A case against alternative certification or content only teacher training

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it, in this day and age, schools don't have class lessons that are ready to go for teachers? Why is everyone starting from scratch?

Because teaching isn't an automated factory-production process?

That's ridiculous. The man was teaching high school algebra. He said:

All this, and having to spend long hours planning lessons and developing his own material because the district didn’t supply much – and what was supplied was “thin and weak to the point of not being usable.”

“I needed more time to do planning, to understand my material and tune it so it was a highly effective weapon as opposed to two hours of professional development or driving down to Office Depot because I don’t have access to a copier,” he said.

Algebra is not some unknown body of knowledge. There are curricula out there that do a great job presenting the material (with workbooks, problem sets, textbooks, applications... ) and it sounds like they didn't bother to give him any of that?! Give the teacher a decent textbook to work with for heavens sake, this isn't rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Has algebra changed? Why do we even need new algebra textbooks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has algebra changed? Why do we even need new algebra textbooks?

How many classes have you taught?

[Anonymous]

Teachers are professionals. We write our own lesson plans.

[Anonymous]

I work as a trainer for adults in the workplace. Classroom management is critical with adults so I cannot imagine how much more critical it is for children.

But seriously there are instructional designs that are replicable for adult content that can just be tailored. Why can't that exist for teachers of children too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has algebra changed? Why do we even need new algebra textbooks?

No it hasn't changed.

But it sounds to me like the school in Tucson probably is trying, like so many school districts are attempting, to do without proper math textbooks.

[Anonymous]

PP again -- Yup, my guess was right. This was last year... I bet they went to this "curriculum".

http://tucson.com/news/local/education/tusd-looks-to-free-program-to-replace-math-textbooks/article_8b6f5307-a947-5f19-bef3-b824fe4b24d7.html

TUSD is looking to replace out-of-date math textbooks for the district’s 47,000-plus students — an undertaking that would cost millions of dollars.

Given that state funding for those kind of purchases has been gutted, the Tucson Unified School District is considering free research-based materials created in part by the New York State Education Department.

[Anonymous]

If you non teachers want a sense of how crazy making veing a teacher nowadays can be, get a load of the curriculum for the Tuscan AZ School Districts third quarter of Algebra. A new teacher is expected to wade through this, figure out what is supposed to be mastered, and then wade through ALL the supporting resources and come up with a daily lesson plan.

http://curriculum.tusd1.schooldesk.net/Portals/TUSD1/Curriculum/docs/math3/MATHCMQ3Algebra1.pdf

[Anonymous]

If you non teachers want a sense of how crazy making being a teacher nowadays can be, get a load of the curriculum for the Tuscan AZ School Districts third quarter of Algebra. A new teacher is expected to wade through this, figure out what is supposed to be mastered, and then wade through ALL the supporting resources and come up with a daily lesson plan.

http://curriculum.tusd1.schooldesk.net/Portals/TUSD1/Curriculum/docs/math3/MATHCMQ3Algebra1.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it, in this day and age, schools don't have class lessons that are ready to go for teachers? Why is everyone starting from scratch?

I also have this question.

Countries with very successful school systems have successful curricula as well. Teachers starting out should be able to follow a "tried and true" curriculum with ready made lesson plans that have a high likelihood of being successful for students that are of similar abilities to the students they have. That should at least be their starting point, and then they can customize and tweak as need be.

It is CRAZY to expect teachers to come up with all new lesson plans each day, especially beginning teachers. They should have structure and guidelines.

My district is always changing curriculum trying to find the silver bullet to make everyone on grade level. They never will because it is 95% FARMS. We all know this and they know this but they have to keep trying. So we get a new curriculum every few years. I am the ESOL teacher who posted previously and we don't have a curriculum at all. We are supposed to teach what the teachers teach, as if that is all our ESOL students need. If they have deficits, which they all do, we are supposed to get all of our own materials. The last few years, I wrote 4 original lesson plans per day for different grade levels and proficiency levels. I got 4 planning periods per week lasting 45 minutes. Exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has algebra changed? Why do we even need new algebra textbooks?

No it hasn't changed.

But it sounds to me like the school in Tucson probably is trying, like so many school districts are attempting, to do without proper math textbooks.

+1 Many school systems these days are not providing more than a class set (new or old) of textbooks for math. These same school systems are not even buying online access rights but because no parent has complained the school system gets away with it. As good as any teacher thinks she is it is important to provide resources like textbooks that students can use to support their studies. The textbooks don't need to be new but they need to be available.

With respect to the remaking of lesson plans this was the primary subject of our last math department meeting. It is insane that we are remaking the wheel each week. We should be able to take the prior year's lesson plans to tweak and adjust. The constant changes in format mean that we cannot do that so we spend countless hours cutting and pasting into the format du jour. It is a complete waste of time when we could be improving plans and improving materials. It is little wonder that teachers are fed up. It is the one topic on which new and old teachers agree other than our 2nd agenda item. The 2nd topic of discussion at our math department meeting was where people are looking for jobs and if they will give notice when they leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

With respect to the remaking of lesson plans this was the primary subject of our last math department meeting. It is insane that we are remaking the wheel each week. We should be able to take the prior year's lesson plans to tweak and adjust. The constant changes in format mean that we cannot do that so we spend countless hours cutting and pasting into the format du jour. It is a complete waste of time when we could be improving plans and improving materials. It is little wonder that teachers are fed up. It is the one topic on which new and old teachers agree other than our 2nd agenda item. The 2nd topic of discussion at our math department meeting was where people are looking for jobs and if they will give notice when they leave.

I couldn't agree more!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is it, in this day and age, schools don't have class lessons that are ready to go for teachers? Why is everyone starting from scratch?[/quote]


I'm a teacher and I think the biggest problem in education is that teachers do have to do everything from scratch. I think lessons should be available for the teachers, but not required. The teacher should have the autonomy to develop lessons as he or she sees fit. But it's ridiculous that teachers have to spend hours combing the internet simply to find something they can use to teach the content. Not necessarily something good, just something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it, in this day and age, schools don't have class lessons that are ready to go for teachers? Why is everyone starting from scratch?

Because teaching isn't an automated factory-production process?

As a former teacher, I totally agree.

I taught for years--guess what? I never regurgitated lesson plans. Every year, I made new plans. I have not taught in several years and I understand that it is more regimented now than when I taught.

My normal operation: Make goals for the year using the guidance from the school system. For my daily lesson plans, I usually stayed very late on a Thursday and made lesson plans for the following week. I would assemble the materials needed--as much as possible.

But, frequently, other things interfered, or the kids needed more practice or review and I would need to push lessons to the following week. Sometimes, a lesson would go more quickly than anticipated and I would move forward.

As for the pedagogy, I do think that elementary teaching (especially primary grades) requires more classroom management, organization, etc. You need to create a physical environment that helps the kids to learn, as well as plan how you will teach.
FWIW, many college professors will teach education students that if they have good lesson plans, they will not have discipline problems. (Please remember, that the people telling the prospective teachers this "lesson" have been out of classrooms for years--except to tell others how to teach.

Good lesson plans are extremely important--I knew teachers who said they did not need them, that they "knew' what they were going to do without writing it down. I needed them--it was important to me to see that I was moving forward with the kids. Sure, I had an outline in my head--but, when you walk in class first thing in the a.m.-it sure is nice to have a reminder in front of you of what you had planned for that day. (plus, I loved to check it off)

I could never have used someone else's plans on a daily basis. Teaching is not a script.

What did you teach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personalized learning with 1:1 devices is THE answer!!!

YES!