No Teacher Left Behind
Ensuring Teacher Success
Educating Teachers
Teachers being educated on new information and techniques is key to student success. As a nation we need to make sure that teachers are informed so they are best-equipped to educate our youth. I think professional development is an appropriate way to achieve this goal but only if used properly. Professional development is only effective if teachers are interested so the presentation must be relevant and engaging. Conferences are also a great way to educate teachers. Conferences give teachers workshops on many different things, allow teachers to choose what they want to learn, and give teachers opportunities to share with professionals from many different areas. The problem is that these resources are expensive. I think more professional development and conferences need to be worked into the budget in order to benefit teachers and ultimately the students.
All teachers should be adhering to the standards set by National Board for Professional Teaching and if they are not it should be up to the school/district to correct the problem. Teachers have to pass high stakes tests to become teachers so as long as they continue professional development I do not see the need to continue testing throughout their whole career.
I think that it is very important that teachers be prepared to use NETS-T standards in their classrooms. With that being said, I do not think that teachers are being adequately trained or given the proper tools to excel in these areas. First of all, some teachers have little or no technology in their classroom to begin with. These teachers then have to come up with some way to teach students to be technologically literate. Secondly, teachers are expected to educate students and their families on technological tools but in many communities these families do not have access to the resources and therefore do not feel the need to learn how to use them. I think in school districts need to work harder to provide technologies to all students, they are our future after all.