Becoming A Teacher - Opinions Please

[Chief911]

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While I may have to work harder in the private schools, I'm happy to know that it's appreciated.

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If your idea of being appreciated is a rich parent telling you their sweet Teddy would never cheat, then flip you off and call you an [censored] in front of the whole class, and they must be making it up.

Sarcasm aside, there are advantages to both, but it is really dependant on the school. You know what they say about assumptions.

Nick

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i realize i was not the "norm" in teaching, but i firmly believe that you can teach from 8 to 3 and not have papers to grade and coaching responsibilities and all the negatives that are assumed for teachers.

there is a saying in teaching that the ones doing the work are doing the learning. if you are doing the work, why do you think they are doing the learning?

with math and science classes, you will need to do some structuring to make it so your classes are self evaluating, but it can be done. i will give you some ideas if you would like.

work out team projects that students can work on together, but make it so each student can get the grade he or she deserves. i will outline the way to do equitable evaluations of group projects if you are interested.

the problem with most group projects is the "smart kids" end up doing all the work and the hangers on get the same grades...once you show the students how you evaluate, they will realize that they get the grade they deserve, and don't even mind if someone isn't doing his or her share...it doesn't reflect on them!

that being said, discipline is the next major hurdle for new teachers...there are five questions that work to get students to monitor their own behavior. this will take a bit of time to develop, but kids really do know the rules...but people have always been telling them what to do, not asking them what they were supposed to do. it is a whole different level of respect and expectations.

what are you doing?
what are the rules about that?
what are the consequences of breaking those rules?
is that what you want to have happen?
what are you going to do differently?

the final thing is that most schools are begging for teachers in the math and science fields, so you will likely be able to write your own ticket.

to find out if you like it, try substituting for a while...pay isn't great, but it might save you if you don't like it...if you substitute, let the office know that you may be sending students to their office if they refuse to follow class rules and you would appreciate a quick talk to the student to let them know that it is a privilege to be in a classroom, not a right, and then when the misbehaving student comes back to the classroom, give them a seat at the back of the room to see if they are serious about behaving properly...after they are cool for a few, let them have the privilege of regaining their seat in the classroom.

for those who think this is poppycock, it worked for 7 years...and students were very happy to have a classroom where no one got away with disrupting their opportunity to learn. kids are not as stupid as we think...they couldn't be! they just have never had teachers who expected them to behave themselves because they knew it was the right thing to do![/soapbox]

p.s. i will be returning to teaching in some capacity soon, because i miss it, even though it means a cut in pay.

[zephed]

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In terms of jobs, it will be tough to beat teachers perks (ie time off, working hours),

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There's more work when you get home.

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it can be managed so there isn't more work when you get home...it really can...and school districts are going to have to start understanding the process of making teaching a 3/4 time job for people who are dedicated to teaching, and not dedicated to bookkeeping and paperwork if they want to keep any decent teachers at all.

just a couple examples of what i mean...have students grade papers anonymously of course...have numbers put on papers and then have all the people who are not getting A's or B's grade several papers with the teacher...students who are doing well can have research time. the students who need to review the material have the teacher's attention for questions and can actually gain credit on their own papers for doing the work they need to do....that way it becomes extra credit, not punishment, and the teacher doesn't need to grade papers.

even essays, students can learn to underline facts in other student papers, and then discuss the facts with the teacher...again, this can be an extra credit session for students who need reinforcement. all while during school hours!

IMO, there are certain basics that do need to be learned...reading, writing/typing/spelling and arithmetic basics are certainly in there...geography/geology and its ramifications for where and what people do, is one that is way underrated...basic household science is another, like electricity, chemistry and basic physics.

these days personal hygeine and health are up there too, since often the only health care children get is in the emergency room or from the school nurse if there is one. physical education with team and individual sports can also be turned to academic activities when the students want to know how to hit harder, higher and faster.

other than those basics of living, other education should be on a research project basis with hands on skills and in depth research...art, music, auto mechanics, and many other skills can be used as a backdrop for other academic studies including literature, math, science and history.

after they reach minimum proficiency, children should be graded on what they learn, not what causes them problems. take the "dumbest" kid in the class and ask him about what he loves and he usually becomes a fountain of knowledge...a good teacher should be able to weave history, writing, business, science and math into any topic at all! when the kids learn what they love, they even remember it!

for elementary teachers, this is not such a problem, but for many high school teachers who do not have much knowledge outside their own focus, it might be more challenging, but not impossible...in fact, the teachers who love only one subject should really be able to understand kids who focus on one thing!

again...there is zero reason for requiring kids to learn quadratic equations except in areas where they have interest...yes to basic math and applied math, but no to trigonometry for trig's sake! (and i love math, personally!)

working with other students on projects of interest and value to the student is a great method for actual learning and not just the stuff that falls out the other ear before it bounces around enough inside the skull to be remembered.

