Back to School: Defining a good teacher
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012
BY CHARLES SAYDAH
THE RECORD
Charles Saydah is editor of The Record’s Your Views.
What sane person would want the likes of Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. as a teacher?
WE HEAR a lot about good teachers, particularly in New Jersey. The effort to reward them with the profession’s biggest prize — tenure, with its lifetime job guaranty — is at the center of Governor Christie’s tenure reform effort.
Unfortunately, outside of linking teaching skills to student performance on standardized tests, few elected representatives define precise characteristics of a good teacher. They say merely that they know one when they see one.
We ordinary people are as much at sea. Sure, we have a lot of pop culture prototypes to point to as exemplars. Richard Dreyfus’ portrayal of Indiana music teacher Glenn Holland in “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” Laura Dern’s portrayal of West Virginia science teacher Miss Riley in “October Sky” and Edward James Olmos’ portrayal of California calculus teacher Jaime Escalante in “Stand and Deliver” are among Hollywood’s more recent contributions to our collective understanding of a good teacher.
But try to put their strengths into words. A website called greatschools makes a noble effort, identifying seven standards of great teachers: They set high expectations for all their students. They have clear, written-out objectives, are prepared and organized, engage students and get them to look at issues in a variety of ways. They are masters of their subjects. They form strong relationships with their students, show they care about them as people and communicate frequently with parents.
But how would a character like John Houseman’s Charles W. Kingsfield Jr., the icy law professor in “Paper Chase,” fit into the general profile? He, too, set high expectations for his students. He, too, came prepared and organized to each class. He, too, engaged students and got them to look at issues in a variety of ways. He, too, was a master of his subject. Presumably, his students became great lawyers.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/168299006_Defining_a_good_teacher_teachers.html
Maybe all the negativity about teachers is hurting us. I find teachers in RPS less helpful than they were several years ago. They all think that they are great and they seem to expect parents to supplement with tutors if there are problems. This creates a cottage industry for them.
They do exactly what is required and nothing more. The more that teacher performance is in the news the less likely they are to perform.