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What are you going to do when a parent asks you to explain why the grade ended up the way it did? Just heads up, unless you are handing out A's to everyone, the probability of that happening is high. Neither they, nor your administrator, are going to accept "because that's what the computer program came up with when I put these numbers in." Also, when you set up that handy-dandy little grading program, unless you teach lower elementary, you are going to have to decide if you are weighing grades or not. Doesn't matter which you choose, chances are somebody is going to make you justify that choice. Plus, there is always the problem of preventing students on IEP's from failing, because that often comes with a mountain of paperwork and meetings, not to forget occasional threats of lawsuits.
Of course, most experienced teachers here will attest to the need to be able to aggregate the data as a crucial part of your job, regardless of what you teach.
This is all falls under the often repeated mantra that the actual teaching is the easy part of being a teacher and, sadly, you are also more likely to be evaluated based on the other parts.
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The mathematics in the Pre Praxis/Basic Skills is written at an eighth grade level. Anyone who cannot pass the math portion of the Pre Praxis should not be allowed to teach. Anyone who cannot pass the other portions of the Pre Praxis should not be in the teaching profession either.
Lucky for me and many other awesome non-math teachers, not all administrators and school districts share that rigid opinion of what makes a great teacher.
If declining Math skills are happening in K-12 then wouldn't it just be logical that they would also be declining with young adults ? We have the same issue with reading and literacy scores.
In Texas most aspiring teachers now take the Generalist 4-8 which is 1/4 Math over the Math 4-8 test.
And even then the Math section is the one most need to retake.
Those students that are good in Math typically don't go into teaching.
Lucky for me and many other awesome non-math teachers, not all administrators and school districts share that rigid opinion of what makes a great teacher.
I cannot wait to start teaching in NYC!!!!!
It isn't a rigid opinion. You don't teach additional languages effectively without broad knowledge. YOUR Spanish isn't as relevant as being able to help your students communicate in Spanish. That communication will likely lead to mathematics concepts. You might avoid math, but your students won't. Concept-checks require understanding of those operations. Most awesome language teachers would disagree with you. Using languages as a teachable subject isn't a way to sneak around "tough subjects". Quite the opposite, we need to know ALL subjects.
Is it rigid to expect a language teacher to understand a broad base of subjects in order to help their students understand them in the additional language?
I get that you are super eager but you need to be a jack of all trades if you want to be a languages teacher. What states do/don't ask in teacher exams is irrelevant. I teach geometry terms in French by kindergarten. Do you know your 3D shapes in Spanish? We go more in-depth than that...
If declining Math skills are happening in K-12 then wouldn't it just be logical that they would also be declining with young adults ? We have the same issue with reading and literacy scores.
In Texas most aspiring teachers now take the Generalist 4-8 which is 1/4 Math over the Math 4-8 test.
And even then the Math section is the one most need to retake.
Those students that are good in Math typically don't go into teaching.
The longer I teach, the more I like the Finnish system for vetting candidates for their teacher colleges. We could then get rid of candidates that think that math, spelling, grammar, geography, or whatever subject that that individual doesn't want to have to take, can be weeded out.
It would also raise the general perception of teachers.
The longer I teach, the more I like the Finnish system for vetting candidates for their teacher colleges. We could then get rid of candidates that think that math, spelling, grammar, geography, or whatever subject that that individual doesn't want to have to take, can be weeded out.
It would also raise the general perception of teachers.
I posted 2 links. This issue is happening all over the US.
And it's not just Math. One state is considering lowering the passing score so that more can pass.
You are so bizarre...you get that this is an informal message board and not my dissertation, right? You get that in informal conversation that people will speak less formally, right? I've been known to end a sentence with a preposition when speaking casually. It doesn't mean I don't know when it's appropriate and when it is not. That does not mean that I do not have a quality, well-rounded education that I can draw upon when the situation arises.
If you want to find grammar, spelling, diction, and syntax errors in my posts, you will be busy a long time. It's an informal format and I do not proofread for typos and such.
Forget the math, you are very-mean spirited for someone who desires teaching as a career.
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