About Teacher Effectiveness???

  

I was listening to a recent NPR story, "'Building A Better Teacher': Dissecting America's Education Culture" about how teachers teach here, in the USA, versus abroad.

You are probably thinking, "Oh, here he is with that Teacher thing gain!"

If you are thinking that, well, you got that right. If you are not thinking that, well YOU BETTER!

The report mentioned that there is a "pervasive idea" that Great Teachers are born and NOT made. Just as a Great Leader can be made, Great Teaches can be made. I guess the only ones that believe that Great Teachers are born are those that go out of their way to say they are Great Teachers yet do not have the qualifications (in real life) of a Great Teacher.

Personality & Charisma vs. Technique

The report mentions that while others may say that great teaching takes Personality and Charisma but in actuality, it is the Techniques that the Teacher uses that makes them great. Guess what? Someone had to teach that Teacher the techniques that work and how to make them work effectively. There you go, a Great Teacher is made. Great Teachers recognize that in order to be great they have to do everything they can to stay great. Seriously, who wants to be irrelevant?

The NPR report mentions in the U.S. there is "A CULTURE OF PRIVACY AROUND TEACHING" and how it is the opposite in countries like Japan. 

A Culture of Privacy around teaching? Really? 

In the United States, Teachers spend most of their workday surrounded by their students. Those young minds that, essentially, know nothing and cannot hold the teacher to a higher standard. Those students look to the teacher for answers and when the teacher needs a question answered whom does he or she turn to? No one. 

In the US workplace just like in the schools (elementary, middle school, & high school) there is the daily dash to the parking lot when the last school bell rings or the work whistle blows. No one wants to stick around and chit chat. No one wants to be late going home. Of course, there are those very few exceptions but how many are the exception?

Is Mentorship the answer?

Yes, Mentorship is one of the answers. Everyone needs a mentor and everyone needs to be a mentor to somebody. However, there are not enough mentors out there just like there is not enough teachers that truly believe they need to be mentors. Why is this? Why are people afraid to share and ask for help? Why do people say they need help but refuse to be helped, especially when it will directly affect their chosen vocation?

A Science of Teaching (or Becoming A Great Teacher)

It was nice to listen that the issue of Teacher Professional Development is something that others are thinking about and actively have on their mind. Just as in every profession, being a Teacher requires taking the initiative and staying up to date with the latest news, tips, techniques, and training when it comes to becoming a Better Great Teacher.

However, some (if not many) Teachers that want to be Great but firmly believe that they will become great ONLY if their Principal or District Administration wants them to become great. Otherwise, why bother? Why bother? If it was not for the love of teaching, why did you bother becoming a teacher? Seriously! 

Guess what? You have to do it on your own. If you wait for your Principal or the District to send you out to get some Seriously High-speed Important and Timely Training, it is not going to happen. You have to give them a reason to send you. You have do a little work on your own. Imagine that?

The real issue at hand is the need for Teachers to do what they can and must do to become better at their chosen profession. That way is to become lifelong learners and that means putting in the work. Putting in the work on your own.

There is no excuse for not honing your craft. Gain new skills and refine those techniques that have made you a Great Teacher and become the Greatest Teacher of them all. However, it begins with you and aren't the kids you teach worth it?

As a Parent, I know my kids are worth having the Best of the Best Teachers teach them.

Thank you for your time,
David Guerra

I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra • visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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Teacher, Can We Have A Word or Two About Standardized Testing and Parents?

A WORD OR TWO ABOUT STANDARDIZED TESTING (and PARENTS)

As the new school year is now well underway, well at least in my neck of the woods, it is time to talk about the never-ending drama known as Standardized Testing.

Over the years, I have read and heard about teachers complaining that they cannot teach because all they really do is spend an inordinate amount of teaching time on "teaching to the test". The “test” being some form of Standardized Test.

I ask Teachers everywhere: If you spend so much time teaching to the test then why are there SO MANY children who fail these standardized tests?

What? Yes, many fail these tests.

Why?

