No Teacher Left Behind
Week 4 - Discussion 1
Leaving no child behind begins with leaving no teacher behind
We can not fully implement No Child Left Behind until we make sure No Teacher Is Left Behind. Teaching is a very difficult job. If teachers are not able to deal with the problems they have in their professional and personal lives, they will not be able to give 100% to their students. We are losing good teachers daily due to the stresses they are experiencing. We cannot help others unless we can help ourselves. There can be no professional enhancement without personal awareness.
Teachers make more difference in student achievement than any other single school factor
To increase the likelihood of success and continuity, I believe teachers should pick one item and stick to it for the rest of the year. It is better to do one thing consistently and do it well than to try to do all five and possibly lose focus and motivation, becoming a Jack of all trades and master of none. I also believe teachers should employ the "support group" method to ensure success and use the chosen strategy as a topic for a professional learning community. Sharing successes and challenges with colleagues will help them grow professionally, and more students will benefit academically. Adult learning strategies are fundamentally different from training strategies and usually more promising because they are tailored to the learning styles, preferences and needs of teachers in ways more likely to win their commitment than the approach more typical of training models.
Consent learning opportunities for teachers
Fundamental Beliefs:1) The learner may make choices from a rich and varied menu of learning experiences and possibilities.2) Learners must take responsibililty for planning, acting, and growing. Techniques and StrategiesTechniques and Strategies: If we shift school cultures to support adult learning, professional development is experienced as a personal journey of growth and discovery that engages the learner on a daily and perhaps hourly basis. In the best cases, andragogy includes an emphasis upon self-direction, transformation and experience. One learns by doing and exploring, by trying, by failing, by changing and adapting strategies and by overcoming obstacles after many trials.
Keys to Classroom Excellence
I agree teachers should use certain practices and there should be a consitent standard for teachers to meet.1: Interest and explanation – This involves knowing what students understand and then forging connections between what is known and what is new.2: Concern and respect for students and student learning –Good teaching is nothing to do with making things hard. It is nothing to do with frightening students. It always tries to help students feel that a subject can be mastered; it encourages them to try things out for themselves and succeed at something quickly.” (p. 98)3: Appropriate assessment and feedback – This principle involves using a variety of assessment techniques and allowing students to demonstrate their mastery of the material in different ways. It avoids those assessment methods that encourage students to memorize and regurgitate. It recognizes the power of feedback to motivate more effort to learn.4: Clear goals and intellectual challenge – Effective teachers set high standards for students. They also articulate clear goals. Students should know up front what they will learn and what they will be expected to do with what they know.5: Independence, control and active engagement – Good teachers create learning tasks appropriate to the student’s level of understanding. They also recognize the uniqueness of individual learners and avoid the temptation to impose “mass production” standards that treat all learners as if they were exactly the same. 6: Learning from students – “Effective teaching refuses to take its effect on students for granted. It sees the relation between teaching and learning as problematic, uncertain and relative. Good teaching is open to change: it involves constantly trying to find out what the effects of instruction are on learning, and modifying the instruction in the light of the evidence collected.” (p. 102)
NETS-T
With technology teachers can teach outside of the classroom. It is very beneficial for students to learn quickly and easily. Students will be more motivated to learn. Using the internet will cut out the unwanted (extra) information provided in text books. Classrooms need to be updated. When society changes, teaching and learning needs to change. Using any type of technology, cameras, computers, etc., students can resort back to the saved images and such to remember things that they can never look at again.Technology is beneficial to all of those hands on children. Students will be determined to learn as much as they can because it is a fun experience. Having engaged students will call for their success.
Reference: Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. New York: Routledge.