Suzyjax, on her pedestal bashing Blunt and crying out against giving professionals an opportunity to share their knowledge with the youngins.

Look, I have explained it to you as simple as a I can. If these easily certified teachers aren’t worth a snot, they can be released from contract. Most, if not all, teachers are on a probationary period to begin with and can be let go easily. Professionals that wish to become teachers are driven by a desire to educate. Lord knows they wouldn’t do it for the money or an opportunity to deal with the snot noses and their rotten parents.

Who knows, Suz, if you just give someone a chance, they may be a great teacher. Did your educators remove your optimism?

I think the reason people like SuzyJax, who, according to her blog, is a school librarian, hate programs like this, beside the fact it was enacted by the Blunt administration rather than the Clintons, is that she if threatened by the prospect of having someone come into her industry because of a desire to educate rather than the desire to have summers off. God forbid a Republican streamline the process to let experienced people who wish to teach children do so.

I really don’t see a problem with this. We are short on science and math teachers. How else are we going to get qualified people to teach? If they can engage the students (and I don’t believe you need to take a class in order to do that), then they can teach them. College professors teach without teaching certificates. We could use these people to teach the higher level classes with students who already want to learn.

While I am a librarian, I am not a school librarian. Very nice of you to make the assumption. That said, the school librarians I know do not get the summers off. They spend that time organizing the previous years textbooks, ordering the new texts and distributing the texts to proper rooms for the next year. With all that, they may get a few weeks off.

I applaud any profesional who chooses to change careers and take on the challenge of teaching. However, do you think someone who spends less than two weeks in a classroom is either qualified or knows what they may be getting themselves into (this latter a key reason many people drop out of the profession)?
And, Renees, your college professor analogy is hardly valid. First, most professors spend semesters as a GA teaching under the guidance of a tenured professor. Second, college is primarily adults. Teaching fully formed adults is harldy the same as teaching those still in various stages of development.
Again, I applaud, encourage, and rejoice in the professionals who want to change careers. But, why can’t they use the existing alternative certification process where they are actually required to get the knowledge they need? They can even do this with temporary or provisonal certification WHILE teaching. Why must they be “instant teachers”? I find this “instant teacher” notion ironic as these folks will probably be the first to complain when Johnnie or Mary takes various shortcuts (cheating, plagiarizing) in their classrooms.

Wow, who’s child was allowed to redesign this page on “take your kid to work” day?

This “new” format stinks to high heaven.

[renees] I really don’t see a problem with this. We are short on science and math teachers. How else are we going to get qualified people to teach?

Well, there are two ways of solving a demand problem. Usually, increased demand translates to price increases for that service. The second way is to lower the entry criteria. Looks like you picked the second one.

The only ones I see touting cumbersome and ultimately useless teacher credentialing processes are those who fear losing their jobs and political influence to better qualified teachers. There are simply too many cases of public school teachers who supposedly possess the skills the letter writer deems critical who can’t teach their way out of a wet paper bag.

What will an “instant teacher” do when faced with a student who cheats? Give them an F on the assignment or test and demand they do better. You don’t need a framed certificate to figure that out.

Amazed and I CAN agree on something! (See…)

It’s different and possibly will just take some time to become used to this newness.

An interesting concept … hire people who actually understand the APPLICATION of what they’re teaching (math and science), instead of those who chose teaching as a career and went to school to get certified in it (and wanted summers off)!

I think they should add a repeal of tenure onto this bill, and I’d be whole-heartedly in favor of it! Get the dead wood out of the classroom, and put in their place those who actually know their topics from a practical sense!

There is no greater lack of enthusiasm than that which comes from a child who has been dealing with a teacher who has no business being in the classroom.

I think the real thing to consider is this: Who do you want to teach your child? Do you want someone who has training in understanding child development, different ways of teaching children who may be visual learners, versus auditory learners, versus tangible learners? Do you want a teacher who may have experience in identifying learning disabilities and encourage testing so children may get the special help they need? Do you want teachers who have been trained in communicating with children in various developmental stages? Will these certified teachers be able to do this?

