Marcus sent a comment and disagreed with the “Confessions of a Teaching Fellow”:
| This is absolutely a misrepresentation of the summer training. Diane, I have a lot of respect for you and have followed you for many years. If you can push this out with such disregard for the truth, I have to question the rest of your platform and ideas. You are a published author and while you may not have the responsibility to fact check here, you do know journalistic best practices.
There is no such thing as Do it Now. Do It Again is a technique that helps students practice routines and asks them to stop it and repeat as soon as it goes wrong. How many teachers have told a class to sit back down and try again when they are noisy lining up for dismissal? SLANT is an acronym that sets the expectation that students sit up straight and pay attention to their teacher when they are talking.
These are some of the techniques from Doug Lemov\’s book, Teach Like a Champion. Heres the link: http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Like-Champion-Techniques-Students/dp/0470550473
The book offers the magic formula that the best teachers already know and should be read by all teachers – especially those who wallow in schools with unskilled administrators and no professional development. It would take a teacher a dozen years to learn these through trial and error and observations. These Fellows will be ready with these skills on day one.
I agree the tone of preservice training can be intense sometimes. But with such a momentous goal and the gravity of preparing bright, talented and energetic teachers for the challenges of teaching in an tough urban school in seven weeks, it is justified.
And these Fellows – the ones that can hack it- will be ready to teach day one and will truly be master teachers by 2013-14. Then it\’s up to the city and administration to pay and retain them after that. |
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
“And these Fellows – the ones that can hack it- will be ready to teach day one and will truly be master teachers by 2013-14.” Master teachers in ONE year?! You’re out of your freakin’ mind.
MAGIC FORMULA! MAGIC FORMULA! MAGIC FORMULA!
Of course! Why did I teach for 14 years and st
…and study at places like MIT, CUNY, Bank Street, Columbia, etc.? Clearly I could have given Michelle Rhee $6k and been a master teacher in 5 weeks.
Thank you, Querculus, you beat me to it.
The instant I saw “magic formula” applied to Lemov’s pseudo-scientific, Skinner Box “taxonomy” of best teaching practices, knew we were in the presence of a True Believer.
Additionally, given the initial attempts to fire teachers in Central Falls not long ago, it sounds like these folks are being prepared to be potential replacement workers/scabs for senior teachers in those high poverty districts.
Diane was far too magnanimous in given this comment the prominence she did.
Marcus, a person’s first-hand account cannot be “wrong,” nor does Diane have to fact-check it.
So Doug Lemov owes you thanks for promoting his book and I will attest that is the only tool that we used in this 5 week-not 7 week- program to become effective teachers. Lesson planning is evidently not very important because it was done in the evenings in our own time. We were required to e-mail our lesson plans to our coach by 11 pm for feedback. I understand there are many challenges to be overcome in becoming an effective teacher but it is a disgrace to indicate that this can be achieved in 5 weeks. Most of the former Fellows that I have come in contact with have all left the high needs public schools and entered charter schools. I will not claim that I am not expert on school reform- but I am a former participant of this program and know to become an effective teacher I will have to do more than “hack it” in a program that is flawed at its core.
I’m not currently a teacher, though I do hold an elementary teaching certification from years ago, so I’ve had teacher training. I’ve looked at some of Lemov’s techniques. I don’t know if they “work” or not. Some are not much different than those I learned over 35 years ago. Maybe some are useful, in the proper context. I know enough about teaching to know that there are no “magic formulas”, as Diane has often eloquently pointed out. To me, though, it’s a matter of values, not technique. The regimented type of teaching and learning portrayed in the original post is not the type of education that I would want for my kids; nor would I want my kids to be taught by novices who are given such rote methods as a substitute for real teaching.
and yes Marcus-you are right- there is no “Do It Now”-there is a “Do It Again” and “Do Now” technique among many others.
I have two teaching degrees and a Masters degree and have never heard of this wonderful ” Magic formula” . So now they are resorting to magic! Who needs a teaching degree? Who needs experience? Who needs real certification? All we need is a magic formula to save our poorest students. If only it were that easy.:(
If master teachers can be produced so quickly and inexpensively, what makes the writer think that these mass produced “master teachers” can’t be easily replaced rather than paid a respectable salary and given work security?
