learns about chemical reactions, but never finishes a science lab.  That was my training program.  I sailed over the program with out read any “required” textbook. I didn’t even buy a lot of them.  Because I had already gotten a teaching job, I used the time to grade papers, make class plans and when I had no schoolwork to do, I even maintained the occasional letter to my grandmother.  How can a professor training Classroom Management not notice that I’ve slipped in my favorite book to read under the table?  And why does a course on Curriculum Research and Design hyper-focus on including activities for all those learning styles when the professor didn’t do anything but lecture?  As is the case for many in the teaching profession, I quickly realized that all my helpful teaching strategies would come from experience in the classroom and not more teacher recertification courses, but rather many more veteran co-workers.  Mentally checked out, I experienced the motions of my education and graduated with a 4.0.

“I {wish} I was permitted hands-on experience from day one,” said one coworker when I started surveying professors to find out if my experiences were the norm. The other teachers I surveyed echoed her point of view.  “In addition to formal online classes for teachers I needed more time in the classroom, more effort with experienced teachers, more shadowing of administrators, more work with various class room cultures.”  More.

Teachers need more.

What can training courses seem like if pre-service teachers were associated with master teachers for the whole course of their training?  Think of being in a class room and seeing what you are learning, doing what you’re learning from day one.  How much better would you be whenever you took on your very first single class?  How much simpler would employing be when schools have had the chance to determine good quality teachers informed about their communities and values?  How much better would instruction be for the K-12 students who never need to serve as the learning curve for that first year teacher?  It’s a radical proposal, but we’re due for a drastic change.

Nevertheless, suppose that higher education is not ready to tackle such a change.   Even if we maintain the existing structure for a degree in education and professional development, the courses should not teach the theory behind best practices; they should be our best practices.  What would a program on Class room Management look like if students were given the roles of “trouble” kids to play while another student taught?  What if a program on Lesson Plan and Design focused less on whether the target comes before the agenda and permitted students to test out various styles by teaching mini-lessons to their friends?  What if the professors in each and every education class eliminated lecture as a suitable teaching tool?  Any good teacher knows that students learn greatest by doing.

Therefore why are not we DOING?

I hope my experiences are not those of every teacher in this country.  I wish that someplace out there exist creative, effective and hands-on degrees that are building the next generation of teachers.  I hope that somewhere, teachers are walking to their first classrooms with all the experience they need and jumping right in.  But I have not seen it yet.

What do teachers need?

Therefore, for the time being, I offer my thanks to all of the teachers, managers and students who offered me the actual tools needed to make my class room a better place and I invite people new to the trade to swing by for a visit at any time.  Just don’t expect me to talk at you.  You will be too busy learning to listen to me.

Tags: teaching, teaching methods, teaching styles