Judith…My wife is a sp. ed. teacher who is constantly fighting off the attempts of certified teachers to place kids in resource or self contained because these teachers don’t want to deal with kids who don’t fit in with the status quo. I am constantly hearing complaints about teachers not wanting to deal with a “A” or “B” student because they don’t like the child’s behavior pattern or because the child may ask excessive questions about a subject. Interestingly enough, once again, according to by wife, a significant number of these kids are sent to be evaluated for special ed are moved to the district Spectra program because a trained and certified teacher did not recognize behaviors associated with simple bordom. What you are worried about being done by unseasoned teachers is already happening.

Ms. Jackson,
It’s nice to read a well written, coherent, entirely thought out letter to the editor. It’s obvious you care about children. I applaud you for that.

Judith, to paraphrase your question and to try and answer it as plainly as possible…

Who do you want to teach your child? Someone who’s been properly trained and educated or someone who’s had a few weeks of training?

I think the answer to everyone is obvious.

“Do you want teachers who have been trained in…”

In a word, no. I want teachers who know something about the subject they teach and who can get kids to sit down, be quiet, and learn the lesson. This country used to crank out stellar performers before we allowed fuzzy headed education bureaucrats to infect the system with pedagogical twaddle.

First, I must say that I’m in agreement about the formatting of this new website. I don’t like it. But to get to the topic at hand. I think that it’s great for professionals to be able to more easily get their foot in the door when it comes to teaching. Unless you know a school administrator when you are seeking a teaching assignment after being in your previous career, it is becoming harder and harder to enter the educational field without certification. I DO believe there should be some type of training for these individuals, but believe me, not everyone with a current certification for teaching are actually good teachers, and not everyone without a certification are bad teachers. Why should someone who may have several degrees in their field, but not a teaching certification be denied the opportunity to educate young people if that becomes a desire of theirs later in life?

And there is no better confirmation of the futility of this proposed system than listening to the ranting of you reactionary voices who have never spent 30 years in a classroom, as I have, and have clearly no idea of what you are talking about. The ability to teach well is a gift in many cases, and an acquired skill in others. Also, most teacher do not have the summer off. They are laid off, and having to look for summer jobs to suppliment the rediculously low salaries thay earn, which is why soo many quit in their first five years of teaching. Perhaps if e was increasing in average teacher salaries compared to others staes in our union, instead of falling farther back, under this administration, we wouldn’t be needing this new program in the first place!

Go_Fish,
Which is it? That this program will fill much needed vacancies or will be used to create even more vacancies? I don’t see how it can be both and be effective.

mals1265, I don’t see how your wife’s supposed problems will be solved by even less trained people in the classroom. For that matter, I can’t believe your wife is a teacher with the way you have dissed the profession. But then again, she is probably just teaching because she wants the summers off, right?

I think we all know there are a few bad teachers, but that isn’t different than any other profession. We’ve all come across or heard about bad doctors, bad lawyers, bad stock brokers, bad accountants, bad CEOs….the list could go on and on. Is the solution to that a check and an online module or two? I don’t understand how any of you can think that the problem of bad teacher is any way solved by adding more “bad teachers” or at least hardly qualified ones into the mix.

Dennis, Before you talk about teachers salaries, let me share with you the numbers my wife (a teacher) and I sat down and calculated last fall. Her contract is for 184 days (these do NOT include extended breaks such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break). Three of the 184 days are legal holidays. We are now down to 181 days a year that she works. On the days she does work, she is only at the school 7 hours, one half hour of which is for lunch. Bottom line, she works 181 days for 6.5 hours per day about 1,177 hours per year.

Compare that hourly breakdown to a person who works in a year round position with a company. Five days a yeek for 52 weeks brings you in at 260 days. Calculate in 10 holidays, 10 vacation days, and two personal days and you down to 238 eight hour days which computes to 1,904 actual working hours.

In real hourly wages (salary/time actually spent working) a teacher making $35,000/year makes about the same hourly wage as a corporate stiff making $57,000/year. I won’t even begin to factor in the healthcare benefits or the fact that she subs on her plan period she earns overtime pay.

Dennis, Last fall myy wife who is a teacher and I sat down and calculated last fall her real rate of pay. Her contract is for 184 days (these do NOT include extended breaks such as Thanksgiving,
Christmas, and spring break). Three of the 184 days are legal holidays. We are now down to 181 days a year that she works. On the days she does work, she is only at the school 7 hours, one half hour of which is for
lunch. Bottom line, she works 181 days for 6.5 hours per day about 1,177 hours per year.

