Beyond the Hard Truths of Teaching

I have been trying to get myself motivated to start blogging about education on a regular basis once again.  I am going through my education files and while doing so found this article by Marvin Chachere that closely mirrors my feeling about teaching.  


Click here to learn more about Mr. Chachere  a retired teacher and University of California administrator who played saxophone in his youth with a New Orleans jazz band and died June 17, 2010 after 82 years of life.

BEYOND THE HARD TRUTHS OF TEACHING 

Marvin Chachere

EARLY ON in my teaching career I learned that most principals, superintendents, and deans don't worry much about fostering student learning. 

I'm not sure precisely what they do worry about or even what interests them. Perhaps it's management itself. matching means to ends. Or maybe it's simply tranquillity, • school that's run smoothly. At any rate, teachers and managers have little in common. 

When I taught college. I told my students each semester, quite bluntly. that their institution wasn't organized and run primarily for their learning. I reminded them that they'd worked hard to gain admission. only to be hassled in registration lines. circumscribed by course requirements, intimidated by term papers and exams. categorized by grade points. 

My message, of course. was a truism: Wanting to know something is a necessary precondition for leaming it. "How many of you are here to learn philosophy?" I'd ask. Everyone. (It was an elective course.) "How many of you would be here if this course offered no credit?" No one. 

Students know the difference between learning a subject and going through the motions because they need the credits. Indeed, if a student really wants to learn, he doesn't need good teaching, and if he doesn't want to learn, the best teaching is useless. You can't force anyone to learn anything, unless you're an army sergeant teaching a recruit to fire a rifle. You may tell others what to learn, but this carries no force. Students recognize their rights in this very clearly, and they can easily reject your teaching. 

By now you may be thinking that if I had any self-respect [ should have long ago sought other work.  But for me it was precisely by recognizing these realities and struggling. with them in my own mind (if not in faculty committees, board meetings. and teachers' unions) that I found nourishment as a teacher. I enjoyed teaching and I stayed with it, but not to invent methods for jamming Iearning into the minds of unwilling students. If I wanted reform at all. it was in how I saw my job. Gripped by cynicism regarding my superiors and futility regarding my charges. I still struggled to see teaching as noble work. 

My efforts weren't completely successful, but they brought satisfaction. Once I decided to Iet the managers and policymakers get on with their work, whatever it may be. I was free to get on with mine. By concentrating on the conditions of my students their real and supposed reasons for being in my class, their interests and abilities, even their joys and sorrows. I sought to reform my thinking, to neutralize the negative forces. In other words. I sought the essence of teaching: to stimulate, inspire, animate and arouse another.

" The main job of the teacher is to convey enthusiasm. A teacher isn’t a purveyor of intormation, a guide to the realm of ideas, ambassador of culture, a certifier of students' achievements, or a  guarantor of good. paying jobs. Even less is a teacher concerned with development of a students' character and good citizenship. The only goal that's worth pursuing is to inspire your students with a love of your subject. Any other outcome, however honorable, is incidental. 

This is simplistic, you say. All teachers try to get students interested in their subjects-and good teachers succeed. My point may be simple, but it's not simplistic. It carries three practical consequences, each affecting the improvement of teaching. 

The first consequence is that you acknowledge your students' individual likes and dislikes even as you continue to show them how they can become enthused about what you're teaching. Realize that some students just don't like math, history, literature, science, or whatever. In recognizing individuality, you recognize reality. 

The second consequence is that there's no subject for which studentls' enthusiasm is unworthy or unwarranted, not even basket-weaving. Let me quickly add that I don't propose teaching something just because students will sign up for it-a Bruce Springsteen seminar? But interest in one thing may lead to interest in other things; basket-weaving isn't unrelated to geometry, to physics, to history. Any student who shows you enthusiasm about anything at all has displayed a certain capacity. Good teaching implies the ability to exploit that capacity. find ways to put it to use, and transfer it, if possible to your subject. 

The third consequence follows from the simple essence of teaching. You can’t arouse enthusiasm for a subject unless you've mastered it. The more you learn the more ways you have for arousing students' interests, and the better your teaching will be. Mastery is far more important than methods. Methods follow mastery, not the other way around. Students will be quick to see your enthusium. and if it sterms from mastery they may catch it. 

