How to Get Rid of Bad Teachers
- Take away the Teacher's Guides and if they claim that they are unable to teach, they are right. They can't. As long as you're at it, take away the standards and the curriculum maps. Any decent teacher should be able to know what is vital in his or her content area.
- Take away the computers. Tell them that there's no electricity. Even if it's a computer class, there's still a lesson to be learned. If they can't teach without the gadgets, then they aren't teachers. They're technicians and they have no business in a classroom.
- Take away the School Discipline Program and have the administrators leave for a day. If they can't lead a class without the intervention of an administrator, they probably need to leave.
- Take away the grades and get rid of the homework. Toss out the token reward system and the points and the gold stars. If they claim that they can't motivate a class without these things then they're missing a big part of what it means to motivate.
- Take away the classroom for a day and have the teacher lead a group of ten kids. Meet outside. I don't care where. A lake, a river, a mountain, a busy intersection of the city. If the teacher can't see how the subject connects to life and struggles to get a point across without a Word Wall or a chalkboard or a set of worksheets, then the teacher is missing the point of education.
I'm not saying you fire all of them. I'm not even saying you go tech-free, resource-free or structure-free. I am, however, saying that teaching is a deeply human endeavor. If you believe that it requires a system, a resource or a gadget to ensure you succeed than you don't understand what it means to teach.
Here's my guess, though: despite all the hype about how awful our teachers are, most would pass the five criteria listed above, because an honest look at the teaching profession suggests that there are far more good teachers than bad ones.
Here's my guess, though: despite all the hype about how awful our teachers are, most would pass the five criteria listed above, because an honest look at the teaching profession suggests that there are far more good teachers than bad ones.
In all seriousness of your post...it is a great post, but I can't help but have the song, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" come into my head!
...slip out the back Jack.
...make a new plan Stan.
...no need to be coy Roy.
Just listen to me.
Funny...yet so true. I am only in my second year of teaching, but I cannot believe how many teachers simply use these as crutches to teach. I encounter many blank stares when I deviate from the standard curriculum. Yet, when the new (life focused) approach motivates the students those blank stares start to get antsy. Good post.
Actually, I think I agree with all four of your suggestions. You are asking teachers to be independent, flexible, creative people. You ask them to test their own authority in the best possible sense of that word. Young people should look to us as authorities on learning, people worthy of respect. This is something students confer on teachers, not something teachers impose on learners. Strip away the props to our power and ask us to be resourceful about learning and you will see understand the basis of our authority. Good teachers face each of your challenges repeatedly with just a sigh of exasperation when their best laid plans evaporate. At the end of the day they feel good.
This post reminded me of the teacher at a learning center I worked at, who came to me one day and asked me what a synonym was, as well as the other teachers who couldn't teach a new concept without the little laminates we were supposed to use. My thoughts were that if you needed the thing, you didn't belong in the job. These were all credentialed teachers, too.
I think it is a mistake to make an end-all, be-all judgement of whether a teacher is good or not, I think its more appropriate to realize what process each teacher is in. In some cases, a teacher has a wealth of untapped potential under the right circumstances, but it may take a committed school staff, supportive environment,and a committed teacher (of course) to allow all those great things to flower out over time, much like the circumstances of any learner. Or maybe that is already implied?
While I agree with the spirit of your message, I question the letter of it. Perhaps it is a literary style with which I am not familiar so misunderstand the message given the form.
Anyways, I do not feel these items should be associated with "bad teaching" per se. All of these are simply helpful tools, especially for beginning teachers. I also find it a bit idealistic, possibly naive, to think all teachers can motivate students to learn if they do not have a reason to be there (e.g. grades as needed for a diploma and college acceptance). Likewise, on the behavioral front, while admins should not be needed, there are times when their presence is critical. [NB: This could be where I miss the forest for the trees.]
I guess my main issue I have is characterizing a teacher who employs structure, technology, etc as acting in a way that is less than human (in their endeavor). I think that is a gross overstatement and ignores the performance improvements these items enable with associated efficiencies and effectiveness. [NB: See NB above.]
At the same time, if a teacher cannot survive, especially for a day, without these tools, then perhaps they should consider another career. They must be able to think on their feet untethered from their support systems.
Notwithstanding my dings above, I appreciate your passion for teaching.
Happy New Year!
I'd like to point out something in response to this:
I am not against using some elements of behaviorism. It has its place. I'm not against administrators. They are absolutely necessary. I am not against technology. I teach with a 1:1 netbook to student ratio. I'm in favor of structure.
