Comments on: America’s war on teachers

By: The War on Teachers Ignorance III: What Could Work « The Confluence

The War on Teachers Ignorance III: What Could Work « The Confluence — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:06:46 +0000

[...] title is inspired by Historiann’s excellent post. Also a note: unlike most of the things I blog about, teaching is what I’ve [...]

By: Acid Test » The War on Teachers Ignorance III: What Could Work

Acid Test » The War on Teachers Ignorance III: What Could Work — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:56:00 +0000

[...] title is inspired by Historiann’s excellent post. Also a note: unlike most of the things I blog about, teaching is what I’ve [...]

By: Acid Test » War on Teachers II: Why It Can’t Work

Acid Test » War on Teachers II: Why It Can’t Work — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:22:41 +0000

[...] title is inspired by Historiann’s excellent post. Also a note: unlike most of the things I blog about, teaching is what I’ve [...]

By: War on Teachers I: GIGO « The Confluence

War on Teachers I: GIGO « The Confluence — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 21:59:46 +0000

[...] title is inspired by Historiann’s excellent post. Also a note: unlike most of the things I blog about, teaching is what I’ve [...]

By: Acid Test » War on Teachers I: GIGO

Acid Test » War on Teachers I: GIGO — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 21:56:15 +0000

[...] title is inspired by Historiann’s excellent post. Also a note: unlike most of the things I blog about, teaching is what I’ve [...]

By: Dispatches from the supply side of teacher ed. : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:35:15 +0000

[...] that they don’t like the direction of public secondary education, with all of the testing and the beating up on teachers in our public discourse. Some of them hang it up and switch out of the SST track, while others just express concerns [...]

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:40:52 +0000

But, what makes a teacher a “bad teacher?” One parent complaining that one teacher is ineffective at teaching one student does not mean that the teacher is “bad.” (I’m not saying that other students weren’t complaining in your case–I’m talking about a hypothetical.) The fact is that some teachers work for some students and parents, and not for others. In my line of work, I have the luxury of telling students to take a hike if they don’t like me or my methods. K-12 teachers don’t generally have that kind of luxury, nor do their students, since school until age 16 is mandatory and state-enforced.

I understand your frustration, but I think there needs to be a fair process for the teachers, and a recognition that different teachers work better with some students than others, and that’s not necessarily the teachers’ fault.

By: jennybean

jennybean — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:16:32 +0000

I think it’s true that “blame the teachers” is not, in *general*, the way forward.

But *nothing* makes a kid’s education like a good teacher, and not much harms it more than a really bad one.

I think we need to support teachers with better pay and better *everything* if they are doing a competent job (NO not just based on test scores…also factoring in parent surveys or focus groups, kid surveys, portfolios, classroom observations).

But then we need a real process for getting rid of (or at least demoting and paying less for) teachers who just aren’t good at teaching. I complained about a teacher once (once!) The principal said she’d be happy to listen to me “vent” if that helped (um, no, not really). But she had no process to follow unless the teacher’s behavior was “offensive, discriminatory or criminal.”

That just can’t be right either.

By: Freckles

Freckles — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:49:07 +0000

“Instead, we blame the teachers. It must be their fault. After all, they’re the only ones showing up for the kids every day. ”

You tell ‘em!!!

By: Tim Lacy

Tim Lacy — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:49:09 +0000

I’m just “liking” this for the sake of it. – TL