

Teaching Teachers How to Teach - rafaelc
https://www.learnboost.com/teaching-teachers-how-to-teach/

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lotharbot
There are a number of issues contributing to the shortage of competent
teachers, some of which are addressed in either this post or in the linked
post and its comments [0]:

\- teaching certificates don't necessarily have adequate testing built in.
Teachers can go through the programs without learning the material.

\- teaching certificates don't always teach the necessary material. Teachers
can get into a classroom setting without even _taking_ a course covering the
mathematics they'll be expected to teach.

\- teaching certificates take extra time and money to acquire, and are often
required _even for those with education degrees_. My sister has a B.S. in
elementary education, but her local school district won't let her teach unless
she goes through a certification program too. I have an M.S. in applied
mathematics, and was told the same -- despite a massive shortage of math
teachers.

\- teaching doesn't pay all that well, the schedule is brutal for about 9.5
months of the year, and issues like class size and lack of supplies add to the
stress.

\- many school environments are extremely unfriendly to teachers with certain
political leanings. When I was a classroom assistant, I was warned to hide my
political views, and berated for views one teacher _assumed_ I held. This is
not the norm, but it's much more common than it should be.

The net result is that many who go through teacher training aren't competent,
and many competent people who would like to teach get turned away for
unnecessary reasons.

[0] <https://www.learnboost.com/upcoming-teacher-crisis/>

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wccrawford
I agree with everything except 1 point:

"I have an M.S. in applied mathematics"

Knowing something doesn't mean you can teach it. I'm a perfect example... When
using my skills, I get nothing but praise from employers. When they tell me to
teach someone else to do the same, it's nothing but pain for everyone
involved. I'm sure the trainee learned -something-, but a teacher would have
done a much better job. It's not even that I don't want to teach, because I
used to want to... Until I learned that I have no knack for it.

I'm not saying you can't teach it... I'm just saying your degree in it doesn't
mean that. They are perfectly correct to force you to prove you can pass the
certification.

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wccrawford
LOL What IS that chart? I'm having fits just looking at it. The 46% seems to
scale, but then the other pieces... Some aren't marked, 1 seems to be empty,
and 2 have percentages that are WAY out of line with their size. And of
course, it's way more than 100%.

~~~
lotharbot
It's three overlapping wedges of sizes 46%, 54%, and 72%. The two unlabelled
segments are the opposite ends of the 54 and 72, and the empty part is indeed
empty. Very strange presentation.