That's all you can hope and work for. And it's enough. ~ 

Standardized Testing is a Narrow Measure of Teacher Effectivenss

Interesting Websites
Xpeditions a National Geographic website with an interactive “museum” that takes you on geography journeys. Here you’ll climb a mountain, hover over the Earth, speed across Europe, visit an archeological dig, and even order sushi—plus games, animations, and more!
Thinkfinity.org   is the cornerstone of Verizon Foundation's literacy, education and technology initiatives. Their goal is to improve student achievement in traditional classroom settings and beyond by providing high-quality content and extensive professional development training. This free, comprehensive digital learning platform is built upon the merger of two acclaimed programs Verizon MarcoPolo and the Thinkfinity Literacy Network. 
Lifestyle will introduce children to the wonderful world of writing with four websites they will have fun exploring. 

Articles to Read 
Retaining Teacher Talent This article contains research from Learning Point Associates about teacher effectiveness.  The studies probe teachers for their views on what makes and effective teacher. 
Moms' Depression in Pregnancy Tied to Antisocial Behavior in Teens is a Science Daily article about a study with some surprising findings.  
Physical Education to Valuable to Sacrifice to Budget Cuts an article by Besty Hurd from Saginaw Michigan explaining the importance of PE to a community that just cut those programs from their school.   
Convergent Education  (You have to subscribe to be able to read this article) is a special report from ESchool News about the growing schism between students use of technology and the way schools want them to learn. 

In short, students no longer are limited to learning only in classrooms under the tutelage of certified instructors during designated school hours–and this change has profound implications for educators.

 Thoughts From Yrisarri
There has been much in the news lately about evaluating teachers as a core principle for educational reform.  Much of the discussion is politically driven as part of an effort to challenge educational unions and some of it comes from corporate effectiveness models.  All of this discussion leads one to believe the schools are full of bad teachers that we can not get rid of and that effective teachers have students with high test scores.  Evaluating teachers is an important aspect of the job and I have certainly met some who should not be teaching.  That does not mean we should develop narrow prescriptive tools for evaluation purposes. 

But what is an effective teacher and who determines which teachers are effective?

Our new policy makers want to create a one size fits all test for effective teachers,  student achievement on standardized tests.  If your students aren’t performing well on those tests you lose your job; if they are doing well you get a bonus.  This seems to me to be a narrow approach to a complex situation.  If that is all it takes to be an effective teacher let us just put all the kids on computers and let them study for the tests!

Teaching is a combination of skills and artistry that takes time to develop and should be measured in a more responsible manner.  Teachers must motivate groups of children and differentiate their learning to match their developmental needs.  Students are not products to be formed in molds but individuals with unique needs and wants to be counseled and given guidance.  The effective teacher connects with their students and helps each one to reach their potential.

Measuring a teachers effectiveness has to be done in the context of the community.  This does not mean we should not hold all learners to high standards, just that what is a high standard to some is not perceived to be so by others.  Expectations need to be realistic from student to student, school to school and community to community.  Teachers should not be judged in isolation, but as part of a team.  All the teachers who teach a child are responsible for his or her education, not just the teacher being evaluated.

If the aim of education is to develop learners into effective and productive citizens, you may not be able to evaluate a teacher until the students are adults and in the workplace.  Shouldn’t we expect our schools to develop healthy, happy adults who love to learn?  That is what I expect.   How do you measure a teachers ability to do that?

Sometimes things teachers do are not immediately learned.  How do yo measure the effectiveness of teachers who plant seeds that do not grow right away?  There are teachers who develop the social emotional skills of their students, those are just as important for their future as academics, but not easy to measure.  Are those bad teachers?

Why not allow the evaluation of teachers to be done by their customers, the community they serve?  What if parents were allowed to choose their children’s teacher or even their children’s school? Wouldn’t that be a pretty good indicator of what the community views as a good teacher?  How about allowing for peer review and student input?  How about improving that the process for hiring educators to insure that dedicated competent individuals become our children’s teachers.  Why not guarantee that a teacher can advance in salary and responsibility to insure better schools?   There are many ideas for measuring and improving teacher effectiveness.  Why do policy makers seem to be stuck on the narrow measure of teacher effectiveness based only on standardized testing?

Unfortunately education is under attack and has become highly politicized at the national and state levels.  Fears about the future, wars against unions, calls for narrow agendas, and misunderstanding about what teachers do all contribute to a climate that causes us to look for scapegoats for what is perceived to be a deteriorating education system. 

Evaluating our teachers is too important to allow policy makers and bureaucrats to create narrow systems of evaluation that measure only one aspect of a teacher’s work.  If we want better schools, then we must expand the discussion about how we will evaluate the job our teachers do.