Should Program to Reward Teachers Include More Hours and Students?
The Times finally published the second part of my response to the US Department of Education’s Project Respect proposal:
Effective teaching requires time and intimate knowledge of individual students’ minds and capabilities. These are things that a computer cannot do, and teachers cannot do well if they are responsible for too many students….While I can still be an effective teacher in a large class (and I actually had 50 students at once in Virginia at certain points), I cannot be a highly effective teacher of skills, understanding and decency in that environment…Please read, and comment, on the whole piece. I’m really happy with how this one turned out.
Before we discuss extending school days and years, I would rather examine how to better use the time we have. The law of diminishing returns is very much in play with young people’s time, particularly adolescents. I have seen far too many teachers and schools make the mistake of saying, “we need to do more,” when in reality they need to do less better.
My Complete 2011-2012 Teaching Portfolio
Here’s the entire portfolio in one shot. Over on the DOENuts blog, the author really captured the reason I feel this is worthwhile:
As the words from my in-law bounced around my head, this teacher, who has been blogging his teaching portfolio all week popped into my mind. I know from reading his blog that he’s not looking for a job. In fact, he’s a National Board Certified Teacher. He’s got his credentials and then some. He’s also part of a founding team of a school that is opening in the Fall. Surely he’s got better things to be doing than to be constructing and blogging his teaching portfolio.Or does he?Ok follow this: If teaching is the essence of what we do, and learning is the essence of teaching (which it is), and if subjecting your work for public display (for the purpose of, among other things,