I knew I did a good job teaching a complex topic last night when I looked at the smiling faces of my students as they walked out the door. A particularly happy young man said he was smiling because he "got it" and was grateful that I made the topic easy to understand.
What this young man does not know is that teaching this topic was not always easy for me. When I first taught the course I spent hours making sure I mastered the topic and mostly taught with the method shown in the book. As I got more comfortable with the topic, I found better ways to teach the topic, ways to make understanding easy.
It takes years to become a good teacher. I feel sorry for all the students with brand new teachers in schools with only brand new teachers. These teachers need years to learn and they need experienced teachers to learn from. Oh don't get me wrong. Many of these new teachers are good. But, experience matters. No one would want a surgeon straight out of college operating on them. They at least want a seasoned doctor supervising the procedure. Teaching should be treated the same way.
3 comments:
Not according to the DOE. Their motto is "the cheaper the better". Even in your old school the new Principal hired all "newbies".
I can't write what I think of the administration of my previous school here but I don't think that school puts kids first, second or even third.
If I remember correctly, the beginning of the school year and the end of the school year, the administrators had a collective "circle jerk"; patting each other on the back for a successful school year. Really?? I don't remember any one of them ever teaching!!
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