A Day in the Life of a First-Year Teacher

Thursday, August 9, 2012

New Standards for Teaching Certification

In an New York Times article entitled "To Earn Classroom Certification, More Teaching and Less Testing", NYT reports on how New York and 25 other states are changing the way that traditional-path teachers are being licensed.

When I was in my undergraduate Math Education program at NYU, my professors and advisor told me about how I was required to pass the LAST (Liberal Arts & Sciences Test) a teaching pedagogy/strategies exam and a special exam for mathematics to obtain my licensure in New York. This, along with successful completion of student teaching and my Bachelor's degree, would allow me to find a job as a teacher.

When I first read this, I thought to myself, "Wow! This new assessment system is really really bold." And by all means, I support it. In fact, I actually wish I could have made a video demonstrating me teaching than sit through all those tests. We HAVE to make sure that new teachers are going into the classroom prepared to teach and knowing the realities of urban classrooms and how to reach inner-city students. Teaching pedagogy, theory and methods classes are absolutely necessary as well. And while I was fortunate to be in one of the strongest undergraduate teacher prep programs in the country, many students are not.

Having prospective candidates create a teaching video demonstrating how much they learned, retained and can apply will give principals a panoramic view of that candidate's teaching ability. (Although I sincerely believe Michael Mulgrew is wrong when he says that new teachers leaving schools of education "unprepared to teach is one main reason our attrition rate is so high". The main reason why is because of stress, conflicts with the administration and with colleagues and lack of support in general. The best teachers, the Irreplaceables as they're called by The New Teacher Project, are often the first ones to leave. Get your facts right, Mulgrew!)  With the issue of teacher quality so important, what principal isn't looking for that?

However, why stop here? Why not reform the way that teachers are being trained right now? For example, in college, I had to sit through classes like Calculus 3 and Linear Algebra to complete my 36 required NYS credits in math. Yet, I'm teaching MIDDLE SCHOOL math. None of that really helped me, and quite honestly, a lot of what I learned in those advanced, math-major designed classes has left my system after three/four years. We should be training teachers to review what they learned in school - things they will actually be teaching - like Algebra II, Precalculus, Calc 1 and Calc 2... things they may actually be teaching (if they teach high school that is). NYU had 2 semesters of student teaching, and the benefits of that program was invaluable. Shouldn't every school of education value the benefits and learning experience of student teaching to institute a 2-semester, 2 level program? (Elementary ed students can do a program in two different grades. In a 1-6 certification, maybe do an early childhood (1 or 2) and a middle childhood (4 or 5)).

Teacher ed is a hot botton issue now. I'm really looking forward to seeing what it has in store for us in the future! My oh my, education is a rapidly changing field!

Happy August! 1 month till school starts, and I'm busily preparing for it while enjoying the time left that I have "off"!!

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