However, my main point is that if you believe you need these things to be successful, you are mistaken.
Your last statement of the original post is likely true, but too many good teachers have become so dependent on the crutches you point out, that they are no longer good teachers. perhaps instead of adding "disruptive technology" we would be better informed to disrupt the system by removing the crutches that hold us back. In the paraphrased words of the band Everclear, we don't realize that the hand we hold is the hand that holds us down.
Um, what happened to the other two ways? =)
It was five and then I added two, but took them back. They came across as unintentionally snarky.
I'm in my 35th year of teaching and I totally agree!!
John, very well said. We need to invest in people not programs. Unfortunately, in today's age of data accountability, we tend to invest in programs and turn our teachers into technicians. How often do we invest in our teachers as people? As learners? As connectors? Not enough.
LOVE THIS! SEND IT TO THE EDUCATION ZAR!
I'm a school board trustee and our board depends on teachers to be creative, flexible and patient when the best laid plans go awry - whether that's a computer crash, power failure or reduced funding for teacher aides or building maintenance or or or...
Teachers are the greatest resource school districts have. I think the greatest thing we can do for them is allow them the freedom to exercise their professional competencies and passion for the benefit of the kids' learning.
I agree with some of your thoughts, although being an IT teacher, I'd have a tough time without computers. Having said that, I have taught SEVERAL IT classes when the server has crashed and not a single computer in the place works, so yes, if I can do it, so can any good teacher.
I would add to your last comment: If I could teach 10 kids wherever I wanted, however I wanted, without the intervention of Administration, and without the administration of standardized tests and curriculum, not only would I do it happily and well, I would also do it for half my wage--gladly.
Thanks for the provocative post!
Nice post - it makes you think. However, I know of a faculty member I work with that this wouldn't be a problem. He doesn't like course outlines and spends a majority of class time telling stories about himself. He is very funny, smart and entertaining but he is not a good teacher. He would pass all five steps without breaking a sweat but the student's don't learn. Frustrating to say the least.
Personally, I've been in each of the situations and had a wonderful time. One of my photography classes, we went to a grave yard to take pictures. Students came up with some amazing shots.
Enjoyed your post - it's a very good read.
Cheers,
Love it, John. Any suggestions on how we tangle with admin on these points? I asked to bring kids out to do chalk-art cave paintings on the sidewalks a few years back - lesson learned? Better to ask forgiveness than permission, because the answer was a resolute NO. How many of us have had to work around silly rules? Just saying. :) Gets kind of exhausting fighting "the system" all the time. Perhaps many of these bad teachers were once great, but got it beaten out of them.
I hope anyone who reads this doesn't stop midway. Your point isn't made until the end and it is excellent. Now what you need is the seven ways to get rid of bad principals. Let me know if you want to work on this together.
I just added this site to Dr. Doug's Hot Tweets that will be posted soon at DrDougGreen.Com. Keep up the good work.
Hey, People,
Relax, this was a satirical piece. The ed pundits are attacking teachers as a profession, accusing us of people incompetent. Spencer is right, most teachers are decent to quite good. Yes, we do all use these tools, but Spencer hits at the heart of the matter when he says a good teacher needs none of them. Good teaching is about building relationships, good listening skills, creativity.
Like Phil mentioned, this still doesn't handle the cases of teachers who just tell stories all the time and the students learn little.
It's so context-sensitive. The most ideal teaching might indeed be a lecture in some contexts (like after students have done some exploring and are looking for explanations of things they didn't understand), or it might be doing nothing at all (the students are perfectly self-engaged in some activity). It's all about the students. You put the best teacher in the world in a classroom full of 500 students, and the teaching is probably going to be ineffective for at least some of the learners, but you team a "bad" teacher with just one student (master-apprentice/tutoring), and there's a good chance they may do just fine since we've been naturally apprenticing folks for thousands of years, and the student gets more attention and gives more feedback to the teacher (facial expressions, questions, etc.).
I think a lot of teachers would get better if they got a chance to try teaching without the imposed rules of the system. Contemplating how I would teach a programming course without electricity certainly got me brainstorming. (I would start with a "give explicit instructions which I follow literally" exercise. Then, ask what a computer is and how we could build one that doesn't need electricity. Also, we would read "The Soul of a New Machine" since a friend who knows better than I recommended it.) I don't think a school without the supports would be better than what we have, but the exercise of thinking what one would do in such a school is really helpful.