tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post5813343343049119770..comments2024-03-26T13:46:42.738-05:00Comments on 4 Quarters, 10 Dimes: On Teaching These DaysDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03463621516644789183noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-77879482278812043762015-06-24T10:27:14.053-05:002015-06-24T10:27:14.053-05:00Lucy and Michelle said it well. All I can add is m...Lucy and Michelle said it well. All I can add is my dismay at my TEFL classmate who didn't bother to buy his textbooks, bullshitted his way through discussions, and led poorly organized classes. I hope he was never hired.Beatrice Desperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10843520699216089362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-7022811203783525552015-05-31T21:40:13.543-05:002015-05-31T21:40:13.543-05:00Universities still work on the medieval model of t...Universities still work on the medieval model of training scholars into the disciplinary guild, which means that actual teaching of nonspecialists is something of an add-on. Unless you go to a school that specifically emphasizes teaching, the professors there are being judged on their scholarship and ability to advance the field (as measured in awards, publications, and/or grant money). It's kind of anachronistic that way. But hey - free market! If the rewards and incentives are all stacked in a single direction, then nobody should be surprised if that's the way people head.<br /><br />It's amazing to me how much teachers have become the focus of so much abuse these days. But then anyone who tries to introduce reality into modern American culture is generally a target of vitriol. Why not us?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03463621516644789183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-73704133723126573042015-05-31T13:15:58.383-05:002015-05-31T13:15:58.383-05:00David,
Yeah, that's much of what I was trying...David,<br /><br />Yeah, that's much of what I was trying to say. :)<br /><br />What always astounds me is that universities don't train professors or require an education degree in addition to their base degree. I had some not very good teachers when I was in the public school system, some worse at private school, but I most of the worst of the lot were teachers at the university level (the worst was actually for a masters level program).<br /><br />Mind you, I also had some amazing teachers at the uni level, but they were far rarer than the bad teachers.<br /><br />But back to me ;) I love to teach, but am utterly unwilling to deal with the BS in the school system, as well as the disrespect accorded teachers by society.<br /><br />So it's a small wonder we're struggling to find teachers and fill positions, because you have to be a bit of a masochist to actually pay money for a degree to take that kind of abuse.Random Michelle Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817444379694818074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-69186783610932458122015-05-31T12:02:12.319-05:002015-05-31T12:02:12.319-05:00Lucy - absolutely. I'm not sure why we're...Lucy - absolutely. I'm not sure why we're moving toward a "let the idiots have at it and let the chips fall where they may" model of everything these days - perhaps it ties in with the resurgence of Social Darwinism on the far right, an ideology that thinking human beings abandoned after the Gilded Age - but there it is. When the chips are actual people, that model is both immoral and unsustainable. Watch your back.<br /><br />Michelle - Native talent is no substitute for training and expertise. There are a lot of talented people out there, but a) until they've learned how to use that talent they are useless, and b) they are by definition uncommon and unless there is some system in place to identify them (such as, say, certification) the odds are that hiring random people off the street will not find them. I think native talent is a necessary but not sufficient qualification for teaching - it isn't teaching, not by a long shot, but you need some of it at least if you want to learn how to teach.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03463621516644789183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-18831356623419856922015-05-31T10:51:52.255-05:002015-05-31T10:51:52.255-05:00And what She said, too.
LucyAnd what She said, too.<br /><br />LucyLucyInDisguisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04119391303533723966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-2101572477621492572015-05-31T10:43:34.721-05:002015-05-31T10:43:34.721-05:00AMEN.
I come from a family of teachers (both side...AMEN.<br /><br />I come from a family of teachers (both sides of the family) and there is a very good reason I didn't become a public school teacher, despite the fact that I am a very good teacher (that's not my puffed up opinion, that's from the many people who I've trained and helped).<br /><br />However,<br /><br /><em> Teaching is a skill, not a native talent. It’s something you have to work on.</em><br /><br />Yes and no. I believe there is a degree of native talent that is needed, and if you don't have that, you're never going to become a good teacher. It's a set of social skills and empathy and awareness that a lot of people don't have, and that many people can't develop.<br /><br />That's not to say that if you have that social skill set you can go into a classroom and start teaching. You can't, because as you said it IS something you have to work at. But there are parts of it I believe that cannot be taught.<br /><br />Any fool can stand and lecture, but that is not teaching. Teaching requires an awareness of your students and a desire for them to understand. Without those two things, I firmly believe that all other skills are useless.Random Michelle Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817444379694818074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5977625681756554695.post-71984588317998091082015-05-31T10:19:58.404-05:002015-05-31T10:19:58.404-05:00What's that old saying? "I feel your pain...What's that old saying? "<i>I feel your pain</i>" or some such silly platitude(ish-ism)? I absolutely understand the difference between education, experience and innate talent.<br /><br />In your world, the fate of our future society is at risk. To many amateurs have been at the helm of the education system in this country for far too long. It's not the whole "those that can't do, teach" thingy that I find so irritating. What it <b><i>is</i></b>, is that those who can teach and deserve proper compensation for their professional talents get pushed out of the profession in favor of those who will, out of desperation, accept less for their lack of talent in order to feed their family. <br /><br />In my world, the fact that anybody with a heartbeat and a CDL (Commercial Driver License) can roam about freely on the highways, byways, and interstates with an 80,000 pound truck under their butt and almost no skill or experience to safely handle that rig places every living soul on those roads in palpable peril every moment of every day.<br /><br />Used to be a good idea to give our trucks a lot of room to maneuver. 'Cause they're big and heavy and, you know, might actually <i>need</i> the room.<br /><br />Now it's just a good idea to stay the hell away from those trucks because the person behind the wheel got their CDL three weeks ago and have <i>absolutely <b>no idea</b> what they're doing</i>.<br /><br />I went through a 3 month college level training course, 3 months on the job training, and still vividly remember how much I didn't know for the next year before I started to get it down. Some companies out there are hiring drivers with no training, and no experience, and putting them out alone on the highway after showing them how to do the paper work. <i>(What the hell, it's just a <b>little bit bigger</b> than a pickup, right?)</i><br /><br />What really sucks, though, is that you (and all those other innocent unsuspecting motorists) have no way of knowing who's in control of that 80,000 pound rig coming up behind you.<br /><br />Yes, I do actually <i><b>feel</b></i> your pain.<br /><br />Lucy<br />Professional Driver<br />Over 1.5 Million Incident Free Miles<br /><i>(But my knowing that the next one might not be, my willingness and ability to admit that, is what helps keep us both just a wee bit safer ... )</i>LucyInDisguisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04119391303533723966noreply@blogger.com