Technology Could Close Public Education Gaps by Extending Best Teachers' Reach

Ohio education

Ohio has just made economic education necessary in primary and secondary schools! Finally, and I hope other states will follow if they have not done this sooner.

We do not live to be 1000, we only have the ability to educate these kids for a few years. So DON'T make them study advanced math, chemistry, and biology for hundreds of precious hours! Most of us, probably 80-90%, will NOT USE this highly technical and specialized information! Let those going into these fields have smaller and much better classes! Most of us can get what we need from Popular Science or similar sites on the internet.

Let the rest of us spend much more time on economics and relevant issues. From credit scores, mortgages, investing [and avoiding Madoff type scams], to other practical things like how to take care of a house or car.

And my girl's did very well at Walnut Hills High School, which is featured in the last US News ranking. But they had to take many hours of Latin, a DEAD language! Sure it will help a little here or there, but the public school could be taking that money and teaching Russian, which they had 7 years of but forgot over time. Or Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, etc.; it amazes me that our better schools rarely offer these important languages.

Best Teachers?

Parents. Parental expectations guide the educational process from the beginning. Parents not only facilitate the process from the preschool level through graduate school, they also serve to reinforce the critical notion that education is prerequisite to success. I know it may seem elementary but, it's a classic case of leading by example.

Children have a way of modeling parental behavior. I've seen this in all of my five children and in some cases, it can be embarrassing. However, in most instances, those behaviors reinforce my behavior and actually help me in my quest to perform at an acceptable level. These modeled behaviors may be academic, social, philosophical, or moral.

Serious outcomes tend to develop when children are impressed by non-parents that hold a particular sway with them and influence them in matters not consistent with parental expectations. These "non-parents" may be relatives, TV performers, friends, or, even, teachers. I've never felt the compulsion to send my children to private school or, for that matter, home school. I do, however, take the necessary steps to assure that my childs' teachers and I are on the same page academically and share an appreciation of certain social diversity realities. They have a notion of my expectations and an appreciation of them. If we can't come together, I will actively seek out an alternative teacher.

Assuming the teacher, my child, and I are "OK", one of the most important qualities a teacher must possess is that of salesmanship. A successful salesman has that innate ability to seize ones' attention, present a product, service, or concept, and assure that the consumer has an understanding. If that understanding is present, the good salesperson closes the sale meaning that the concept has been understood and accepted. I understand that the concept of distributing lectures and even lesson plans is already being implemented by a number of home school and private educational firms. I can see the advantages of having a world class salesperson delivering lectures on virtually any topic imaginable and, that information being well received. We should seriously consider the technology, most of which is already in place, that would allow such lectures to occur.

When all is said and done, however, it's the reception that child receives when he or she walks in the door after school that reinforces everything that child has experienced since the left in the morning. Do care? Do we show them that we are truly concerned about what their day was like. I'd like for you to show me what you did in school today and teach me what you've learned and then we can have a snack or a treat. This decompressing process only takes five to ten minutes of my day but, its usually the most fun time!

Best Teachers?

As a current math teacher with a math degree, graduate degree and National Board certification, I personally take offense to the audacity of someone not involved in the educational system assuming that I am teaching because I am not smart enough to do anything else. I teach because I love to see kids succeed. I have taught students who, with my help and others like me, have the training to be a doctor, lawyer or other jobs that apparently according to you, are so much more valuable than teaching.

Interested in a way to cut costs? Merit pay. Teachers who's subjects are tested deserve to be paid more, assuming the kids make adequate gains. I am not implying that PE teachers or Art teachers are less important to a student's education, but everyone knows the pressure is on math and reading teachers. Bonuses are given to all teachers in a school if students perform well on math and reading tests. Why? It is the math and reading teachers (and science and history also) that regularly work 10 or more hours per day, not including the grading papers and creating lessons that takes place at home.

And only working 9 months??? Who does that anymore? All of the teachers I know are forced to work in the summer to pay for expenses like daycare and health insurance during those months.

Mr. Zuckerman, please come to my school and see how hard my colleagues and myself work and then tell us that we are only teaching because we aren't qualified to do anything better. I would be willing to trade places with you for a day and see how you handle 30 teenage students in a classroom in a tiny trailer (excuse me... learning cottage). Call me.

Student achievements by district

My teaching career has been a wonderful 35 years, 3-12 and college. There is something radiccally wrong with our rich nation alowing the poor countries of the world educate their students better than us.

