The question should be what was the qualifier that was used to rate the teacher as incompetent. Did the teacher know the level of material for those students to learn? Did the teacher know how to relate to the students? Or was the curriculum approved by the school board that is made up by parents required to prepare the students for college level education?
Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum, and a class of 20-25 students.
Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.H.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.
Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.
In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.
They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the state tests. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.
Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times. If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible. The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they will not be able to afford it. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day. The business people will be permitted to use a restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class. If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time. The winner gets to keep their job.
The reforms that are being put forward by most of the people who say anything about the subject involve teachers working 8 hour days- which means actually being totally there for eight hours, no coffee breaks, 2 minute potty breaks, no lapse of attention to the work, then going home and spending about 20/30 minutes for each of those hours grading the work and prepping for the next day. They recommend doing this for 11 months a year, for a salary that after 20-25 years and a master’s degree, which you are required to get at your own expense and on your own time, will be about equal to that of an engineer who is one year out of a bachelor’s program.
At the present time, 1/3 of those people who train as teachers for four years wash out before their fifth year of teaching. How many people will even be willing to train to be teachers if the job becomes even harder and less rewarding? And, why would anyone who could get a better job stay after they did? In the effort to improve teaching, I think the powers that be will make the job so difficult that no one with the ability to do the job will be willing to take it.
DLee4144 Thank you for so clearly articulating the challenges-the only thing you forgot are the micromanaging principals and superintendents who don’t know what’s going on in the classroom and require additional written documentation for all of the above. Oh, and who “observe” for two 30 minute lessons and grade your whole year’s performance on them.
Observer fo Irony about 10 years ago
The question should be what was the qualifier that was used to rate the teacher as incompetent. Did the teacher know the level of material for those students to learn? Did the teacher know how to relate to the students? Or was the curriculum approved by the school board that is made up by parents required to prepare the students for college level education?
Diane Lee Premium Member about 10 years ago
Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum, and a class of 20-25 students.
Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.H.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.
Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.
In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.
They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the state tests. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.
Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times. If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible. The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they will not be able to afford it. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day. The business people will be permitted to use a restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class. If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time. The winner gets to keep their job.
Diane Lee Premium Member about 10 years ago
The reforms that are being put forward by most of the people who say anything about the subject involve teachers working 8 hour days- which means actually being totally there for eight hours, no coffee breaks, 2 minute potty breaks, no lapse of attention to the work, then going home and spending about 20/30 minutes for each of those hours grading the work and prepping for the next day. They recommend doing this for 11 months a year, for a salary that after 20-25 years and a master’s degree, which you are required to get at your own expense and on your own time, will be about equal to that of an engineer who is one year out of a bachelor’s program.
At the present time, 1/3 of those people who train as teachers for four years wash out before their fifth year of teaching. How many people will even be willing to train to be teachers if the job becomes even harder and less rewarding? And, why would anyone who could get a better job stay after they did? In the effort to improve teaching, I think the powers that be will make the job so difficult that no one with the ability to do the job will be willing to take it.
r.dauphinee about 10 years ago
DLee4144 Thank you for so clearly articulating the challenges-the only thing you forgot are the micromanaging principals and superintendents who don’t know what’s going on in the classroom and require additional written documentation for all of the above. Oh, and who “observe” for two 30 minute lessons and grade your whole year’s performance on them.