I responded to Marcus’s comment there and will repost here:
“Teach Like a Champion”, “The book offers the magic formula”
I have no desire nor need to teach like a “champion” whatever the hell a “champion” teacher is (but the idea sells the book). There is no “magic formula”, maybe some tips and advice but until one experiences the day in and day out interactions of the classroom one can’t begin to fathom the hundreds of choices that teachers make about classroom management on a daily basis. I’ve not read the book but have read many classroom “management” books over the years but it sure sounds like a “training” manual and not a “teaching” one. Canned approaches inevitably fail.
“These Fellows will be ready with these skills on day one. . . and will truly be master teachers by 2013-14″. So after one year of teaching they “will truly be master teachers”. Good thing I didn’t have a mouthful of tea or I would have wet my computer screen. Let’s ask the “Fellows” that stick around for ten years of teaching (good luck finding any) if they think that they were “master teachers” after their first year.
Marcus, I have some beautiful ocean front property down at the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri that I can sell you quite cheaply. Let me know if you’re interested!
Marcus,
It is admirable that you have chosen teaching as a profession, but you ooze with naive notions. Teaching is a life long learning experience for those fortunate enough to have chosen this profession. There are no magic formula’s to learn. The book you refer to is a great example of one of hundreds of resources available to young and experienced teachers alike. The neat thing about resources is that they provide the learner an opportunity to read about a practice, reflect on it, try it out, and if you’er fortunate, to reflect on it again with a colleague; all the time working to refine your practice until it works for the children. They do not however, EVER provide definitive solutions to any of the challenges you will encounter as a teacher.
You are working with children, children who need a thoughtful, hard working, reflective teacher willing to work as hard as it takes to find the thing that works for them as an individual. You will be better tomorrow than you are today, better next year than you were this year, but you will not be a master teacher. Work hard and that will come in time.
You mentioned ” – the ones that can hack it-” in a clear slight to the author of the original letter. Remember Marcus, she wrote from her perceptions and you wrote from yours. She’s right in her criticisms of the techniques that pertain to the treatment of the kids. Trust me, from a parent’s perspective, she ‘s right, but that’s another story altogether. Staying with teaching is not about hacking it, it’s about knowing that if you are a learner and continue to grow in your expertise, then each day will give you immense satisfaction knowing that you helped a child. You will have become a very lucky person to have been able to serve children in the most honorable of professions. Find a mentor, an experienced teacher who loves their work. From them will come the wisdom and support necessary for you to succeed.
I have two things I hope you will reflect on: First, the children you teach likely live in a very different world than you. They go home to things we cannot comprehend and to things they cannot hide from. Do you know your children? Second, us old codgers have a much better understanding of an old saying than you young pups will ever have (guess its called experience) It goes something like this; If its too good to be true, it probably is. Have the courage to investigate the organization you are working with. The end does not justify the means. These are someones children we are working with and they deserve our best.
Ben Carson
34 yrs in education
teacher, principal, asst. supt
Marcus,
Who do you work for?
Wow. After twenty-six years of teaching I am still amazed by how much I learn from my students. I continue to be awed by the complexity of my own profession at times. Things I was sure I knew to be right in my second, fifth, even tenth year of teaching now make me cringe. I have held on tightly to the pendulum as each new untested “magic formula” was force fed to me and, by extension, my students. Soon after, a “magic antidote” was prescribed to cure the ills caused by this formula. And in the process of selling the antidote, the new snake oil salesmen belittled and berated the previous. Whole language, cultural literacy, UBD, constructivism, balanced literacy, writer’s workshop, direct instruction, multiple intelligences, Orton-Gillingham, four-blocks, phonics, computer aided instruction….the list goes on forever. The real key to being a “master teacher” is connecting your students to learning in a way that works for them. You can’t learn that in a few weeks.
