Education Reform Part 2

How do we improve education in Michigan and the good ol' U S of A?  It is vital to start by improving teacher education and my last blog addressed that.  Of course, my ideas are not all of the answers, but it is quite obvious that changes to how teachers-to-be are educated and trained need to be made.  I mean, I am sure the field of medicine has changed how doctors are educated based on the developments in the field, well, the structure of the family has changed, kids have changed due to the environment, nutrition (or lack of), and technology, how children learn has changed, in a big way, so how we learn to teach needs to change. 

Step 2:  Once on the job, there needs to be much better mentoring, and more opportunity to observe good and bad teaching.  Every new teacher needs to be paired with a master teacher, and it is common practice to pair the new teacher with one who is tenured, but the tenured teacher is not always a master teacher (and I will address the system of tenure in another part of this series).  The two of them should have time to go into other teachers' classrooms (not just once), that the master teacher has chosen, and then discuss what went on, what worked and what didn't and why.  This will cost money because substitutes will be needed to cover classes in order to free up the teacher-in-training and the master teacher, but it will be money well spent.  For this to realistically produce a better teacher, all teachers need to be willing to be critiqued, thereby improving many teachers!  I see teaching as a constantly evolving process, you're never done, you're never good enough and you're never as good as you can be.  New teachers also need to not have to do so many hours of professional development!  In most districts new teachers have to put in triple the amount of time as seasoned teachers to learn new things.  Doesn't it make more sense to let them use that time to implement what they just spent four or five years learning?  New teachers burn out quickly because it is so overwhelming and the support received is minimal, we need to change this.  I think teaching is a wonderful profession, and new teachers need to be encouraged and nurtured just as their students do.  Another change that needs to be made in the college education of teachers is to make it clear that the certificate that states they are "highly qualified" to teach such and such, does not mean that they now know it all.  I see too many new teachers who think they have nothing more to learn and that they are ready to go it alone.  That certificate means the new teacher is ready to start a career in teaching, and if day 1 looks the same as day 180, that's a problem.

Rosemary