Comments on: The Measure of a Teacher http://terrydolson.net/blog/2008/02/19/the-measure-of-a-teacher/ making it up as I go along Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:06:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Anonymous http://terrydolson.net/blog/2008/02/19/the-measure-of-a-teacher/#comment-10477 Anonymous Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:05:17 +0000 http://terrydolson.net/blog/2008/02/19/the-measure-of-a-teacher/#comment-10477 It is interesting how different it is in higher ed! I didn't know about the emphasis on test scores of the teachers. I can see how people can know theory and still not be able to teach well! I think we are talking about a few different things here: assessing teachers, assessing the education department, and the role of ongoing faculty development. Maybe I shouldn't have conflated the 3, but they feel related to me. I just keep coming back to the central problem that professors don't get that initial gounding in learning theory that K-12 educators get. Do you think that the education your pre-service teachers get makes them better prepared for ongoing faculty development? It is interesting how different it is in higher ed! I didn’t know about the emphasis on test scores of the teachers. I can see how people can know theory and still not be able to teach well!

I think we are talking about a few different things here: assessing teachers, assessing the education department, and the role of ongoing faculty development. Maybe I shouldn’t have conflated the 3, but they feel related to me. I just keep coming back to the central problem that professors don’t get that initial gounding in learning theory that K-12 educators get. Do you think that the education your pre-service teachers get makes them better prepared for ongoing faculty development?

]]> By: Tricia http://terrydolson.net/blog/2008/02/19/the-measure-of-a-teacher/#comment-10466 Tricia Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:16:12 +0000 http://terrydolson.net/blog/2008/02/19/the-measure-of-a-teacher/#comment-10466 Well, in defense of my earlier post, I should say that when I go out to the classroom to observe teachers, I take a rubric! So yes, it's quantified to some extent. My concern is that in education today we spend all our time looking at the test scores of the teachers.We license some teachers simply on the basis of passing tests, without any knowledge of how well they perform in the classroom. That was my problem with the review. They forced us to focus so much on numbers that didn't tell us much. I was relieved to hear Frank say at the meeting that we were better than we portrayed ourselves. The key now is to figure out how to best demonstrated that in some measurable way. Well, in defense of my earlier post, I should say that when I go out to the classroom to observe teachers, I take a rubric! So yes, it’s quantified to some extent. My concern is that in education today we spend all our time looking at the test scores of the teachers.We license some teachers simply on the basis of passing tests, without any knowledge of how well they perform in the classroom.

That was my problem with the review. They forced us to focus so much on numbers that didn’t tell us much. I was relieved to hear Frank say at the meeting that we were better than we portrayed ourselves. The key now is to figure out how to best demonstrated that in some measurable way.

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