[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: So you think you can teach?

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
So you think you can teach?
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1211218162.shtml


   The Star Tribune today concluded a two day piece on school
   suspensions. It was written with an uncomfortably excessive racial
   viewpoint, but that aside, a couple of quotes stand out.

     "Teachers have a right to expect an orderly room. But they also
     should be experienced when they walk into that room."
     -- Eugene Dix, Executive Director, African-American Action
     Committee, Brooklyn Park

   I agree completely.

     "Most Minnesota teachers aren't taught how to manage a classroom."
     -- Frank Hernandez, Executive Director, Center for Excellence in
     Urban Teaching, Hamline University.

   Based on the evidence, I again have to agree. The question is why?
   Does this mean that all those extra college credits of "how to be a
   teacher" required to become a licensed teacher don't cover how to run
   a class? Isn't this why Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, and Learned
   Foot cannot be allowed to teach K-12 classes?
   Does this mean that all those hours of student teaching required to
   become a licensed teacher don't have you teach a real class, by
   yourself at times? And is it enough to log these hours in an outer
   ring suburb, far away from an "urban reality" environment?
   Running a class, including effective discipline, should be part of the
   licensing process should it not?
   Admittedly, you never know whether you can truly do a job until you
   actually get it, be it sales, construction, accounting, or teaching,
   regardless of how many classes you took or hours of apprenticeship you
   put in. Those that ultimately find themselves unable to do a job
   should consider a change of career and make room for those who can.
   Teaching should be no different.