The Selection and Preparation of Mathematics Teachers
Teacher preparation is a vital component of any educational system. Evidence from research shows that there is a 39% difference in the achievement levels of students who have most/least effective teachers. The federal government also recognizes the importance of the classroom teacher. The recent No Child Left Behind legislation emphasizes the role that teachers play in achievement. In order to meet the requirements of NCLB, states and universities will have to change the way that teachers are prepared.
Carefully selecting and properly training teachers and then giving them the authority to teach students as they see fit will go a long way to resolving the low achievement of American students. On the flip side, giving low ability and poorly trained individuals the opportunity to teach has produced several decades of low student achievement. Many of these academically unmotivated teachers demonstrate little content knowledge or curiosity and have been among the most flagrant violators of scientific application of educational research. Witness the indiscriminate use of trivial tests (learning styles, right/left brain, multiple intelligences, etc) that pretend to classify students in scant minutes. Worse still is that the learning theory behind these fads may in fact be even more suspect than the test. The current generation of American teachers firmly believes that lecture is a universally poor method of instruction, standardized tests are fatally flawed and the group learning is much superior to individual learning, all without scientific justification.
If America is to close the achievement gap with other industrialized nations it must be willing to set aside political correctness and educational faddism to place competent teachers in the classroom. There is constant pressure for education departments to find new pedagogy, criticize the old pedagogy and generally churn the academic waters so that their existence can be justified. Teacher preparation programs need to focus on only those aspects of educational research which have been proven to produce achievement gains and stop experimenting on prospective teachers and their dependent students.
The primary reason I am pursuing a doctorial degree in mathematics education is to have the credentials needed to teach mathematics pedagogy courses to prospective teachers at a four year institution. I feel strongly that my experience as a teacher and the intellectual training I am now acquiring will let me make a positive contribution to the cause of producing competent teachers.
The area of teacher preparation is being extensively researched and is currently a high profile issue in education.
Throughout The Book Thief, the narrator of the story, Death, often foreshadows as a technique for symbolizing the theme. He says “To live. Living was living. The price was guilt and shame” (Zusak 208). It is important to realize, this foreshadows the struggle for the Jews and Hans’ struggle with conformity. However, it still relates directly back to the theme. Living was considered better than death, but the price in living was sacrificing what one truly believed, causing guilt and shame to follow. Foreshadowing can also be found in The Giver. Within the story, there is a young child, Gabriel, that Jonas’ family takes care of. Gabriel and Jonas share many things in common that the rest of the community does not have, highlighting the theme once more. “Almost every citizen in the community had dark eyes. His [Jonas’s] parents did, and Lily [Jonas’s sister] did, and so did all of his group members and friends. But there were a few exceptions” (Lowry 25). Both Gabriel and Jonas shared pale eyes, opposed to everyone else in the community who had dark eyes. The reader later understands this is foreshadowing when it is realized that Gabriel and Jonas are the ones that change how the strict society works. The irregularities between them and the rest of the community symbolize Jonas and Gabriel’s escape from
In The Giver, Gabriel symbolizes hope. For example, Gabe has different eyes like Jonas and the Giver. Lily states, “‘And he has funny eyes like yours, Jonas’”(25). They have the same eyes, so that means there was a genetic engineering failure, and Gabe can see beyond like Jonas. That’s why Gabe can receive. Lois Lowry narrated, “He was not aware of giving the memory...it was sliding through his hand into the being of the newchild”(147). Everyone else in The Giver, besides Jonas and the Giver, don’t have feelings of love. They live in a world without pain, but at the cost of their individuality and freedom. Gabe gives Jonas hope for a better community, and life.
Since the U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind program, standardized testing has become the norm for American schools. Under this system, each child attending a school is required to take a standardized test at specific grade points to assess their level of comprehension. Parents, scholars and all stakeholders involved take part in constant discussions over its effectiveness in evaluating students’ comprehension, teachers’ competency and the effects of the test on the education system. Though these tests were put in place to create equality, experts note that they have created more inequality in the classroom. In efforts to explore this issue further, this essay reviews two articles on standardized testing. This essay reviews the sentiments of the authors and their insight into standardized examination. The articles provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that standardized tests are not effective at measuring a teacher’s competency because they do not take into account the school environment and its effect on the students.
Jazz is the kind of music that makes me want to do one of two things. Depending on the mood of the jazz, sometimes I feel like relaxing and just listening to the music and letting it run through me. Other times I feel like getting up and dancing as if I have not a care in the world. The jazz concert I attended on at SLO Brewing Company on October 6, 2001 inspired me to do both of these due to the variety used by the musicians in dynamic, rhythm, tempo, and many other aspects of music.
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
Jazz is referred as “America’s classical music,” and is one of North America’s and most celebrated genres. The history of Jazz can be traced back to the early era of the 20th century of the U.S. “A History of Jazz” presents From Ragtime and Blues to Big Band and Bebop, jazz has been a part of a proud African American tradition for over 100 years. A strong rhythmic under-structure, blue notes, solos, “call-and response” patterns, and
In schools today there are many demands from the community, school level, state level and federal level. Each of these entities has put high demand on schools and teachers. They want the school to be high performing and this is currently shown through mandated testing. “These conditions have caused many educators to move beyond responsivenes...
