Please read the article that was recently in the New York Times magazine.
In the comment section, respond in 150 words with your opinion of the notion put forth in the article.
Thanks!
Ms. Kavy
Due Sunday by midnight!
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First I must start off by saying that this was a great article. Many more experienced and dedicated teachers are needed in the educational realm. Lemov addresses several important issues in this article. He discusses whether or not offering a teacher higher pay would help them perform better within their teaching methods,what makes a good teacher, how to determine a teachers level of experience, and whether better training is neccessary for teachers.
ReplyDeleteLemov stated that offering a teacer higher pay would not help them teach better, because the problem is the teachers performance, and generally lack of experience. He states that changing teachers constantly will not fix the problem, but the real problem is the history of training teachers. Many teachers are ill prepared with their training, and do not have a more experienced person to mentor them on their first day, which many would agree would be more helpful.
The idea is that a teacher must first become a great student. There are also a variety of teaching methods that could be tried. Teaching is not just a gift that you are born with, its a foundation that must be learned and built upon. The idea that some teachers have it and some dont, is absolutely false. This is due to the fact that teachers deal with different type of students with different backgrounds, and a method must be applied to teach each group, therefore you are not born with this skill. It must be learned and then applied. Therefore, I agree with Lemov's assertion that it is neccessary to build a teacher.
Lorina Kegler
The author of the article puts froth the notion that students performance depends on teachers ability to actually TEACH. I could not agree more with this statement. If teachers lack the proper and necessary skills to make sure their students are learning the material in class then why are they there. I agree that some people have the natural ability to teach and others aquire these skills over time, but there is a time when teachers should know what the are doing when it comes to their students especially in high school. As a high school student, I've noticed that students perform at a greater level in classes with more experienced teachers than a class with a teacher who they feel does not necessarily have those teaching ablilities, for them to properly learn the material.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to training for teachers to help them become better, I feel this is just one step that would give these teachers more experience. In order to perfect and ultimately become good at something I feel you need experience and some preparation just as students need help and preparation in order to do better. The overal performance of students is linked to the teachers' abilities to teach, and if theyare unable to teach then students are unable to learn.
In this article the author puts forth the notion that student’s level of academic success is based upon the level of teaching in the classroom. He believes that the ability to teach is a gift, one which benefits students’ tremendously. I definitely agree with that assertion. He brings up the fact that you have teachers teaching the same curriculum in the same building with exponentially different results, this can only occur when the teaching ability between the teachers is vastly different. Teachers who lack the skill and talent to grasp students attention, and still instill in them all of the necessary information are extremely less effective than those who have that ability. This is why schools go through so much for teacher development programs; I believe that the potential with students is always there, it is up to teachers to fully unlock it.
ReplyDeleteI think that this fact is more prominent with younger children, when you are in grade and middle school you have less personal responsibility. You are younger and much more immature, so your ability to retain information comes mainly from how long you can stay entertained and pay attention. This is when the superior teaching comes into play. If you are able to keep students attention, and still get across all of the information effectively, you are doing something great. As a high school student however I believe that we should stop putting all of the pressure on our teachers. There are many outside sources we can use as young adults to increase our knowledge. We should be at the point in our lives were teachers shouldn’t have to come up with creative ways to present us information, because in college the professors won’t be there to entertain us. Great teaching skills do help, but I believe that older students should start to become more self reliant.
-Joseph Fiddmont
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ReplyDeleteEvery person is not meant to be a teacher, just as every person is meant to be a doctor or a lawyer. I agree with Lemov that teaching is not a skill set that every person has. Sylvia Gist sums it up well that good educators have ‘an innate drive or teaching ability’. I believe that educators should teach for their love of teaching first, and financial compensation, second. But, I also agree that there should be more incentives for good teachers. It is stated in the article that the salary of a teacher in Washington is $65,000 a year, which is definitely not enough money to support a family or live comfortably.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do hope that there are other ways of deciding whether a teacher is effective or not based on standardized test scores; in many cases they do not always reflect the intellectual capacity of the students. Plus, students may be gaining the tools to do well on such tests from outside resources, such as prep programs, so the teacher’s skills may not be reflected in the scores as well. I agree with Lemov’s overall argument that it is essential to improve the quality of current teachers to increase student’s performances by employing tactics in a ‘subject-free focus’. In this case, Lemov’s taxonomy can be applied to teaching across different subjects. I also concur with the notion that educators need to be ‘aware of their limitations’ and to the fact that some of the teaching methods that they may think are effective are not, and a living testament to this would be the amount of underperforming students not just in Washington, but across the country.
