Blog Comment of the Week - Are There Really "Good Teachers" and "Bad Teachers"?
Tuesday September 16, 2008
You all had a lot to say about McCain's comments on Education! I was impressed with the thoughtful discourse and big ideas put forth in response to my blog post. Here's the most thought-provoking (and true!) comment of the week, in my opinion:
The entire notion of good teachers vs. bad teachers I find rather absurd and excessively simplistic. How about an average teacher having a good day? Or a superb teacher having a mediocre week? Or a great teacher with an impossible class and they DO exist!With this comment, K Burns broadens the concepts mentioned in McCain's speech and taps into a sentiment that all teachers surely comprehend. I know I do.The children are all geniuses and ergo the teachers must be idiots although teachers are THE most educated group of people, by far, [that] I have ever encountered.
What do you think? For the most part, are there really such things as "good teachers" and "bad teachers"?
Comments
Everyone has good and bad qualities – that being said it is a common statement that 10% of any profession is sub-standard. What gets me is the feeling that ANYONE can teach. I sometimes get the feeling that they think they can train monkeys to do our job! I’m at an urban school that gets it’s share of new teachers. What we are seeing are older men in their second career becoming teachers. When it’s great, it’s great. When it’s not we have had more than one gentleman pretty much scoff at any assistance or support – because the attitude is that we don’t know much – obviously it’s what everyone reads in the newspaper or hears on TV.
There are certainly good teachers. These are the people that have the natural ability to get through to many different kinds of people. These people do not need a certification to do this either. There are good teachers through their abilities, education and experience can communicate and teach on all types of levels. Over all a good Teacher is one that cares about what they are teaching and those with whom they teach. Nobody is perfect – we all have bad days, challenging classes and difficult students. You take even the best teacher out of their element and they are no longer the best. A superb high school teacher would go home screaming after a week of teaching Kindergarten. That wonderful kindergarten teacher would be eaten alive their first day teaching 6th grade. Yes there are good teachers and there are bad teachers. The bad ones are the ones that do not care enough to go the 110% it takes to be a teacher. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle depending on our situation.
It is my opinion that anyone who made the choice to go into education, did it wholeheartedly at the time. If for some reason a person thinks that a teacher has gone bad, I feel it is more important to determine why? As more and more teachers leave the professional, finding out why is a valid question.
Just ask the students. Students know who the good and bad teachers are–and they don’t respect the teachers that are too easy or lax.
If the students know, why can’t the adults admit there is a distinction between excellent and poor teachers?
Good teachers and Bad teachers? Maybe diligent teachers and lazy teachers will be a more proper way to describe the situation. Diligent teachers work hard to make their students much more willing to learn while lazy teachers let students come and go but do little to improve the student’s learning.
As a teacher/administrator I know that there are good and bad teachers. Just like there are bad lawyers, police, etc… There are those who become apart of the profession for a variety of reasons. Some like having good benefits, summers off with their children and the list goes on and on. Those who are committed to education love it and love what they do everyday regardless of the obstacles. Teachers I beleive are still some of the most highly respected people in our society. Money has nothing to do with it. Teachers are loyal, committed and relentless in their efforts to see their students achieve. In my opinion you either have that gift or you don’t. Those who don’t continue to struggle through year after year just waiting for summer to arrive. I feel sorry for them!
First, I respect the fact that teachers do a wonderful thing.
However, the teacher has the burden of “proving themselves” to staff, parents and children.
I have been surprised by theGym teacher every year!
My 10 yr. old son, who had a not-entirely-successfull Open-Heart-Surgery, and seasonal allergies on top of that.
And it was in his records! Every year I took the time to fill out the form so they knew that if he went down, call 911 immediately.
3 years in a row, just before school got out, she would call me at home, and tell me he was refusing to participate. And I would tell her that he can’t breathe well do to his allergies on top of being outside, not to mention he is a Rest-at-will, Play-at-will via the Cardiologist.
Does this make her a “Bad Teacher”?
YES! There are things you must know, and it could cost a childs life.
Does it make her a “Bad Person”?
Of course not, I liked her, but I always worried that she would think he was “Goofing off” if he collapsed.
Upon having dealt with incompetent teachers, not following (or even knowing about) an IEP, slight physical abuse, and “labeling” instead of enabling, I became a home school teacher, and it is going slow but steady.
This was not what I wanted for my son, but he was falling further behind and his self-esteem was shredded, I had not choice.
John MCain, save our schools!
Parents should have to vote a teacher in, and re-elect every 4 yrs.
KEEP EM’ ON THEIR TOES, so to speak
Why does everyone feel the necessity to suck up? There are MANY professions that are underpaid and unappreciated. The fact of the matter is, yes, there most definitely ARE ‘good’ teachers and ‘bad’ teachers. As with any other profession, some are in it for the money, or the holidays or the retirement or whatever and they are not doing it because it’s their passion. Then there are the few who would go overboard 24/7/365 for free and be glad of it.
The saddest part is those who don’t know where they stand in the line up.
Out of three daughters, two of mine are teachers. While the good teachers they had influenced their decisions to teach, the bad ones also had an effect on them. The bad teachers were examples of the kind of teachers they did not want to be. I believe that teachers should do more than impart facts and knowledge to their students. I think they have an equal responsibility to nurture a child’s self-esteem and promote a joy of learning. The bad teachers that my children had may have done a good job of teaching facts but they failed when it came to considering anything but teaching mere lists and figures. Teachers should also consider what they are doing to a child’s emotions. Perhaps they should follow a doctor’s creed of doing no harm.
I read the lady’s comments about her son and his heart condition. I understand what she is talking about. I have a grandson who has a heart defect. Because he looks normal, people often forget that there is something wrong with him.
I have been reading these blogs because I, along with many colleagues at school, are questioning our ability to be good teachers under the NCLB restrictions imposed on our restructuring school. We are deluged with demands for data,analyzing the data & testing to the point that it is impossible to manage all the things that are “mandatory” on the to-do list. I have never been a work to the contract kind of teacher, but when you see “good teachers going bad” or are labeling others, you need to take a look at what is causing that problem. Another post mentioned figuring out why so many people leave our profession. Passion burns out if the job simply becomes impossible.
I see society demanding so much out of their teachers that they are simply unwilling to do themselves that I think it is ironic to tell a teacher with 100 students to know what is up with each one every day when many of their own parents aren’t paying that kind of attention to their children. Many of our discipline problems at school stem from kids crying out for attention in negative ways. It is hard to maintain passion when you are expected to be everything to everybody. Implement time machines & I think you’d see more happy, GOOD teachers. Not all our 24/7’s can belong to our DOE’s.
While I understand the frustration felt by the mother of the child with heart problems, she should also realize the Phys. Ed. teachers are responsible for many students. Perhaps a phone call to the teacher at the beginning of the year, informing her/him of the problem, would have been more effective than simply “filling out the forms.” Since that parent is now home-schooling her son, I hope she is careful to teach him better writing skills than she exhibited in this blog.
I don’t even know,fellow!) continued to write in the same vein, it is interesting people!
It is healthy, I shall come on your site more often, thank.,