Great question! Ask Teachers, they will tell you because those kids are not teachable. They are not reading at the level they should be for their age. They do not get the support at home. The previous grade's Teacher(s) failed to see that the kids needed extra help. The system failed them. The answers go on and on and on, ad nauseam.

However, there has to be a cause to this problem.

Ask a Parent who is at fault and they will say the Teacher is the cause.

Ask a Teacher who is at fault and they will say the Parent is the cause.

Get both of them in the same room and they will say that the system has failed the children.

See the problem? None of them want to take the blame but all of them are ready to point fingers at one another.

I say it is the Teacher and the Parent, together and separate.

Let’s start with the Teacher. Not because they are the easy target but they are the “professional” and they should “know better” and so on and so on, ad nauseam.

Teacher, those kids failed on your watch!

Who holds you accountable? What??? Hold you accountable? How dare I?

Seriously, I will always hold someone, including myself, accountable when the situation calls for it.

When children cannot pass a simple standardized test then you had better believe that as a parent I would hold each and every teacher accountable. I will always hold a teacher accountable and the organization that hired that individual because I can only imagine the horror that would ensue if that teacher were given free rein to teach (sans Standardized Tests).

Think about it and in your own words, "they are dumbing down the education of youth" by requiring standardized test. Yet, teachers are failing at that simple task.

Simple Task?

That is what we as parents are told by those same teachers. From what some Teachers have told me, they are “forced” to teach to the test and are not allowed to teach the children what they must to be taught to succeed in school and in life.

To me when they are “forced” to teach to a level, that ideally all youth should achieve some passing level of competency, there should then be no excuse for any child to fail to achieve a proper level of competency at that “drastically reduced” level of education.

Plain and simple, they are failing to teach to a test that “dumbs down” the education of our youth. I now return to the question of: Who will hold those Teachers accountable?

Can you see where I am going with this?

If a Teacher cannot achieve a level of competency with standardized testing then what will being allowed to teach what they were taught to teach do to the kids?

WHAT ABOUT PARENTS? THEY NEED TO DO THEIR PART!

You are correct! Parents need to do their part every day (weekends and holidays included). I know I try to do my part with my children.

I do hold my kids accountable just as I hold myself accountable when I fail to do something. However, what about those situations that happen when that whole Teachers and Parents working together just doesn’t work out.

The thing is I fear that teachers are conditioned to expect negative support from parents. That conditioning runs so far and deep that they do NOT know what to do when a parent actually wants to be involved. Sure they say they appreciate the offer and the help but at most it is just a token gesture on the Teacher's part.

 

Thus, for the parent it becomes a double-edged sword. The school administration will chastise ALL Parents for not being active participants in the education of their children. Then when they want to participate and want to make a positive difference, Parents are shunned by Teachers when they actually want to go through with it and truly want to step up to help.

The Teacher does not know how to welcome the one thing they have wanted (and in most cases demanded): Help from the Parents. The Teacher seems to go out of their way to alienate the Parent and then what? Exactly, the same old song and dance from the Parents and the Teachers.

Does the same old song and dance mean complacency?

You better believe it does!

It means that all of us will fall into that same old dumb routine about complaining about each other and again that is unacceptable. In the end, the Child is not being properly served standardized test or not.

That my friends, allies, comrades, cohorts, enemies, and foes is NOT a good thing. Never has been and never will be.

Thank you for you time,
David Guerra


I invite you to: follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra • visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

To order your copy of The Walking Leader:  Amazon Paperback / Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble

Here are some Technorati Tags: • The Walking Leader • Teachers • Parents • Student Success • Standardized Test • More Working Together • Less Finger Pointing • Dave Guerra • Leadership • Leading • Leadership Development • Professional Development • Lead, Follow, or Get out of the way • Ready, Fire, Aim! • If it ain't broke, break it. • Hire Crazies • Ask dumb questions • Pursue failure • Spread Confusion • Ditch Your Office • Read Odd Stuff • Avoid Moderation • Higher, Admire, Desire, Require, Satire, Inquire, On Fire, All Possible Scenarios • Give to the American Red Cross • Hire A Hero