In the article, the author put forth the notion that in order to be a good teacher, you must be able to teach while also disciplining the students. I do agree with the article that having or being a good teacher is being able to actually teach. Being a good teacher can help not only benefit the student, but also the teacher. With being a good teacher, the teacher can become well respected and the student can be able to love and enjoy a subject. For example, at the high school I use to attend, I had a history teacher name Mr. Berry who not only made history informative and fun, but was also able to discipline his class to the point where student and faculty respected him. Because of Mr. Berry, I not only realized how fun history can be, but also learned how important it is to learn about history.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that having a good teacher can help benefit students and can determine whether or not a student will enjoy the subject or not, I don't agree with firing teachers who may actually have the passion and may enjoy teaching. In my opinion, in order to be a teacher, one thing you must do is be able to love teaching and if the teachers that they are firing actually have the passion to teach, how come there can't be a class to help make these teachers better teachers. If they receive help and the teachers still can't teach then that's when you fire them and let them know not everyone has the skill to teach.
The author of the article puts forth the notion that the academic success of a student is based on the ability of the teacher to actually teach the student. I absolutely agree with this statement. A teacher that lacks the necessary training and skills to properly teach their students sets up those students for failure. How could you possibly plan to teach someone the things they need to learn when you don’t know how to do so properly? Being a high school student I have had my share of teachers who can and cannot teach throughout my learning experience. I feel that I am more prepared now that I have teachers who have more than enough experience to teach all of the students the skills they feel are necessary to be successful. I think that training the teachers is an excellent idea because it allows the teachers to learn more than they already know. Seeing that the students success is based on what they are taught by their teachers, the teachers need to be overly prepared to help make their students successful.
ReplyDelete-Adia Brady
Can the art of teaching be taught to teachers? It's a loaded question, which the article attempts to tackle. I agree with Lemov in his assertion that teaching is a skill that is inherent in some human beings. Some people just don't have the social or intellectual ability to teach to students. Students need these teachers in schools in order to make any tangible progress in the school system.
ReplyDeleteMaybe giving monetary incentives to teachers will be a good way to encourage teachers to be more active teachers and stimulate the interest of other qualified people into the teaching field. The average pay for a teacher is an atrocity. I don't understand how people expect to make any real strides in our education system without paying our teachers better salary. We need to stop putting so much pressure on the teachers and focus on the people responsible for paying them.
We need to also focus our efforts on keeping the good teachers in the system. Too many of them are undervalued or get the short end of the deal because of budget cuts or ignorant parents. Everyone needs to make an effort to keep these teachers teaching and create a better system that cultivates better teachers around the US.
In this article the idea is expressed that teaching is a natural ability rather than one that can be taught or learned. I agree that some individuals take to teaching with more ease then others, seemingly have a knack for the teaching profession, but teaching is also a skill that can be broken down and learned. This is evidenced by the fact that poor teachers can get better with training and new teachers do best when paired with a more experienced mentor. Both examples illustrate that teaching is a skill that can be developed and honed through training.
ReplyDeleteThis article also puts forth the notion that students’ academic success directly correlates to individuals’ teaching abilities. I agree completely that a the competence of a teacher drastically affects how well students comprehend and retain information.. As all information the student receives is second –hand via the teacher, a less than skilled teacher who is incapable of managing a classroom or keeping up with curriculum seriously impacts the flow of information, and thus standardized test scores plummet.