Why shoud the U S be 25th in the line-up for achievement and numbers educated at and beyond 8th grade.

We virtually have a nation of 14-25 year olds without a formal education. We can account for most of these negative numbers to "truancy." This is well understood in Chicago where every week, one or two students are murdered from gang activity. There is a great fear of walking to and from school on a daily basis.

How can a teacher teach her subjects that will be tested, and enrichment classes if the student is only in attendance ten days out of 20. Does this not make standardized tests in our states invalid, because the sampling comes from the student body who attend school regularly?

The students within the inner-city are afraid for their lives. Education is secondary. This ethos must change.by getting rid of guns, reforming the family structure and making education important again. The violence city dwellers are experiencing is similar to Bagdad, a war community.

Why do we ignor our young people and expect the standardize test to reflect what dedicated teachers are trying to do? Why do we ignor the teenage pregnancies and disfunctional family life that embraces crime rather than volunteerism, education, job training, or business saavy?

Our inner-city youth have been ignored for summer employment for 25 years, all stimulus funds for improvement and merely existance in our society. What can we do for them? The Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan, has 600 Billion dollars to improve education. Will he go to the grass roots or simply put a new system of Charter Schools in place to act as a bandaid for systemic problems in the US ? Will most stimulus money go to administrative costs?

Why not pay drop-outs to take computer courses and training to fulfill the GED or subject recovery? Lets give them an incentive to violence and guns which reflect the sub-culture of narcotics involvement. Yes, give them an income incentive for finishing high school or training in a field of study within some jpgovernment program similar to WPA.

My charge is, lets take control: right now the youth and criminals are in charge. Jay them to go to school and finish. Payment works. Look at out of wedlock pregnacies. The more kids, the more money.

Lets change our focus and see reality in this changing world.

Best Teachers

It was with a lot of interest that I read Mort Zuckerman's thoughts on education and teachers. I had the opportunity to be a part (as student as well as teacher) of several classes that were broadcast. I can say with all honesty the experience was less than satisfactory. As the student, things moved much slower than I wanted; although I had the opportunity to interact with the teacher something was lost in the translation. Perhaps it was the idea that I was talking to a screen rather than the teacher.

I observed a group of students who for the most part were not totally involved in the advanced math class they were being taught. They did not seem to enjoy/learn from the class anymore than if they would have had there been a teacher in the classroom.

Bottom line, American students for the most part are not motivated to learn. The reasons are numerous...my parents will always take care of me no matter how old I am; if they don't then the government will; school is boring when compared with videos/games, total freedom, no rules, no expectations. The list could go on and on.

I am not saying there aren't teachers who are not good teachers but there are also doctors, lawyers, and plumbers who are not good at what they do either. The best of the best are those who are passionate about what they do. They have a calling-if you will-about their profession and it shows in their classroom/school performance and involvement. As far as graduating at the bottom of their classess...some of the most brillant people in the world would have been horrible teachers. Being able to communicate what you know on a level that is understandable to the ones you are teaching is the essence of teaching.

In conclusion, when and if government moves aside and allows educators to do their jobs, you will see an improvement in education. Education should be changing society but in the 21st century, society sets the rules and education complies.

No Data

America is falling behind other countries in education and it has nothing to do with time spent in class. No data provided. Teachers tend to be at the bottom of their college classes. No data provided. I couldn't read any more, because even as I pass in assignmnents to my professors in pursuit of my masters in education, I could not make those kinds of sweeping statements with no data to back them up. I guess teachers are held to a highter standard than say, reporters.

Teaching Kindergarten?

You have missed the boat on your background knowledge on teaching! Watching a video is only using two modalities. Have you ever sat in a Kindergarten class and watched the students. They have an attention span of 10 minutes at the most. Many students are visual and aditory but not all. Kindergarten students need to be actively involved in lessons using all their modalities.

Teachers work year round and many more hours each day after they leave the classroom. Never paid overtime either! We are always seeking the latest research in education. I can say that I have worked almost every summer that I have taught (27)years... ESOL classes, gifted, National Boards, Masters Degree, Kindergarten certification, Science classes, Literacy, Math trainings etc..

And in our spare time we are reading, ordering materials, writing newsletters or lesson plans, checking parent/principal e-mails or attending conferences!