Compare that hourly breakdown to a person who works in a year round position with a company. Five days a yeek for 52 weeks brings you in at 260 days. Calculate in 10 holidays, 10 vacation days, and two personal days and you down to 238 eight hour days which computes to 1,904 hours.

In real hourly wages (salary/time actually spent working) a teacher making $35,000/year makes about the same hourly salary as a corporate stiff making $57,000/year. I won’t even begin to factor in the healthcare benefits she gets or the fact that she receives overtime pay if she subs during her
plan period.

I have already signed up to get certified through ABCTE. I am 42 years old. I have a BA, and I received a MA while working for a major corporation as a course developer and training consultant. Next, in my late 20’s I started my Ph.D. at SLU in Curriculum and Instruction while I was still working (they were paying for it). I stopped working full-time, 12 years ago, to start a family. While raising my 3 children, I have done a variety of part-time jobs. I have done research for University of Michigan, I have taught intensive new software classes for a major hospital, I have voluntered my time as an educator for senior citizen groups. In addition, I have been substitute teaching off and on for the last 4 years for various grade levels and subjects.

I was debating about going back to school to get certified for the last two years. My youngest has started kindergarten and I need to be making some more income to prepare for the eventual expense of 3 kids in college (ouch!) I enjoy teaching. This is a job I could do for the next 20 years. Yes, I could work for a big company, teaching adults in a corporate setting. But, I end up working late, traveling, etc.; it is not worth the money for the stress it would put on my happy family. I am not so naive to think teaching high school does not require some after school hours, but it is more manageable. In addition to being managable, I know it will be much, much more rewarding.

Then, guess what? I was a day away from signing up for MBU’s MAT program when a teacher friend told me about SB1066. I am thrilled. We were going to have to borrow something like $10,000 to get my MAT and certification.

A close relative of mine refused to discuss SB1066 with me. She is a long time teacher and she thinks it is ridiculous someone could take an on-line class to get certified. Maybe if she did some research she would see that much of the coursework I was going to take at MBU was on-line! Another close relative who is a member of a union (not the teacher’s union) was going on about how this was going to drive down wages! I think a lot of the opposition with this has to do with unions. Also, I heard that some school districts have announced they won’t hire anyone certified through ABCTE. I find this very close-minded.

I know I am going to be an excellent and happy teacher, otherwise I would not be pursuing it as a career. If I was doing the hiring, I would think a candidate like me would be a lot more effective than a 22 year old just out of college. What do you think?

Teachertobe,
There will be districts who will hire you with ABCTE. They may not be where you want to live or work, but they are out there. Think of looking at farms or the inner city from your classroom window. There are also parochial schools, with parochial pay. But, if you prove yourself you could eventually move to your “dream” district.
Teaching adults and teaching pre-teens and teens are two completely different things. I hope you realize that with your time as a substitute. At least you have those in-classroom hours. Many of your fellow ABCTErs will not. They are the ones that will jade the districts from hiring you and others.

Malz,
I, too, find it hard to believe your wife is a teacher. If she subs during her plan period, when is she doing her lesson plans? And, does she not have after hours works that you are not including? Things such as P-T conferences, grading papers/tests/assignments, and research.

There is more hours to teaching than those spent at the front of the classroom. First year teachers spend even more time developing lessons, research, etc since they do not have an established set of classroom plans. So, readjust those figures and see what you come out with again.

You are showing how little you know of this profession. This is probably why you denigrate those in it by stating they are there for summers at the pool or pretending anyone can just get up and teach a class. You would think that at least you would have more respect for your wife.

I have all the respect in the world for my wife who happens to be a teacher. She is one of the lower paying districts in our area after leaving one of the higher paying districts in the St. Louis area. She does do work at home and occasionally on weekends. For her straight teaching duties, I honestly will tell you she is fairly compensated. I wish it were more, but it is adequate.

Now the coaching duties she has completely and totally is a ripoff. It’s downright slave labor for most of our teachers to coach. She may coach next season, but my vote is no.