Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hasn't said anything new about teacher pay increases, really. The recap of his recent speech is "pay performing teachers with bonuses and recruit the next generation of teachers with higher salaries."
He said: "The right way to [recruit teachers] is offer more pay and ask more of them as well."
Let me make sure I get this right.
Understand that I fully support teachers being paid more for what they do, but the cynic in me just pops out when recruitment is the issue. I'm just not sure that presenting six-digit salary is going to attract the kind of character qualities in a person who should be teaching.
That is not to say that anyone making that kind of money is a bad person, but do I want money to be that person's priority for taking the job? Really, what does Mr. Duncan think teachers want?
If I'd wanted to be wealthy, or if money was my goal, I would have gone into business or law school. That is not why I teach, and no financial incentive is going to make me work any harder, faster, or better.
Additionally, my original salary (24K), the lowest in my state at the time, didn't stop this summa cum laude graduate from taking on a high school classroom.
The second part of Duncan's statement is terrifying to me. Ask MORE of teachers? Every teacher I know works tons of extra hours every week, kills him/herself in trying to reach kids, and crumples a little more each year under the mallet of state-standardized tests.
You won't elevate the teaching profession with money, Mr. Duncan. Money doesn't equate to dignity or respect, contrary to the cultural definition.
Make the state give me back my classroom and let me teach. Give me the tools I need when I need them. Support me in my disciplinary measures. Support my decisions when you're confronted with parents who may disagree.
And for every act of stupidity that one of peers manages to get highlighted on national news, have the media publish five more that show the valuable learning and caring that is actually going on in the classroom.
That's all I ask.
2/03/2012
1/28/2012
Improv for Educators
One of the best shows on television (some years back) was the Brit version of Whose Line is it, Anyway? The off-the-cuff nature of the show reveals an interesting set of creative, critical thinking that could be handy in a classroom. Here's one of my favorites:
What's really noticeable in this episode is "Cliche' Boy". Not only does Brad have to think of a cliche', but he also has to think of one in context. If someone were to ask you to come up with a cliche' off the top of your head, you probably could. But try and come up with one on the spot in the context of, say, fox hunting.
Guess I'm barking up the wrong tree, with that one, so let's try politics. Well, Newt is reaping what he's sown. And so on...
It takes a few minutes, doesn't it? Add on the pressure of doing this in front of group, and you'll probably experience that deer-in-the-headlights feeling, which is exactly what the participants of Whose Line have learned to overcome.
That on-the-spot thinking skill helps you think more quickly and more adaptively and without a doubt, more creatively. In order to improve our students' critical thinking skills, we have to be three steps ahead of wherever they happen to be at that moment in order to lead them to where they need to be! Likewise, we have to move and flow along with their intake and understanding with acute mental agility.
It's easy enough to practice this on your own. Simply find an episode, take the "given" prompt, and see what you come up with. You may find yourself better at certain games than others. For example, I tend to do better at Questions Only than I do at Props. However, the mental agility used is the same. Work on one until you've got it, then see how you can apply that same skill to a new set.
When you head back into the classroom, you won't be "playing" one of these games. However, consider that the game of a lesson does have a structure that can be predicted. You may find that students receive your instruction with a bit more interest. Not because you're funny (don't even try to be funny with high-schoolers), but because you're mentally more aware.
Want agility? Get Improv.
What's really noticeable in this episode is "Cliche' Boy". Not only does Brad have to think of a cliche', but he also has to think of one in context. If someone were to ask you to come up with a cliche' off the top of your head, you probably could. But try and come up with one on the spot in the context of, say, fox hunting.
Guess I'm barking up the wrong tree, with that one, so let's try politics. Well, Newt is reaping what he's sown. And so on...
It takes a few minutes, doesn't it? Add on the pressure of doing this in front of group, and you'll probably experience that deer-in-the-headlights feeling, which is exactly what the participants of Whose Line have learned to overcome.
That on-the-spot thinking skill helps you think more quickly and more adaptively and without a doubt, more creatively. In order to improve our students' critical thinking skills, we have to be three steps ahead of wherever they happen to be at that moment in order to lead them to where they need to be! Likewise, we have to move and flow along with their intake and understanding with acute mental agility.
It's easy enough to practice this on your own. Simply find an episode, take the "given" prompt, and see what you come up with. You may find yourself better at certain games than others. For example, I tend to do better at Questions Only than I do at Props. However, the mental agility used is the same. Work on one until you've got it, then see how you can apply that same skill to a new set.
When you head back into the classroom, you won't be "playing" one of these games. However, consider that the game of a lesson does have a structure that can be predicted. You may find that students receive your instruction with a bit more interest. Not because you're funny (don't even try to be funny with high-schoolers), but because you're mentally more aware.
Want agility? Get Improv.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)