Best teachers online: yes and no

It is true that students who have lectures on podcast perform better because they can pause and review at any point. But I agree with Rebecca Stanley of NC that the best teachers do more than lecture; they engage the class, and the students are doing the work. Yes, you can offer an online lecture to thousands, but somebody still has to grade the papers and provide the feedback necessary to help each kid's development.

I wonder also about intellectual property rights. If a district wants me to broadcast lectures beyond my classroom, shouldn't I be paid for that? Is the teacher's lecture considered his/her personal intellectual property? I don't know all the legal ramifications; what's the rule on college campuses? I know students record lectures, but is a student then allowed to sell or even broadcast without charge a professor's lecture?

Finally, I understand Zuckerman's point about the "bottom third" and commisserate somewhat. Education will be "reformed" when you go to your school's honor society kids and as many of them want to be teachers as doctors, lawyers, CEOs, or some other highly perceived (and/or rewarded) profession. We could definitely use more good people. That said, I do agree with Sheila Wood and Lisa Ragland (also of NC, what's going on up there? you guys must be doing something right): Zuckerman has no evidence to support this claim beyond the hackneyed prejudice against teachers. (Can we change the cliche to "Those who can't do, blame their teachers when they should blame themselves"?) Many fine teachers have earned master's degrees, doctorates, National Board certification, and other tokens of excellence. Yes, I would like to see more teachers with such advanced accomplishments, but Zuckerman seems to cut too wide a swath.

Comment about Teachers

I would LOVE to see the research that Zuckerman used before he blasted teachers and their profession! Most teachers I know have bachelors as well as masters degrees and National Board Certifications in the subject area that they are teaching. Also, after asking a representative group of about 35 teachers, the average percentile level in college graduating class was better than the top 20% with the median average being 12%. For those who were taught math by a MATH TEACHER, that means the AVERAGE.

Officially, our contracts are for ten months, not nine, and we have to take many of our required educational classes/ credits during the months that we are not teaching.

Just about EVERYONE uses his/her own personal money to make purchases for the classroom and students. We also give over and above to charities that benefit our students like Food Banks, Clothing Closets, Juvenile Diabetes Foudation, United Way, and we help those who have had losses like fire, flood, etc. We attend students' sporting events, dances, concerts, and presentations. We participate in charity functions like preparing and delivering food to the local homeless shelter, assisting the mentally disabled, visiting the local nursing homes, the group homes, etc.

Just as our day does not end with the last bell, our year does not end with the final exam. You will find that most teachers accumulate many, many hours over the ones that they actually get paid for. Some spend a portion of the summer "vacation" getting their classrooms ready for new groups of students each year: painting, cleaning, organizing, making copies, writing letters, etc.

Also, let's talk technology, shall we? Today's teachers have begun to be so hi-tech that they function with smartboards and document cameras on a daily basis. We use PowerPoint, Word, Publisher, Movie-Maker, Photo Story, Inspiration, etc. We maintain websites for students and parents. We set up and use blogs for our students and maintain threads for educational communication with them.

Sure, there MAY be teachers who fit the desciption of the ones described by Mr. Zuckerman in his article. But I haven't had the pleasure...It's truly a SHAME that a well-known magazine like US News and World Report would allow a biting article that would blast so many men and women who did not deserve the searing!

Mr. Zuckerman, if you have not seen a high-performing school, I'd like to invite you to visit mine. We do not fit your mold! We have pride in what we do! It's just sad that you would print your article without having a bit of a reality check!

Making Better Teachers?

While I am in complete agreement about how technology can potentially alter the world of education as we see it today (I teach online and face to face), I am perturbed at the introduction to this article.

Did you seriously say that teachers only work 9 months out of the year?

I would really like to see some research to back this information. As a teacher, I can honestly say, my teaching lasts all summer. The only way we become educated to teach online, use technology, etc. is when we aren't in school. In other words, when we aren't being paid.

And "Indeed, the people drawn into teaching tend to be those who have performed in the bottom third of their college classes."

Again, where is the research to back this? I graduated with full honors and as one of the highest in my class. Seriously. Why would a bottom 1/3 student want to continue learning for the rest of his or her life? A good teacher is a potential learner, so I don't see how this characteristic fits in saying why we don't have good teachers.

What I would really like to see is someone explain how technology and project-based learning can replace all of the state-mandated testing taking place that tells us we are bad teachers.