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This is, perhaps, the worst thing about teacher training programs. I'm a teacher myself, high school math and science, and the classes I'm taking for my masters

This is, perhaps, the worst thing about teacher training programs. I'm a teacher myself, high school math and science, and the classes I'm taking for my masters are absolute bullcrap. Just lots of busy-work with ideas that have been tested once, on a small group with demographics extremely different from my school, and taken as gospel. Not to mention that the classes are all geared towards elementary school teachers and so are of absolutely no help at all to me. Then couple that with elementary school teachers being generalists and often hating math, yet they're the ones we rely on to give these kids a good grounding in the foundational stuff they'll need later on! No wonder most kids are incompetent at it and can barely add/subtract/multiply/divide without a calculator. Really, I think education should be an apprenticeship program, rather than an educational one. Make it be like several years of student teaching, which would get more results than anything else from new teachers. They can see how experienced teachers work and really discuss it with them over the course of a few years, not just pay to get told useless stuff and observe a semester.

em-bee 7y ago
in montessori training most of the time is spent by the prospective teachers in the classroom, observing children and other teachers at work. and then they have to write reports about the observation. it's just a few weeks rather than years, but it's the right idea. just like a pilot has to look so many flight hours before they get their license, a montessori teacher has to log observation and teaching hours before they get to lead a classroom.
analog31 7y ago
Now you've experienced what school is like for bright kids. ;-) For better or worse, the pay scale in most districts in the US guarantee a salary bump for having a higher degree. As a result, there are degree programs tailored to this need, that are practically degree mills. Why didn't you study math, or science?
- dorchadas 7y ago
  I dunno if it's as applicable, honestly. I was one of those bright kids that never had to study in high school (or college, really), but I always felt like there was at least some purpose to what I was learning, whether it was math/science concepts or how to write better, etc. And it always at least felt on solid grounding; education training is just a load of bullcrap that supports what the teacher wants to hear and busywork. Hell, I even have one masters class that has exit slips! In a masters level course! As for why I didn't study math or science -- I did. My actual undergraduate degree is in physics; just due to various issues I ended up teaching (which I admit I enjoy, even if I'm starting to get burnt out). Dunno if I'll stay another year, at least where I'm currently at.

em-bee 7y ago

in montessori training most of the time is spent by the prospective teachers in the classroom, observing children and other teachers at work. and then they have to write reports about the observation. it's just a few weeks rather than years, but it's the right idea. just like a pilot has to look so many flight hours before they get their license, a montessori teacher has to log observation and teaching hours before they get to lead a classroom.

analog31 7y ago

Now you've experienced what school is like for bright kids. ;-) For better or worse, the pay scale in most districts in the US guarantee a salary bump for having a higher degree. As a result, there are degree programs tailored to this need, that are practically degree mills. Why didn't you study math, or science?

dorchadas 7y ago
I dunno if it's as applicable, honestly. I was one of those bright kids that never had to study in high school (or college, really), but I always felt like there was at least some purpose to what I was learning, whether it was math/science concepts or how to write better, etc. And it always at least felt on solid grounding; education training is just a load of bullcrap that supports what the teacher wants to hear and busywork. Hell, I even have one masters class that has exit slips! In a masters level course! As for why I didn't study math or science -- I did. My actual undergraduate degree is in physics; just due to various issues I ended up teaching (which I admit I enjoy, even if I'm starting to get burnt out). Dunno if I'll stay another year, at least where I'm currently at.