A Random Thought

Teacher Quality: The notion that just about anyone with a college degree can teach is simply wrong. Teaching is a skilled profession that requires training and personal development in order for classrooms to become productive places for students. I believe that three factors have a strong influence on the quality of teaching:

• Quality teacher preparation that includes exposure to educational foundations, history and philosophy, pedagogical methodology, a strong background in appropriate assessment techniques, and a solid background in one or more content areas.
• A committment to continuing education and professional development that is self-initiated leading to advanced degrees in education and specific content areas.
• A rigorous approach to classroom inquiry and reflective practice so that teachers may enter the professional discourse as informed practitioners.

Additionally, teachers must become familiar with the community in which they teach. This means learning about the cultural norms of the students in the classroom in order to teach effectively; this is especially important when the students being taught are other than the teacher’s normative understandings. Without understanding the students in front of us, teachers are doomed to fail the very people they are working so hard to educate.

Finally, quality teaching is engaging for students. If students are not rigorously engaged in the classroom they will find other places to seek out the level of engagement that satisfies their need to be so challenged. Teachers must find ways of authenticaly stimulating students to reach toward academic goals, to become excited about learning so that school becomes a joyous encounter rather than a dull intermediate stop on the way to adulthood.