Jazz brought together individuals, who had the common goal of making music. This was especially true when evaluating the African American population. They knew that they had to bond together in order to survive the constant discrimination they faced each and every day, and jazz seemed to help them unite on a deeper level as they expressed all of their feelings through song. On top of that, each musician involved in a jazz band brought something unique to the table, and this diversity make some incredible things happen through the various instruments and notes being played. While playing, these musicians soon began improvising and playing “off the cuff” (Vernick, 2009). But in order for this technique to work out successfully, the individuals in jazz groups had to trust one another and embrace the uncertainty about what was going on. It was a requirement that members had to listen to one another very carefully and work together to create something powerful. Jazz brought a whole new meaning to the whole idea of collaboration; it helped them survive and
The Federal definition of a “highly qualified teacher” requires the teacher to have certification for the State, having passed licensing exams. An elementary school teacher who is new to the field is required to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, has passed State testing, subject knowledge and skills in reading, writing mathematics and other areas of basic elementary school curriculum. A middle or secondary school teacher who is new to the field has the same requirements; however they must also demonstrate high levels of competency in each of the academic subjects they intend to teach. Academic standards have been established for each state. The idea is to prepare students for college and “the real world”. This also creates an accountability system that recognizes student growth and school progress (ESEA Reauthorization, 2010).
As a result, instructors are now told to teach to the test and the amount of material presented to students in class is lessened to emphasize the key points on exams that will improve test scores. This lack of curricular diversity affects students more than any other party involved; students are held back from their ultimate potentials due to the mediocrity of information they are presented at school. No longer are schools attempting to produce brighter and higher achieving students, but rather, students who are good test takers. Although this seems to be against the purpose of education, schools must unfortunately consider these options in order to attempt their state receiving more federal funding due to higher test scores. Standardized assessments prevent educators from exercising their role as instructors of all subjects, schools from attempting to build educated and successful students, and students from constructing thoughts abstractly, rather than to the answer of a
Jazz comprises of a wide range of music from the ragtime to the present music listened to by many people. The music evolution has taken roughly 100 years and jazz has been put in this particular evolution as one of the music styles today. In the definition of jazz, there is no actual definition of jazz because it a composition of very many music styles hence making it hard to get the required definition that would describe it fully. Attempts being made to define jazz have a basis of traditional music that have similar characteristics as jazz but not real jazz. Using the American or African music examples, the researchers argue that the definition is very broad and wide. Ernest Berendt one of the researchers says that jazz originated from America in the process of confronting Negros with Europeans in terms of music. This can then be termed as a tool of identity between the two groups of people due to the racist and discrimination aspects that faced America. This was now a tool that could identify the two groups to bring about national integration and understanding among the members of America. In America jazz has incorporated time as a special factor and is now referred to as swing. Swing means spontaneity and vitality of the production of music which has an improvisation role to play to the listeners. This particular jazz music contains a particular manner of phrasing which acts as a mirror to an individual and the personality of the musician performing that particular jazz music on stage. The early jazz musicians include Double Bassist Reggie Workman, saxophone player Pharaoh Sanders, and drummer Idris Muhammad who were performing in 1978 hence dating back to early jazz performance and presentation.
It is argued that there are 4 elements critical to the effectiveness of the instructional process: 1. the learner, 2. the teacher, 3. the home, and 4. the academic programs and the physical facilities at the school. These are interdependent and interactive and must function in unison for effective teaching to take place. The teacher's primary responsibility is to help the learner grow intellectually, physically, emotionally, and socially. Therefore, teachers should be competent, dedicated, and committed to the profession of teaching and to the service of the students. Teachers should have adequate academic and professional preparation and the requisite traits of character. Teachers should be respected, appreciated, and sumptuously remunerated to enable them to devote themselves with total concentration to the task of teaching. A home where education is valued contributes in immeasurable ways to the quality of learning of the child. Finally, the school should have innovative, creative, differentiated, and challenging academic programs."</cite> For example, if the schools physical facilities aren't in a good, safe condition, the learner will have a hard time learning because his mind will be on his own personal safety and well being. A lot of the inner city schools in the United States are older than the teachers that teach in them. Some schools are so overc...
Several of the major reform initiatives of the 1980s and early 1990s argued that improving education requires improving teacher quality and, accordingly, teacher education. Numerous changes in teacher recruitment, preparation, and certification were proposed. (For a detailed list, see Hartley, Mantle-Bromley, and Cobb 1996.) In response to the calls for reform, general teacher education programs raised admission standards/exit requirements; revised curricula to reflect multiculturalism and new K-12 standards; paid more attention to pedagogy, teaching practice, and relevance; included clinical experiences in public schools and other learning environments; and proposed new model standards/principles for licensing beginning teachers (Lynch 1997).
To improve education in the United States, the core objectives in federal education legislation address the improvement of teacher education and quality, for example, Higher Education Opportunity Act (Cohen-vogel, 2005). Teacher preparation program is one of the policy instruments to deliver the goals. Unlike traditional preparation program and alternative teacher preparation programs, Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) is an innovative preparation program improving teacher quality in which a mentor will be assigned to work with the novice teacher for a year. UTRs are distinctive than other programs mainly in three aspects as follows: recruitment, preparation, and ongoing induction. First established in 2002, UTRs have gained its popularity and grown to 13 network programs by 2013 with $143 million federal fund support (Boston Teacher Residency Project Narrative, 2010).
...o by with standardized test being used in schools and other places, U.S. is creating many different ways to raise the standards high for our future education. Although being amung of the most educated countries in the world, the U.S. education level has fallen in the last decade. Standardized test has failed in many ways to be beneficial to public educations. Furthermore, it has proven to create more problems to it. These test do not address what a student is fully capable of and does not represent how smart they are. Schools are getting shut down because of the lack of students