Momma asked what did I learn.
Didn't learn a thing.
I think lots of K-5 students could relate to my awful attempt at poetry here. Before I realized that I aspire to being a physical therapist, I was a Child Development major, so I have a vague idea "just how bad" the American Education can be in certain times an places. In response to Shannon's blog post on "A Light Blue View", I have this to say.
It would be wonderful if every school in the US adopted this type of interface evaluation method. The US, which boasts one of the highest GNPs in the world, and has been the world's leading power for more than a century, has something in the neighborhood of a 65% High School Graduation rate. Japan has a 99% Graduation rate, and many European countries come close. It's no wonder some of the best inventions are not from America. Even those with High School Diplomas often read at a 10th grade level and don't know who the president is. Sad, sad sad!If we could improve the education system and make it one that truly works, the United States would be an even better place to live.
And here is what she posted originally!
A better approach to teaching and learning
It seems to me that good teachers are hard to come by these days, but why is that? Most would agree that a good teacher know how to engage students, are knowledgeable in their subject, and understand the best ways for students to learn. In a very broad sense, all great teachers possess those traits. So, why are so many schools throughout the United States on probation while such a high rate of their teachers are rated as “excellent”? That’s what Excellence in Teaching wants to know.
Excellence in Teaching is a pilot program that was started in 2008 to improve schools throughout the U.S. and has been successful in the schools that they have been tested at for the past couple years. It targets the main reasons for faulty teacher evaluations and aims to produce feedback to teachers that will improve their methods and improve education on a whole.
A typical teacher evaluation comes from the principal checking off a generalized list of what the teachers are or are not doing well in the classroom. There are a few problems with this very vague evaluation. In order to evaluate a teacher, a principal will sit in a class and determine the teacher’s ability in that sitting. Usually, children are on their best behavior and teachers are more attentive during those times and know what to do to gain the best scores, so obviously the results will be slightly skewed and vague at best.
Excellence in Teaching wants to correct this by doing away with the checklist and replace it with conversation. So, rather than just rating the teacher, they want to discover how the students are learning from a teacher’s methods and what can be changed to increase students’ understanding. It’s similar to getting an essay back with feedback on your work and how you can improve it written throughout the paper rather than getting it back with a simple grade stamped at the top and you’re left to question why you got that grade.
I think it is great that so many schools have started to evaluate teachers through this program. If every school in the United States adopted Excellence in Teaching’s methods of evaluation, then the quality of learning would definitely go up and the number of successful students would rise along with it.
Excellence in Teaching is a pilot program that was started in 2008 to improve schools throughout the U.S. and has been successful in the schools that they have been tested at for the past couple years. It targets the main reasons for faulty teacher evaluations and aims to produce feedback to teachers that will improve their methods and improve education on a whole.
A typical teacher evaluation comes from the principal checking off a generalized list of what the teachers are or are not doing well in the classroom. There are a few problems with this very vague evaluation. In order to evaluate a teacher, a principal will sit in a class and determine the teacher’s ability in that sitting. Usually, children are on their best behavior and teachers are more attentive during those times and know what to do to gain the best scores, so obviously the results will be slightly skewed and vague at best.
Excellence in Teaching wants to correct this by doing away with the checklist and replace it with conversation. So, rather than just rating the teacher, they want to discover how the students are learning from a teacher’s methods and what can be changed to increase students’ understanding. It’s similar to getting an essay back with feedback on your work and how you can improve it written throughout the paper rather than getting it back with a simple grade stamped at the top and you’re left to question why you got that grade.
I think it is great that so many schools have started to evaluate teachers through this program. If every school in the United States adopted Excellence in Teaching’s methods of evaluation, then the quality of learning would definitely go up and the number of successful students would rise along with it.
