How do you improve schools? --Tom

In my recent reading of the news I came across some of the following articles or websites all dealing with the question of how do you improve our schools.

The first article is from the New York Times, Next Test: Value of $125,000-a-Year Teachers.

In it the author says,

"The school, called the Equity Project, is premised on the theory that excellent teachers — and not revolutionary technology, talented principals or small class size — are the critical ingredient for success. Experts hope it could offer a window into some of the most pressing and elusive questions in education: Is a collection of superb teachers enough to make a great school? Are six-figure salaries the way to get them? And just what makes a teacher great?"

I love those questions, particularly that last one. I just finished a year of study and training to become a teacher in which I wrestled with that very question. I don't want to be just a good teacher. I want to be a great teacher, but how exactly do I do that?

I also came across another New York Times op-ed article entitled, Five Ways To Fix America's Schools. In brief the author says that we should:

• raise the age of compulsory education up to 19 in all states
• borrow high pressure sales tactics for use in reducing casual truancy in schools
• advertise more effectively to get students to college or post-secondary education
• make the college accreditation reports from the Department of Education available to the public
• produce more qualified applicants for higher education

I don't necessarily agree with all of these points, especially the last one, which seems to be saying just teach students better. If it were that easy I think schools would already be doing it.

Finally, the last bit of information I have stumbled across is from the New Teacher Project and their report entitled The Widget Effect. It was mentioned in an op-ed in the Philadelphia Enquirer written by the head of the Philadelphia School System. The overall premise is that school systems need to change the way they evaluate and measure teacher performance because teachers are such an important part of the educational process. It cites information from a study showing that less than one percent of teachers receive unsatisfactory ratings each year, even in schools where students are doing poorly. I invite you to check it out in more detail.

How to Stop an Insurrection (controling your class)

One of my 'aha' moments during student teaching came after a particularly challenging class period, which of course happened to be observed by my university supervisor. The whole period had been a struggle to keep the class focused, on task, and engaged with the lesson I had so painstakingly prepared. I felt like I was on the losing side of a tuck of war. The end of class was in sight and I was trying to squeeze in just a little more instruction before the bell. With about three minutes to go in class a student decided he was done, stood up, and began packing up his stuff. Trying to get in the last little bit of instruction I just ignored him and kept teaching. That was a big mistake. Once some of the students saw him stand up, they also decided it was time to pack up. Any further instruction was not going to be effective.

Sitting down with my university supervisor afterwords to debrief the lesson he mentioned to me that I could have prevented this occurrence if I had simply stopped what he called the "ringleader" from doing it first. By letting the first guy stand up I was sending a subliminal message to the rest of the class that what he was doing was acceptable. If I dealt with the first person who was being disrespectful then I would be sending a message to the other students that the behavior was unacceptable.

A few days later I had a chance to put this technique into practice and it was successful. Lesson learned.

What Happened!

So our blog took a little hiatus so that we all could finish up our student teaching. Spring break came, everyone went on vacation, and at least in terms of the blog, never came back. I know for myself that once spring break was over, responsibility of planning and teaching a full day worth of classes consumed all the spare time that I had.

Now that we are all graduated the blog is going to take a slightly different form. Since we are all officially teachers and no longer student teachers this blog will be a place where any of the authors can share about anything related to teaching. The lot of us were part of a strong community during our teacher training and it is hoped that this site will allow us to continue sharing what we are doing and learning about teaching. We will no longer be posting once a day like we were prior to spring break. Instead the posting pattern will become totally irregular. You might get no posts for awhile and then a burst of writing. Only time will tell. So keep us on the RSS feed and keep a weather eye out for updates.

As always thanks for reading.

The Precious Commodity -- Tom

If there is one thing that I have taken away from my limited student teaching experiences thus far, it is how much more you begin to value your time.

How teachers spend their time each day is very important. The teaching profession demands many of those oh-so-precious hours each day. It starts with the instruction, which in my case will be four and a half hours a day. For every hour of teaching in the classroom there are numerous hours of work that go into supporting it. Not having taught a full load yet I cannot accurately guess how many additional hours go into supporting one hour of actual instruction. I think a conservative guess is three. Now that I have been doing the teacher routine for a few days I understand in a whole new light why my cooperating teacher is constantly muttering, "If we only had more time."

Time is also important when looking at instruction over the course of a school semester or year. I look at all the material we have to cover for state standards and wonder how it will fit into approximately 180 days. That does not even include all the other information I want to share with my students. This issue of coverage is particularly astute for history classes. I cannot think of another subject where new potential material is created as each day moves from the present into the past. Ten years ago history classes did not need to talk about 9-11 or the genocide in Darfur because those events had not happened yet. Now history classes are expected to discuss those items in addition to all the historical events they taught before, while the time frame in which to teach it remains constant. What it means is that things get cut from the curriculum or items get just a passing mention. Just the other day I lamented to a co-worker that the three greatest classical composers collectively got three minutes of time in a world history class. There is just not enough time for both depth and breadth of coverage in the classroom.

The issues surrounding time appear overwhelming, but there is hope. All I need to do is look at the example set by the teachers around me every day. They manage to find a way to fit it all in so they must be doing something right. I need to study what they do and learn from their example to find their secrets, their tricks, and their time saving tactics. They have learned to make the most out of a teacher's most precious commodity, time.

More Amazing Teachers

Abri is teaching twelfth grade government. She is most looking forward to being in the classroom every day so that she can learn more about herself as a teacher and experience what it is like to teach something beyond a single lesson.




Kelly is teaching Algebra II and Math Analysis to grades 9 through 12. During student teaching she is looking forward to trying out ideas like Parabola Playtime, getting to know her students, and building confidence as a teacher.






Tom is teaching tenth grade World Geography and ninth grade World History. He is looking forward to finally getting a true taste of what the teaching profession actually looks like as well as being able to help all these students learn about history and being good citizens. He is also excited to share those experiences with all who will read this blog.

Sara is teaching sixth grade Early American History. She is mostly looking forward to working with her students all the time!

Kyle is teaching ninth grade English and twelfth grade AP Literature and Language. He is most looking forward to beginning his professional career, which in the case of teaching is improving the lives and futures of children.




Johnny Mac is teaching eleventh grade AP U.S. history, the social studies portion of eleventh grade Advanced American Studies, and Law and Society for students in grades 10-12. He is co-teaching the American Studies class with Bex. Johnny Mac is most looking forward to being a good thief and finding a lot of resources related to his content area to expand his repertoire during student teaching.

Bex is teaching AP English Humanities Enhanced and co-teaching Advanced American Studies with Johnny Mac. It has been a long journey to this point, and she is excited to finally be in the classroom. She is most looking forward to getting to know her students better and learning how to best teach them. Bex is eager to explore different areas of teaching and to hone her skills so she can become an awesome English teacher.

Clifton is teaching eleventh grade US History, IB twelth grade Geography, and IB eleventh grade History of America. He is most looking forward to teaching students with different skills and abilities while trying to meet their needs.