Yay for teachers that get recognized for being effective! The next step is to make that the case for all teachers who are effective and influential in student's lives.
Well it's about time people are taking initaitive to raise teacher's salaries! But, it is also not fair that a teacher's salary is determined by a 'standardized' test.. not all students are test takers, and they learn differently. I'm not one for complaining about salary raises, but still, why all this 'bribery' to induce teachers into teaching effectively? Shouldn't teachers be doing that anyway? Isn't this included in their job description?
This morning, my mom and I were having a conversation about my aunt who is a kindergarten teacher in Colombia S.A., and what the policies are like over there for teaching. For example, schools make you take all of the levels of all of the subjects (physics, calculus, philosophy, foreign languages, world history, chemistry, etc.)--you must do this if you have intentions on entering a university; when you graduate high school, you are 15 or 16 years of age (my cousin who is 19 has 70 college credits already in mechanical engineering); you are required to do class presentations frequently, as if you were teaching the class, you must write many papers in the library (your family would most likely not have access to a computer); school starts at 6:30 a.m., and children who are unable to be home right after school run a 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. day-- all of their homework is already finished before they finally get home, etc. If one has the desire to go to college, one must their credits at night and work during the day; and best of all, teachers are well prepared to teach their subject! We were also talking about things like, why is it that some of the poorest countries financially are the richest countries with intelligence? And why is it, that in countries such as Colombia, teachers are well paid and basketball players are pracitcally unheard of.. while in countries like the U.S. teachers are forgotten and basketball players with ridiculous amounts of money are idolized?
Any suggestions on how to bridge this 'gap'?
I would keep on going.. but dinner is calling. (unfortunately, the dining commons is the only answer i'm hearing).
I don't really know how I feel about merit pay. On one hand, it's nice for teachers to get recognized for quality work, but on the other hand what if they are effectively teaching but the tests are what is failing the students. In a merit pay system, that teacher would be looked down upon for "failing the students." And let's say that a teacher is granted a raise for great teaching. It could go to their head and encourage lazy teaching. By this I mean that they will figure that they are great so they wont try as hard and probably not go to professional development activities to better their methods. Also, how do we judge how a teacher is doing, especially in music education? Would they have to set some national standards for music education teachers to be judge accordingly? If this was to happen, would the teacher be more interested in how to "get the A" or in how they are connecting to their students? I think the reason we have good teachers is because they believe in what they are teaching. They can't be in it for the money. There are so many other professions that pay better. Maybe a merit based system would push people into becoming teachers for the wrong reasons. Recognition for good work is nice but not when it could go to your head and prevent you from seeing the bigger picture.
3 comments:
Yay for teachers that get recognized for being effective! The next step is to make that the case for all teachers who are effective and influential in student's lives.
Well it's about time people are taking initaitive to raise teacher's salaries! But, it is also not fair that a teacher's salary is determined by a 'standardized' test.. not all students are test takers, and they learn differently. I'm not one for complaining about salary raises, but still, why all this 'bribery' to induce teachers into teaching effectively? Shouldn't teachers be doing that anyway? Isn't this included in their job description?
This morning, my mom and I were having a conversation about my aunt who is a kindergarten teacher in Colombia S.A., and what the policies are like over there for teaching. For example, schools make you take all of the levels of all of the subjects (physics, calculus, philosophy, foreign languages, world history, chemistry, etc.)--you must do this if you have intentions on entering a university; when you graduate high school, you are 15 or 16 years of age (my cousin who is 19 has 70 college credits already in mechanical engineering); you are required to do class presentations frequently, as if you were teaching the class, you must write many papers in the library (your family would most likely not have access to a computer); school starts at 6:30 a.m., and children who are unable to be home right after school run a 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. day-- all of their homework is already finished before they finally get home, etc.
If one has the desire to go to college, one must their credits at night and work during the day; and best of all, teachers are well prepared to teach their subject! We were also talking about things like, why is it that some of the poorest countries financially are the richest countries with intelligence? And why is it, that in countries such as Colombia, teachers are well paid and basketball players are pracitcally unheard of.. while in countries like the U.S. teachers are forgotten and basketball players with ridiculous amounts of money are idolized?
Any suggestions on how to bridge this 'gap'?
I would keep on going.. but dinner is calling. (unfortunately, the dining commons is the only answer i'm hearing).
until next time.
I don't really know how I feel about merit pay. On one hand, it's nice for teachers to get recognized for quality work, but on the other hand what if they are effectively teaching but the tests are what is failing the students. In a merit pay system, that teacher would be looked down upon for "failing the students." And let's say that a teacher is granted a raise for great teaching. It could go to their head and encourage lazy teaching. By this I mean that they will figure that they are great so they wont try as hard and probably not go to professional development activities to better their methods. Also, how do we judge how a teacher is doing, especially in music education? Would they have to set some national standards for music education teachers to be judge accordingly? If this was to happen, would the teacher be more interested in how to "get the A" or in how they are connecting to their students? I think the reason we have good teachers is because they believe in what they are teaching. They can't be in it for the money. There are so many other professions that pay better. Maybe a merit based system would push people into becoming teachers for the wrong reasons. Recognition for good work is nice but not when it could go to your head and prevent you from seeing the bigger picture.
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