On Hiatus

You're probably saying, "Duh". I really want to keep this blog going but it's really hard to do. I became really busy this fall. I decided to take on RTI for my building and become the RTI facilitator. I know, I know, you probably remember my RTI updates and rants where I adamantly opposed becoming involved with RTI. But here's why I did it: I want it to be done correctly. No one else in my building knows what to do, so I took it on. The other reason is because I have a new principal. I knew that I would be able to require teachers and specialists to follow a protocol if the principal backed me up. It was also a refreshing change to have someone else in the building that was aware of RTI. I've been fighting this battle by myself for 3 years now. So that's why I took it on. Many of my colleagues were surprised and thought that someone made me do it. No, I volunteered (after much soul-searching).

I seriously logged in to say that this would be my last post for a while. I started with the idea that I was going to blog every day, then it turned to every 2 or three days, then it was once a week, and now I haven't posted since October. I'm incredibly busy at work. I've remained anonymous so in order to maintain my anonymity I don't blog from work. By the time I get home I don't even want to look at a computer, so my blogging has suffered. I was about to pull the plug on this blog until I saw a comment. Sara C. commented on my Teach for America post. I often think that I'm just blogging for no one in particular. I know a couple of people follow my blog, but I never thought that people care enough to comment and disagree with what I have to say. That sounds like I'm adding something to the conversation on education! I can live with that.

So I guess I'm saying that I'm not gone yet. I'll be back in 2011. I hope I can keep the conversation going.

BBC

Teachers Are Made, Not Born

Recent article in the New York Times Magazine examines the training that teachers receive before they are employed. Lately, there seems to be a lot of stories in the media about teachers. My latest Newsweek has a cover story about bad teaching. I'll have something to say about that article once I read it. The article in the Times Magazine focused on teacher-training programs. I was disappointed to read that those that were examined are designed for teachers in charter schools and Teach for America. The author mentions that university training programs are lacking, and that most first-year teachers do not feel ready to teach once they enter the classroom, but there wasn't a lot of info in the article about how universities are working to improve their education programs. One of the researchers, Deborah Loewenberg Ball, created a curriculum for teaching teachers called Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, or M.K.T. M.K.T. gets teachers to consider how others think about math, not what they themselves know about math. If you can understand how someone can think and misunderstand math, then you can teach it effectively. That makes so much sense. The one takeaway for me in the article was the idea of cold-calling: instead of having students raise their hands, whenever I ask a question anyone can be called upon, therefore everyone has to pay attention and think of the answer. I like that one. I think I'll use it next time I do a Second Step lesson.

BBC

Teach for America

Recent article in the New York Times looks at a study that focused on the level of civic participation of those involved in Teach for America. Growing up, I remember the disdain that teachers had for Teach for America members. They felt as if they didn't really pay their dues and they weren't dedicated to being teachers. They felt as if the TforA members considered it to be domestic peace corps. They go in for 2 years, teach some underprivileged kids, then go back to their "real" lives. I guess this article shows that these people aren't any more civically engaged than the rest of us.

My gripe with Teach for America and other programs of their ilk is that it operates under the premise that anyone can be a teacher. Why is it that one of the most important professions in the world is treated as if it doesn't take any particular skill or talent to do it? This is a difficult profession and only those who are dedicated to the profession should join. If I want to be a doctor, lawyer, mechanic, appliance repairman, I have to go to some sort of specialized program. But apparently, if I want to be a teacher, I can just join an organization. And teach in some of the neediest areas of the country. How does this fit with NCLB and "highly qualified teachers"?

BBC