Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Licensed teachers?

There is a group who think that anyone can walk into a classroom and teach. The same group also thinks that certified teachers are absolutely ineffective. From my 38 years as a classroom teacher, I can say that it is not the knowledge that a teacher possesses that counts most, but it is the ability to pass that information on to the students that is most important. I worked with a few teachers whose scores on state tests were marginal but who were very effective teachers. I think they better understood the struggles of the students and went the extra mile to help the kids.

Classroom management is something that is of utmost importance in teacher success. In my opinion the tow things that teachers must possess, but often don't, are a love of learning and a love for their students. Some teachers think of students as little robots waiting to be programmed.

+1000

I have seen the same things among those I have taught with for the past 10 years. It is also painfully evident in college professors (some, not all) that have tons of content knowledge but can't convey simple concepts. The best teachers have no problem with their students understanding exactly how much they care about them!!

Noting your tendency to point out exact wording, I noticed you didn't claim to actually have a Florida certification/license.

Hmmm

Do substitute teachers in Florida need a certification/license?

Or a pulse?

Exactly!!

People who equate ability to DO a task with ability to TEACH it to others are fools. Unless the student is themselves a savant, they will learn much more, much faster, from someone with a quarter the ability but 4 times the ability to teach than from the master of the skill who cannot teach.

BTDT way too many times.

Tom

I agree completely. But I'd add that it also holds true for kids in any school setting. No matter how good or educated or certified the teacher, many kids are doomed from the start because of the awful parents they have.

That is true. When we had a parent conference night, I usually only had the parents of the students who were doing well. Rarely did the parents of a weak student show up.

Randy, if it is Hannibal then you are right. Hannibal has published with both John Conway and Paul Erdos.

95% of his students and that is two sections of 35 students get 5s on the AP AB Calculus test and have done so for the last 10 years.
His Math Madness team made the finals out of the top 256 high schools both public and private in the US.

Toni Hawkins also has a very high pass rate for BC Calculus.

In NJ, public must be licensed. Privates can do as they wish in that regard.

Home schoolers need not be licensed as far as I am aware, but they have to show evidence that they are following a curriculum. Lots of great resources for home schooling now.

Thomas, I'm pretty happy with the quality of teachers our lil district has within it.

Not all of them are A + teachers, but we've many that are along with very many good B type teachers

it's a source of pride living in this community that we have so many dedicated and professional teachers.

count you as one of them sir, appreciate what you do for our community

Y'all nailed it.

Regarding knowledge of a subject versus being able to teach it, paradoxically, it often happens that the 'smarter' people have a tougher time transmitting that knowledge to the lesser gifted. This seems particularly true when dealing with High school students as opposed to advanced college classes. Perhaps they find the subject too 'easy' and can't fathom why others can't do likewise.

kilik's observation was spot on in my experience. While one certainly must have adequate knowledge of their subject matter, personally, I would've been much further ahead had I been required to complete more student teaching before graduating. I knew several students who spent nearly four years of college (and the money that entails) only to discover after a semester of student teaching that they made a big mistake. They never went on to teach. Although, it makes you question what made them think they wanted to teach in the first place!?

do homskoolers actually get a lesson?
I thought they just sucked on pb&j and watched blues clues while mommy plays on facebook and sells soiled panties on craigslist

My MIL was a concert pianist that had her career interrupted by WWII prior to traveling to Paris for study with Felix Fox, a noted classical piano teacher, who had to flee the Nazis. She then set up her own piano school in San Francisco. She then attended San Jose State University, earning a B.A. in education and a teaching credential, thereafter she taught elementary school. She went on receive a M.A. at Stanford University and an Administrative Credential. She continued her education until her health declined and she retired. She was the finest individual I had the pleasure of knowing, I considered her my second mother. Many of her former students I met always remembered her fondly. My second in command at work said she had taught him to read in First Grade, and he was forever grateful for her patience and kindness.

My wife attended San Jose State and completed a B.A. majoring in English and American Literature. She could also read and speak French as her grandparents were Flemish, speaking both Flemish and French at home. She received a Lifetime Teaching Credential, however she couldn't land a teaching job as the push was on for affirmative action hiring. Yet she went on to other fields, working in the county Training Division where she became noted for helping employees refine their skills in reading and math in preparation for promotional exams. She has been referred to as a Bodhisattva, by one who should know of such things, for her enlightened compassion and selfless devotion to teaching through word and action. Living with her is always a challenge, for she knows my mind before I do - spooky. What I learned is that such women are the foundation of civilization lest men remain grunting louts bent on mischief.

I on the other hand am an outlier. I am an observer, watching that which is mankind being deluded and misleading himself. I loved school up to high school, when I awakened to reality. Thereafter I became self-educated. I flunked high school, and went to work. Later I attended college classes, earned a 4.0 GPA, three licenses in environmental engineering fields, and enjoyed the doing. Learning is life's desert, similar to the dirty job of shucking oysters only to find a perfect pearl. I learned that performing a job, no matter how menial or low, to perfection is our highest accomplishment. My horse stalls were always clean and banked. My horses were always perfectly groomed, turned to living art. This is what I learned:

Everyone we meet, everyone we work with, everything we do, all of life's experiences, both the good and bad, are our teachers. We learn of ourselves, our weaknesses and strengths, what brings us joy and pain, and who is learning and who is teaching. It all boils down to us, for it all happens inside our mind, we are the teacher and the student. Let not one day pass without learning something new, about ourselves and how our ego interferes with our objectivity to change ourselves. We ultimately learn our world and ourselves are one great becoming, and that skill in living a righteous life is the path to eternal joy. Of course, it helps to have a few stealth masters, and a Bodhisattva or two, to cajole us into sticking to the path.