Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Education
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 05-09-2013, 07:20 PM
 
298 posts, read 332,720 times
Reputation: 121

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackscorpion View Post
Again, you act like the teacher can just say, hey I want to do things my way and they have a say in how they teach. Well they don't. They are told what to teach and how to teach it by the district that they work in. Again, I have already told you this, they have no say at all in what they do and how they do it. That's three times now that I have said the same thing.

The only person that should be ashamed here is you, who are you to judge if someone has moral convictions or not or whether they teach well or not? You keep posting on here like you actually know what you are talking about when you are obviously a teenager. Let the adults hash this one out kid, you have no idea what you are talking about and there are a lot of educators that come on here. You are most certainly out of your league.

They shouldn't take the job if they are not allowed to teach the way they want.

If each teacher stood up for their principles, then they would be allowed to teach the way they want.

But most teachers, like you, just give in, so it's no wonder they take advantage of you.


I said you should be ashamed for giving in. You said right in the post that you think it's a bad way to teach, but you're going to do it anyway.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-09-2013, 07:23 PM
 
1,866 posts, read 2,701,765 times
Reputation: 1467
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beat_the_Streak_MLB View Post
They shouldn't take the job if they are not allowed to teach the way they want.

If each teacher stood up for their principles, then they would be allowed to teach the way they want.

But most teachers, like you, just give in, so it's no wonder they take advantage of you.


I said you should be ashamed for giving in. You said right in the post that you think it's a bad way to teach, but you're going to do it anyway.
Yep, they are going to do it however they want, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. So all the teenagers need to shut up and suck it up lol. The End
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 07:31 PM
 
4,734 posts, read 4,328,449 times
Reputation: 3235
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackscorpion View Post
Again, you act like the teacher can just say, hey I want to do things my way and they have a say in how they teach. Well they don't. They are told what to teach and how to teach it by the district that they work in. Again, I have already told you this, they have no say at all in what they do and how they do it. That's three times now that I have said the same thing.

The only person that should be ashamed here is you, who are you to judge if someone has moral convictions or not or whether they teach well or not? You keep posting on here like you actually know what you are talking about when you are obviously a teenager. Let the adults hash this one out kid, you have no idea what you are talking about and there are a lot of educators that come on here. You are most certainly out of your league.
It's true that teachers are generally instructed what to teach, and in some cases, they're even asked to present a curriculum 'as is'. I don't teach in public schools but a number of public school teachers (current or former) that I've met have complained about the 'clipboard guy,' making sure that the teacher's performance enables the observer to check off all the boxes. In that environment, doing it your own way presents an instructor with potential career risks.

Having said that, on some level, I am somewhat inclined to agree with 'streaker'. I think more teachers should just get out of that sort of teaching environment if they cannot find ways to function within it. I consider myself a reasonably good teacher and my student evaluations and summative observations from colleagues seem to support that belief, but I don't teach in public schools, and I don't think I could. I don't think I'd be particularly effective, though maybe I'm wrong. I need to have clarity of purpose, and I simultaneously need a lot of individual latitude in working toward those ends.

Teachers need a lot of things in order to be successful. They need to have an innate sense of knowing people, which is why I tend to think that the boring teacher is going to be an ineffective one. It's not that their class has to be a stand-up comedy show, but one of the reasons why amusing teachers are more effective is that they're able to engage students, and engagement is a major part of the teaching process. People can protest all they want about how students should just stagger through someone's lectures, and perhaps they'd be advised to; nevertheless, there ain't gonna be any learning goin on.

In all fairness to teachers, though, they need support. They need a curriculum that works, and they need encouragement and support from administration. Teachers are almost always going to suck at teaching when they're inexperienced -- I surely did. I admit that without hesitation. But I got better, because I was allowed to mess up once in a while, and I got wiser for it. Teachers now are under constant pressure to just produce test results. There ain't gonna be any learning goin on in under those circumstances either.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 07:34 PM
 
4,734 posts, read 4,328,449 times
Reputation: 3235
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beat_the_Streak_MLB View Post
They shouldn't take the job if they are not allowed to teach the way they want.

If each teacher stood up for their principles, then they would be allowed to teach the way they want.

But most teachers, like you, just give in, so it's no wonder they take advantage of you.


I said you should be ashamed for giving in. You said right in the post that you think it's a bad way to teach, but you're going to do it anyway.
It gets easier to be taken advantage of as a person ages and can be easily replaced by someone who's half their age. I agree with your points in principle, but given the reality of the situation, I wouldn't blame someone for just toeing the line.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 07:53 PM
 
298 posts, read 332,720 times
Reputation: 121
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackscorpion View Post
Yep, they are going to do it however they want, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. So all the teenagers need to shut up and suck it up lol. The End

No, that's wrong.

If you keep giving in, you have no right to even complain, since you are part of the problem.

It's like people who complain that voting is meaningless, but then don't even vote themselves.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 08:48 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,520,614 times
Reputation: 14692
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beat_the_Streak_MLB View Post
See people like you are exactly why things are so formulaic like this in the first place.

