Teaching is a Craft that has to be..... (school, salary, profession)

[antredd]

developed, nurtured, and groomed. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

[Spazkat9696]

Oh yes. Nothing you learn in school readies you for the classroom. I learned much more in my first year of teaching than I did in school.

[Drover]

The ability to communicate in such a way as to effectively impart knowledge is a pretty rare gift. Either you have a knack for it, or you don't. For those that do, developing, nurturing and grooming enhances the abilities they already have. For those that don't... no amount of developing, nurturing and grooming can help them.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

Oh yes. Nothing you learn in school readies you for the classroom. I learned much more in my first year of teaching than I did in school.

Yup.

[antredd]

Originally Posted by Drover

The ability to communicate in such a way as to effectively impart knowledge is a pretty rare gift. Either you have a knack for it, or you don't. For those that do, developing, nurturing and grooming enhances the abilities they already have. For those that don't... no amount of developing, nurturing and grooming can help them.

Yep, and thanks for your response.

[Sudcaro]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

Oh yes. Nothing you learn in school readies you for the classroom. I learned much more in my first year of teaching than I did in school.

That's very true! And you have to keep learning...

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by Drover

The ability to communicate in such a way as to effectively impart knowledge is a pretty rare gift. Either you have a knack for it, or you don't. For those that do, developing, nurturing and grooming enhances the abilities they already have. For those that don't... no amount of developing, nurturing and grooming can help them.

Perhaps that is why a profession of 2.8 million practitioners is doomed to be inadequate for so many students.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

Perhaps that is why a profession of 2.8 million practitioners is doomed to be inadequate for so many students.

Personally, I think it's the lack of role models. Teachers opertate in isolation. We learn about the trade what we learn about the trade and miss what everyone else knows. I'd love to see a move towards team teaching where novice teachers are paired with veteran teachers, at least for the first few years.

Our current system leaves every teacher to reinvent the wheel when they become a teacher by limiting interaction time with peers. I wish I'd had time last year to sit in on other teacher's classes to see how they do things. Unfortunately, once you set the pace in your class, it's hard to change direction.

From what i'm seeing, classroom managment skills are more important than rapport with students. A year ago I would have agreed that you need a knack for imparting knowledge to students. I don't think that's of much value except with the higher end kids if you're lucky enough to have classes grouped by ability.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

Perhaps that is why a profession of 2.8 million practitioners is doomed to be inadequate for so many students.

I think the bigger issue is that we as a society are unwilling to seek out the truly good teachers and pay them what they're worth. Instead we pay all teachers the same adequate salary, the truly good and the merely adequate teachers alike. So guess which ones have the bigger incentive to join the teaching field.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

From what i'm seeing, classroom managment skills are more important than rapport with students. A year ago I would have agreed that you need a knack for imparting knowledge to students. I don't think that's of much value except with the higher end kids if you're lucky enough to have classes grouped by ability.

I guess I don't see them as separate; I see classroom management as part of the bigger picture as to how to impart knowledge, at least in a classroom setting.