So, checking out CNN.com today, and this article caught my eye.
Here are some caveats of this article:
“‘Schools, colleges and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st-century classroom.’ [Secretary Duncan] will call for a ‘revolutionary’ change in teacher preparation programs.”
“‘Schools of education have been renowned for being cash cows for universities,’ Duncan will say, according to his released remarks. ‘The large enrollment in education schools and their relatively low overhead have made them profit centers.’ [He] will say that universities divert the profits from education schools to other departments while doing little to invest in educational research and clinical training.”
Grrrrrr. Needless to say, I was pretty unhappy with reading this. Perhaps Mr. Duncan could check out BYU’s program, because there was a TON of researching and clinical training involved.
I had to read articles, write responses for them, take a technology test (using Word, Internet/Email, powerpoint, and Excel) and get a 10-15 minute video + accompanying lesson plan just to get an interview to get into the English Education program! Once in the program, there were several classes that required us to spend a lot of time in classrooms and working with kids even before we did our 3-4 months of student teaching, just to see if we were really suited. And I know of several people who didn’t make it to student teaching.
And now teaching in Texas, there are constant observations for all teachers, and every week there’s talk about aligning the curriculum to the Texas state standards and tracking of students that are struggling…and teacher and student ownership and accountability. The testing these kids do are through the roof- I couldn’t believe how they begin preparing kids for state tests (TAKS) in SECOND grade. These kids are obsessed and worried about state testing, and not how to apply their learning to the real world.
What more is supposed to happen? Life isn’t all measured out in multiple choice tests…
I hear you, Elisabeth. I have thought about returning to teaching and think it would take me about two solid years of classes to “catch up” to where I should be. I admire anyone teaching these days…
Brye’s mom is getting a doctorate at BYU in the Psychology of how people learn, (basically she is training to train teachers)with all the new technology in the world there is a TON of research and innovation going on, this guy is a pompous poop!
P.s.
We have been gone so I just caught up on your blog, congratulations on all the exciting things going on!