[zephed]

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just a couple examples of what i mean...have students grade papers anonymously of course...have numbers put on papers and then have all the people who are not getting A's or B's grade several papers with the teacher...students who are doing well can have research time. the students who need to review the material have the teacher's attention for questions and can actually gain credit on their own papers for doing the work they need to do....that way it becomes extra credit, not punishment, and the teacher doesn't need to grade papers.

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If you want to make your students your assistants, that's your problem. They are in class to learn, not grade papers. And this would be difficult to do in a low performing inner city school.

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tests have been done that support the learning advantages of going over the test in class...at the beginning of the year, you will need to grade the graders, but you can get over that in time.

implying that a teacher is shirking to do a job in a way that focuses on getting the students involved in writing the correct answers several times on student papers and seeing correct answers as the end result and being able to reinforce the correct answers when you find out how many missed a question is not reasonable IMO. it is a valid learning process that is acutally much more successful than most, as you are getting them at a time when they are actually interested in improving their grades.

of course you don't want to make it too easy to slack off and not be prepared for the test...ergo the fun projects to do if you get a good grade.

they don't pay a teacher enough to require 10 hours a day even for 10 months of the year...they do pay enough for an 8 hour day 9 months a year. you might say don't take the job if you aren't willing to do what is expected, but i say change the job to one that is reasonable for the pay...different strokes.

i will be glad to discuss success strategies for long term retention versus traditional classroom methods.

there are many people who would do a great job in classrooms if they could just teach...calling the method i proposed making students unpaid assistants may not have been meant as a put down, but it sounded like it.

i took a class room that had no structure at all and virtually no learning going on at all and had them doing spelling with different numbers of words...for some of them, it was a matter of being able to spell "going," and these were sixth graders (many hispanics/bilingual students) not exactly inner city, but not far from it.

for many of them, getting anything right was a major accomplishment, because they had always been focussing on what they had done wrong.

i gave kids pieces of paper once a week and had them draw a map of the world on just a blank paper...after a short time, they were going to the globe and looking up features they could add to this week's map.

kids would write their own report cards by taking a paper and drawing pictures or writing stories about what they remembered from the class work the previous grading period. all these could be applied to any grade level and allowed the kids to demonstrate what they had learned.

but i didn't take papers home to grade.

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tests have been done that support the learning advantages of going over the test in class...at the beginning of the year, you will need to grade the graders, but you can get over that in time.

implying that a teacher is shirking to do a job in a way that focuses on getting the students involved in writing the correct answers several times on student papers and seeing correct answers as the end result and being able to reinforce the correct answers when you find out how many missed a question is not reasonable IMO. it is a valid learning process that is acutally much more successful than most, as you are getting them at a time when they are actually interested in improving their grades.

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OK, fair enough. You've convinced me.

EDIT: And you sound like a good teacher.

[Elevens]

Do it.

[TheWorstPlayer]

move up to where they respect your raises. and fold preflop.

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thank you very much. my goal is really to make education an enjoyable profession. if you look through all the posts here that talk about wanting a job that is not part of the rat race of corporate america, many of these young people would make great teachers.

it is especially wonderful to get men in classrooms, but it is ridiculous to expect them to work 60 hour weeks 10 months a year for $40,000 or many times less. that is assuming they have a master's degree at that!

i have done the programs i am talking about, and have graded papers the way i mentioned by having kids underline all the facts and then skimming for accuracy...is it as accurate as reading each word? probably more so, since you can go back and review what you are using to base your opinions.

if i had my way, all papers would be introductions and conclusions with bullet points and some logic and detail in between. the idea of writing a 10 page paper these days is ludicrous even at the college level...but you can get some incredible visual projects if you get some artistic kids to work with some readers, and allow them time to discuss waht it is they are trying to get across...and everyone learns.

i taught many years as a sub and several years as a full time classroom teacher.

unfortunately, there are problems with inner city students, but that is really where the self control programs work best. i would love to see classrooms with camcorders in each room that documented what was going on. as long as the purpose was to help teachers with discipline and helping them improve their methods, it is not even an invasion or a threat.