Technology be damned. I have a real black board at the college this term. Not a green board, not a white board, an actual black one. I love it! It is so easy to read, even if it has not been washed for days.And here is a quote from the assistant chairperson:
"We believe it is your classroom and you should teach in any style that works for you."
I happened to run into her before my class Wednesday night. She told me that I no longer have to be observed. I told her how the observations here were so much more pleasant than the high school ones and we got to talking about observations in general. I loved her comment. It is a most administrators in the high school (probably middle and lower schools too) don't feel this way as well.
6 comments:
I use black boards at the college.
When my school was starting, they would get input from the teachers (there were fewer of us than there are in one department in your school), and we got beautiful sliding white boards... in the science lab. The rest of us liked black boards, and that's what we have. I'd never give them up.
Professors and adjuncts on the college level are not all the same.
As part of my agreement for a sabbatical with the DOE I enrolled at a local college for 16 credits this academic year. I can tell you a couple of things I have observed:
1. A good high school teacher is often times better than most adjuncts in the college classes.
2. Many full time professors are rather aloof.
3. It is not uncommon for a college instructor to come in unprepared for the class lecture.
4. Good high school teachers know how to plan a lesson and excute it to make the class interesting than many of these college professors.
When kids tell me how "bored" they are in high school I often look at them and think to myself what will happen to them the first year of college. Since they are all brainwashed to want to go to college and do well like they did in high school because of grade inflation I feel sorry for most since I am not impressed by the level of instruction that I have seen in higher education.
That being said I agree with you that college staff is treated more professionally than we are. Ironic isn't that when you have experience and excellent content area knowledge you can as good or better than a college Professor.
It's nice to work for reasonable people, and my college teaching experience has been much the same as yours. I also agree that teaching styles vary with the individuals.
Personally, I'm partial to whiteboards. For some reason, I'm able to write legibly with those pens, which I can't manage with chalk.
Justice--everything you wrote about college professors in 100% true. I had some of the worst professors ever the year I went on sabbatical. The wrost one was a phD with tenure. She not only did not know how to present te material, she often did not know it herself. I ended up teaching many of the kids in that class so they could pass.
The math department of the community college I work for tries to hire its adjuncts from high schools and they get some really fine (maybe not be, but most) teachers. There is a big difference between a hs and a college teacher and we do win by a landslide.
I've had some pretty good college professors, but I've had others who were laughable. Literally..."reading straight from the book" kind of teachers. And this is what I was paying for? Granted, the class was easy, but still.
Even though I'm a young teacher, I like blackboards. Has that "teacher" feel to it. And while I probably do more power point than anything else now, I still use the blackboard, and try to improve my writing skill. Kids love writing on the blackboard too, and since some of them have better handwriting than I do, I let them do it.
If only white boards would stay nice. It seems like after a few years, you get more and more ghosting. Anyone have a solution for this? Otherwise, I'm going to stay a chalk fan.
Post a Comment