The importance of entry-level programming

Now that I am (kind of) retired, I have begun doing some consulting and I have the luxury of being able to choose projects which I find of interest. So the other day I began a short series of methodology-linked sessions with lower elementary teachers at a nearby public charter school group. It was interesting.

Too many educational materials are just not very good

I saw an advertisement today for an "instructional design expert and consultant" who was marketing her plans, activities and strategies. Intrigued, I followed the link and visited her site. Oh dear. While I commend her entrepreneurial zeal, I do hope that if anyone purchases any of her services,  they do so with copious bags of salt. Hopefully no does, but given her LinkedIn profile shows seven years at this, I rather fear that people do. Accordingly, children and learning will have suffered.

Has the US effectively (and unknowingly) re-created its school system?

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think the answer is "yes". School in the US today is not what is was.

Professional Development, free or not free

I had an interesting conversation with a young teacher a few days ago. She felt quite strongly that professional development for teachers ("PD") should be free, and as a result she refused to and would refuse to pay which she claimed is a common position amongst her peers. This of course raises several interesting questions.

Is certification needed?

So US charter schools and UK academies / free schools are able to hire anyone they see fit as teachers, or as responsible adults in charge of young people. Some make much of this, claiming that this allows these schools to make "better" appointments and which should be extended to all schools.

Online teacher certification

Increasingly we see or hear of teachers with "online certification". I can see how some of the subject knowledge and even some of the professional knowledge topics can be covered online, but I struggle with full certification online.

Teachers Talking

Teachers like to talk, and that is a problem because if students are not actively participating, they find something else to do and that something may not be constructive and it may not be desirable.

I remember in my student teaching days an exercise where we would plot "TTT" (Teacher Talking Time) and "STT (Student Talking Time) on a chart. It was very simple; every 15 seconds or so we would check one of two columns and then at the end of the lesson produce tables and graphs. Inevitably, teachers spoke the majority or almost all of the class, and equally inevitably they were shocked at how much they spoke.

Teacher Loss

So the NYT reports that 50% of teachers leave within 5 years. It's either poor recruitment, poor screening, poor preparation - or something about the job makes it untenable. No other profession would tolerate such attrition. Millions spent on training, practical and technical, colleges, internships, practicums, supervision and yet 50% still vote with their feet. Perhaps instead of blaming the teachers as NCLB and its boosters do, perhaps we as a country should re-examine what schools are for and thus what we want from teachers and thus what they do. As a Math teacher, is it really my role to soothe a suicidal 6th grader because her 24 year-old boyfriend has left her? As a Geographer, is it really my role to provide family counseling to a 26 year-old single parent who has no idea how to raise the daughter she had when she was 14?