You agree that packets are useless, but then you bow down to the money and do it anyway!

You should be ashamed to call yourself a teacher, since you apparently have no moral convictions.

What would you say if you caught a student cheating, but they said, "I know cheating is wrong, but I want to keep my friends and I can't get good grades without cheating."

That sounds like exactly what you're doing here!
I am employed by the school. As an employee, I do what my employer wants or I find another job. There are no other jobs. Guess I'm doing what my employer wants.

I have plenty of moral convictions but they don't matter because they'd get me fired and getting me fired won't fix the situation because the next teacher will just find herself in my shoes. How does my getting myself fired fix anything?

I'm not cheating. Not in the slightest. I'm teaching in the manner the admins want me to. The powers that be think that packets and student talk are the way to go. That lecture is old fashioned and needs to die. Investigations is the new buzzword. Let the students discover chemistry (never mind it took much more educated minds a cumulative few thousand of years of research to do that ).

You act like I have a choice. I don't. They've made it very clear that my continued employment hinges on teaching via methods they see as modern. So I'll write packets and park my students in front of computers where they can watch some programmers representation of things best left to the imagination (because we really don't know what they look like and planting an image thwarts imagination....imagination is what leads to new discoveries.).

Sorry kid. I don't make the rules but if I want to work for a living, I have to play by them. I'm a fan of teaching in a lecture format supplemented by demonstrations and labs with liberal sprinklings of supported work time but that's antiquated and not keeping up with the times. Lecture is out. Discovery is in. I'm supposed to lead my students to the answers not explain things to them.

I've lost all will to fight this because I see the other chemistry teacher teaching this way and her kids do just as well on the tests as mine. While my way, apparently, doesn't hurt, neither does hers. I was really hoping her kids wouldn't do as well and I could show that actually getting up there and teaching works better but I can't. In the absence of any evidence that a lecture format works better, I have no choice but to adopt what the school system wants and that is group work and student talk. So, packets it will be and the students will work in groups to figure it out while I guide from the side. I think it will be a slower process but, as I said, the other chem teacher's kids do just fine so I have no reason to die on this hill.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 09:01 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,520,614 times
Reputation: 14692
Quote:
Originally Posted by chickenfriedbananas View Post
It gets easier to be taken advantage of as a person ages and can be easily replaced by someone who's half their age. I agree with your points in principle, but given the reality of the situation, I wouldn't blame someone for just toeing the line.
When there are 12 people willing to toe the line waiting to take your job, you toe the line. We'll see how this works. Quite honestly, I'm surprised it has worked so well for the other chem teacher. At first, the students complained that he didn't teach. That he just gave packets. They'd write notes on their assignments saying "You need to teach this" but his kids are doing, at least, as well as mine on the tests so he must be doing something right.

I give up. Without something to say that kids do better without the packets and student talk I can't fight it. While I think the students prefer how I teach, they don't tell the powers that be that so it doean't matter what I think. Students, unfortunately, are quick to complain when they don't like something but they never go to the principal to tell him what they like. They just go on their merry way. If they do prefer the way I teach, they need to tell someone because it's going by the wayside otherwise.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 09:01 PM
 
1,866 posts, read 2,701,765 times
Reputation: 1467
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beat_the_Streak_MLB View Post
No, that's wrong.

If you keep giving in, you have no right to even complain, since you are part of the problem.

It's like people who complain that voting is meaningless, but then don't even vote themselves.
Ok, what are you 12? You totally skipped over some good comments just to reply to mine or are you trolling? You are commenting on an industry that you neither work in, nor know anything about. I don't know who is worse, you or that kid in the video. Read the other comments, what you think that all teachers decided how they teach? Man you are wrong if you think that, and rebelling and "sticking it to the man" isn't going to help things and is just going to be a one way ticket to the unemployment line.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 09:03 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,520,614 times
Reputation: 14692
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beat_the_Streak_MLB View Post
No, that's wrong.

If you keep giving in, you have no right to even complain, since you are part of the problem.

It's like people who complain that voting is meaningless, but then don't even vote themselves.
What am I complaining about? Packets and student discovery learning will actually make my job easier. That's not why I'll make the change but it's a perk. I'll make the change because I have no choice. You see, those packets seem to work. Which leaves me with no argument not to use them.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2013, 09:06 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,520,614 times
Reputation: 14692
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beat_the_Streak_MLB View Post
They shouldn't take the job if they are not allowed to teach the way they want.

If each teacher stood up for their principles, then they would be allowed to teach the way they want.

But most teachers, like you, just give in, so it's no wonder they take advantage of you.


I said you should be ashamed for giving in. You said right in the post that you think it's a bad way to teach, but you're going to do it anyway.
You really need to get a job in the real world. Your employer determines what you do. You don't. Your only option is take it or leave it. With a dozen teachers waiting for my job, I'd be a fool to leave it. Any one of them will be willing to do what my employer wants me to do so, no, standing my ground won't earn me the right to teach the way I want. It will just get me fired.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Education

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:10 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top