Reply to I grew up hearing that the NoVA public schools were the best in the state

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Reply to "I grew up hearing that the NoVA public schools were the best in the state"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Transplant here.  I taught in NY before coming here to teach.  I can verify the change.  There were much higher standards in NY.  The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now).  [b]My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber [/b]and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data".  There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.  
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[b]The new teachers don't know how to teach[/b].  I don't know if it is because they don't understand their material or for other reasons but they rely heavily on handouts and weekly mini quizzes/quizzes/classworks and tests.  Kids spend more time taking tests and quizzes then actually learning. [/quote]

DP. I have wondered about this.  Is it because of NCLB? Principals?  The way teaching is taught in college? Or just the teachers themselves?

It's my impression that this is not an FCPS issue, and not a not-a-northern-school issue, but is nationwide, to some extent.[/quote]

In her book, Building a Better Teacher, Elizabeth Green posits that the problem is the way teaching is taught.  In the US, teacher's colleges were subsumed by the university system in the 1960s and, thus, the decline began.  My (admittedly limited) personal experience supports Green's position.  One of my sons had an elementary school teacher from Ireland who went to teacher's college.  She was one of the best teachers he ever had.

Now, in Virginia, anyone with a bachelors degree can become a certified teacher by taking a one-semester course.  Sadly, I can tell which of my children's teachers took this route almost immediately.  They have no idea how to communicate with children.  The way they interact with children is no different from the way other adults interact with children.

Being smart does not make one a good teacher.  Teaching is an art that is no longer being taught, and we should demand better.    [/quote]

+1. The interesting part is when they ask you to nominate an excellent teacher at your kid’s school. [/quote]

Yeah, I never fill that one out. And maybe it's not the teacher's fault. But I don't otherwise know how to send a message to admin about the quality of their school system. Not willing to risk everything on my child.[/quote]

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