"If they are doing a math problem and they think oh wait a minute I can draw that out and understand what I'm doing with it," said Martin. "That may help them in their TAKS scores or any problem they may see in the future."
The Leader in Educator Certification, iteachTEXAS
On the first day of school each year to open class and kick off the school year, I would preform a magic trick for my students. Well maybe not a magic trick, but a fun science lab. I enjoyed establishing class with a visual experiment to engage the students and hopefully, leave a lasting impact. I believe that the first day of class sets the tone for the entire year. I wanted to establish the way class would be structured from day one, with me providing instruction with the students actively listening and then participating in learning with their thoughts, ideas and actions.
For the magic trick/science experiment, the science class is set up with all students’ desk facing the front of the class and a large lab table on which to perform the experiment in the front center of the class. On the table in the front is a tall clear pitcher of water, one red plastic cup and one blue plastic cup. One student is ask to come up and put his hand in the water to prove it was indeed real, wet water. I would then take the clear pitcher of water and slowly pour the water into the red plastic cup. After waiting a moment, I would then take the red plastic cup and attempt to pour the water into the blue plastic cup. Instead of water pouring out from one cup into the other, no water would be transferred from one container to the other. At this point, most students were intrigued and wondered why the water would not pour from the red cup to the blue cup. I would ask the student to ponder and speculate what occurred. I liked this form of inquiry, not necessarily peer learning but I did want peer interaction and for the students to share their insight. What the students did not know was that I had a large sponge in the bottom of the red cup that absorbed all the water poured from the clear pitcher. After I let the minds of my 7th grade students spin wild in wonderment, I would pull out the sponge and show them, not all things are, as they seem. The lesson being that students must think creativity about all possibilities. My strong desire is to instill higher level thinking skills to the students and allow them to think outside the box.
The magic trick does more than just get the students’ attention and set the tone of instruction, it details my educational philosophy. I believe that educating is our privilege. To impart knowledge, skills, insight, and beliefs all that we know into others is education. We cannot be as the sponge in the red cup and just simply absorb knowledge. If we are only concerned with filling our heads with facts, we inflate our egos but reduce our heart, and limit our ability to help others. The question that begs to be asked is why learning if one is not going to pass it on and influence the next generation? I believe that we must leave a meaningful impression with others. We do this by educating and pouring into children, students, peers, and elders. Another aspect of my educational philosophy is that I have learned sometimes we must be squeezed and pressed to instruct others. Giving of your time, resources, and energy is not always easy but our responsibilities cannot be neglected. We must put aside personal preferences for the betterment of society. We must learn that if we do not inform people and equip them to succeed in life, we do not love others, as we should. Ultimately the goal would be to impart wisdom and knowledge.
My educational philosophy encompasses who we should strive to be: giving of our time and teaching others, being diligent to instruct, and being a light to a dark world. How an individual goes about educating others will differ from one person to another, I am not sure there is the way to best educate. I do believe I have a way.
I believe that children can easily detect hypocrisy and if best practices are not modeled, the students will not follow your directions. The teacher should lead by example. I believe that all students can learn and should be pushed to reach their full potential. I believe that students need structure and the teacher, not their peers, should provide guidance. I believe that learning can take place anywhere and most all opportunities present a learning moment. I believe that through education we can produce citizens that are law abiding, seeking to better their personal situation, and motivated to achieve their goals.
Zach Rozell
ETS Computer-Administered Testing (CAT) System Maintenance
System maintenance is being performed on the ETS Computer-Administered Testing (CAT) System from approximately 7:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. (Central time) on Sunday, October 4, 2009. During this time, you will NOT be able to register, reschedule, or cancel any CAT exams administered at test centers with an APCN or APCU prefix (e.g., APCN 7711). All functions will continue to be available for test centers with an STN prefix (e.g., STN13089). Registrations for paper-based testing will not be affected.
A large study comparing the effectiveness of traditional teacher training with alternative certification programs finds no difference in student outcomes. The Mathematica study examined 2,600 students in six states at 63 schools with at least one alternatively certified (AC) teacher working at the same grade level as a relative novice teacher who graduated from a traditional certification (TC) program. The major findings include:
* No statistically significant difference in performance between students of AC teachers and those of TC teachers.
* No statistically significant differences between the AC and TC teachers in their average scores on college entrance exams, the selectivity of the college that awarded their bachelor’s degree, or their level of educational attainment.
* No evidence that greater levels of teacher training coursework were associated with the effectiveness of AC teachers in the classroom.
“This study found no benefit, on average, to student achievement from placing an AC teacher in the classroom when the alternative was a TC teacher, but there was no evidence of harm, either,” the report concludes. “In addition, the experimental and nonexperimental findings together indicate that although individual teachers appear to have an effect on students’ achievement, we could not identify what it is about a teacher that affects student achievement. Variation in student achievement was not strongly linked to the teachers’ chosen preparation route or to other measured teacher characteristics.”
Teacher Beat’s Stephen Sawchuck points out the Mathematica study is “a big deal” because most alt cert studies have focused on the elite programs like Teach For America. “This looks at a bunch of regular, state-run programs,” he notes. At the Quick and The Ed, Chad Alderman notes there’s nothing here that will challenge anyone’s preconceived notions or biases about alternative vs. traditional. That’s probably true, although it’s possible that ed schools may have a little more ’splainin to do about why their graduates aren’t more capable of hitting the ground running than alt cert people.
The more interesting question is beyond the scope of this study: are there long term differences in performance of each group? Regardless of how you came to the classroom, first year teaching is about the journey from unconscious incompetence (not knowing what you don’t know) to conscious incompetence (knowing what you don’t know). It’s what you do with that, I think, that makes the difference in effective and ineffective teachers.
Full disclosure: I came to teaching through the alt-cert route, via the NYC Teaching Fellows in 2002.
The Leader in Educator Certification, iteachTEXAS
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