There are some tv shows I love to watch and others I really with I could live in. Here is a list of ones I wish I was a part of.
1. Sports Night (by far the one I wish to live in most)
2. The West Wing
3. Pushing Daisies
hmmm... I think that may be it. (Clearly dialogue is a major part of my desire... funny since I don't talk very quickly myself.)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Taking on TFA
One of the causes I had no idea I would get so passionate about is teacher preparation. I do believe that if you want to draw the best and the brightest, the education it takes to become a teacher should reflect a challenging curriculum. Nobody thinks oh I could probably walk into surgery and do just fine but there are many people who hold teaching as something they could just do. I do acknowledge that there are many classrooms that people could walk into and just teach and be just fine, but doing just fine isn't really working for the state of education. If instead we required the level of education it took to be in the medical field or even to be certified to practice law, we could raise the level of discourse and achievement in education.
In order to move towards this I want to do some research about Teach for America, an organization whose hearts I believe are in the right place but whose practice seems out of line with my beliefs. Before I begin my research I thought I'd make a list of flaws/improvements I would make to the Teach for America program based just on my experience and the experience of my friends.
1. Teaching is temporary: I know there is a large amount of TFA grads who continue to stay in the profession, but I also have heard in recruiting material "Hey come be a teacher for a while!" Teaching is a profession and while I'm all for methods to recruit people who would normally go into higher paying jobs, I want to recruit them to chose this as an employment path not view it as something they can just pick up for a while. Plus, acknowledging that even people in the teaching profession cannot handle staying in low performing schools, our lowest performing schools need the stability of good leadership rather than a revolving door of teachers.
2. Smartest minds in their field into the worst performing schools: Our worst performing schools need our best education professionals. In my first year of teaching I rarely tapped the knowledge I picked up from 19th century British fiction BUT I constantly thought about the discussions we had in our education courses and the numerous articles I've read about democratic classrooms, ELL language acquisition etc. In fact I was much more likely to draw from my subject matter courses that were geared towards english ed majors (writing theory, history of language, descriptive grammar) than I was to draw on regular English classes. Put the brightest minds in the field in that field and bring them in as mentors for students who want to go into that field or guest speakers on those subjects.
3.Your teacher education comes with your real experience. Yes I learned infinite amounts of knowledge by being in the classroom. My first year of teaching I had so much to reflect on. Coming from a failing, high-need school I feel I can speak about this- these schools often do not have a solid support for teachers. Sometimes they're working on it, but regularly part of the failing high need part is that they lack the educational support for their teachers. When I go into a classroom I have a lot scaffolded (to use and education term) about educational practices etc. so even if I don't get the support standing right next to me, I've got my professors' voices ringing in my ear. I can't imagine trying to learn the research and be in front of a classroom. It sets people up for failure, burn-out etc. People who could be REALLY good at teaching may not be able to handle this sort of information overload. I would much rather opt for TFA being a nationwide teaching college than the sink or swim in the ocean that it's currently set up as.
4. What's wrong with being a classroom aide? or a co-teacher? Here is my dream for TFA- it's an nationwide accrediation process that teaches you the educational research while lining you up for one year of being a teacher's aide (and getting some GOOD teachers to be aides to... come on they should be able to do that.) and maybe then one year of being a co-teacher or student teacher before you ever walk into your own classroom. I hated having to observe a classroom once a week so my partners and I would very quickly take over the classroom for our one hour twice a week or whatever it was WHICH IS FINE because not only by then did I have some educational research, a professor to help walk us through our practices, and a cohort of people going through the same thing BUT there was also an experienced teacher there to help along the way, watch what we were doing and discuss it afterwards. My best observation times came at my very first observation where we taught one class period, watched our teacher for a class period and were able to discuss with a regular class teacher and a special education teacher what we should be doing to alter our practice. I still obsessively write things on the board because of that experience.
I'm going to start with that, see where the research takes me, and I'll get back to you.
In order to move towards this I want to do some research about Teach for America, an organization whose hearts I believe are in the right place but whose practice seems out of line with my beliefs. Before I begin my research I thought I'd make a list of flaws/improvements I would make to the Teach for America program based just on my experience and the experience of my friends.
1. Teaching is temporary: I know there is a large amount of TFA grads who continue to stay in the profession, but I also have heard in recruiting material "Hey come be a teacher for a while!" Teaching is a profession and while I'm all for methods to recruit people who would normally go into higher paying jobs, I want to recruit them to chose this as an employment path not view it as something they can just pick up for a while. Plus, acknowledging that even people in the teaching profession cannot handle staying in low performing schools, our lowest performing schools need the stability of good leadership rather than a revolving door of teachers.
2. Smartest minds in their field into the worst performing schools: Our worst performing schools need our best education professionals. In my first year of teaching I rarely tapped the knowledge I picked up from 19th century British fiction BUT I constantly thought about the discussions we had in our education courses and the numerous articles I've read about democratic classrooms, ELL language acquisition etc. In fact I was much more likely to draw from my subject matter courses that were geared towards english ed majors (writing theory, history of language, descriptive grammar) than I was to draw on regular English classes. Put the brightest minds in the field in that field and bring them in as mentors for students who want to go into that field or guest speakers on those subjects.
3.Your teacher education comes with your real experience. Yes I learned infinite amounts of knowledge by being in the classroom. My first year of teaching I had so much to reflect on. Coming from a failing, high-need school I feel I can speak about this- these schools often do not have a solid support for teachers. Sometimes they're working on it, but regularly part of the failing high need part is that they lack the educational support for their teachers. When I go into a classroom I have a lot scaffolded (to use and education term) about educational practices etc. so even if I don't get the support standing right next to me, I've got my professors' voices ringing in my ear. I can't imagine trying to learn the research and be in front of a classroom. It sets people up for failure, burn-out etc. People who could be REALLY good at teaching may not be able to handle this sort of information overload. I would much rather opt for TFA being a nationwide teaching college than the sink or swim in the ocean that it's currently set up as.
4. What's wrong with being a classroom aide? or a co-teacher? Here is my dream for TFA- it's an nationwide accrediation process that teaches you the educational research while lining you up for one year of being a teacher's aide (and getting some GOOD teachers to be aides to... come on they should be able to do that.) and maybe then one year of being a co-teacher or student teacher before you ever walk into your own classroom. I hated having to observe a classroom once a week so my partners and I would very quickly take over the classroom for our one hour twice a week or whatever it was WHICH IS FINE because not only by then did I have some educational research, a professor to help walk us through our practices, and a cohort of people going through the same thing BUT there was also an experienced teacher there to help along the way, watch what we were doing and discuss it afterwards. My best observation times came at my very first observation where we taught one class period, watched our teacher for a class period and were able to discuss with a regular class teacher and a special education teacher what we should be doing to alter our practice. I still obsessively write things on the board because of that experience.
I'm going to start with that, see where the research takes me, and I'll get back to you.
Friday, July 3, 2009
On this day
A list of events that happened on this, the day before the day we celebrate our independence:
1. Jim Morrison died.
2. Idaho became a state (Happy Birthday!)
3. George M Cohen (who wrote "You're a Grand Ole Flag" and "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy") was born.
4. Quebec was founded (Bon Anniversaire!)
5. AND the Battle of Gettysburg ended today, considered by many a turning point in the war.
Happy 3rd of July
1. Jim Morrison died.
2. Idaho became a state (Happy Birthday!)
3. George M Cohen (who wrote "You're a Grand Ole Flag" and "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy") was born.
4. Quebec was founded (Bon Anniversaire!)
5. AND the Battle of Gettysburg ended today, considered by many a turning point in the war.
Happy 3rd of July
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