Thank you Ben. As teachers we must be role models for our students. If we want respect, we must show them what respect looks like. As a teacher, administrator, and parent, I am always mindful of the fact that these are someone’s children. I dont judge them. I don’t want them to fear me, I want them to learn from me. There are no magic tricks. We are professionals who use our professional knowledge of teaching to educate students. They learn from us and we learn from them. If we establish a relationship of mutual respect, then the foundation is set. Maybe that is where the magic begins…
Relationship-based teaching is particularly important with young children. I hope Pearson is aware of this, since they are going to be usurping the role of Teacher Educators in evaluating teacher candidates: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/nyregion/with-new-standards-going-beyond-paper-and-pencil-to-license-teachers.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
I don’t know the details about how that’s going to work, but I think that if education “reformers”, economists, politicians and billionaire policy-makers, most of whom are not educators nor child development experts, are in a position to direct Pearson to expect people to Teach Like a Drill Sargeant, I think there are going to be some serious problems ahead.
I wonder what happened to Marcus…did he ever respond? Do we assume he is a teacher or a trainer? Between the lady giving away $5 for a pro reformy post and now this, I wonder if Rhee is trying to control these loose cannons. Boy, the Rheeject has more scams going than I ever thought possible.
Gone. Profile empty. I found him on Twitter the other day based on the link next to his name. Good riddance. Disappointed that he couldn’t ‘hack’ the comments or pushback. Oh well….some aren’t cut out to post and respond.
Or teach!
To provide some background and clarify some things.
I am a ten-year veteran NYC public school teacher at one of the state’s persistently dangerous schools. I entered the system through the Fellows in 2002 and my experience as a first year teacher mirrors those detailed by many of the commenters here. I certainly was not a master teacher after year one and it really took about five years to feel like I was doing a halfway decent job. Going into my 11th year, I am still growing, reflecting and improving.
Having worked in a school where professional development and mentoring was so poor, I wish I had Lemov’s book in 2002. I feel like my growth would have been accelerated immensely; and while I would not have been a master teacher after year one, I would not have taken me five.
The magic formula comment:
In 2006, I had a conversation with an AP at my school about the one master teacher in our building. By far, he is the best teacher I have ever observed as a student or a teacher. I asked the AP what makes him so successful. I had done many intervisitations and I had an idea, but I was hoping she could sum it up succinctly and offer me concrete next steps. Her response: “I don’t know what he does to these kids. He must sprinkle magic fairy dust on them.”
Most new and many veteran teachers struggle with classroom management. For a new teacher trying to keep their head above water, effective classroom management does seem like magic. Lemov’s book lists 49 techniques that offer the formula for that “fairy dust” that math teacher simulated through effective routines, positive reinforcement, consistency and content mastery. They are concrete, reproducible and effective.
Whenever I have observed charter school teachers with their students at events in the city, my initial impression was that these students were brainwashed robots. They had to be putting on a show. I am more of a constructivist teacher and their approach is much too teacher-centered. These poor kids. They must have only brought the good ones. These are the same techniques and impressions embedded in the Lemov handbook.
After working through the techniques these last few months, I cannot dismiss them because they come from a charter school background. I can take them and use them as the foundation for an effective classroom management system in my public school.
If you have had fellows in your school in the past and you have new ones this year, ask yourself if you see a difference. This group is the most well-prepared yet and you should feel lucky to have them in your building. Some may take a little longer to mature than others, but I think you will notice a difference. Take them under their wing.
As we move through this education reform process, I am going to take a step back and look at things from multiple perspectives. The original fellow’s response was her account and perspective and I don’t want to invalidate her experience. But it is not representative of the program as a whole and I thought I could offer a different point of view; although some of my comments were too polarizing and naive without further explanation. But it was striking to see Dr. Ravitch put it out there unfiltered and see so many people immediately trash the program that helped me and hundreds of thousands effective people become educators. The Fellows program is not Teach for America and their goal is to provide the most effective teachers possible to our students that need their help the most.
To champion real, teacher-centered, non-corporate reform, we have to be somewhere in between Gates, E4E and Dr. Ravitch and our unions. Reflective change on our part, not concessions, have to be made. I am really excited about some of the new caucuses emerging in our ranks and feel we can affect, with finesse and intelligence, our own reform.
You’re kidding yourself if you think the Drill Sergeant approach is new and indicative of mastery instruction. It’s based on Behaviorism and it has been around before. I went to a public middle school based on that model in the 60s, where a white line was painted along the perimeter of all the hallway floors and students had to march on it, single file, square our corners and could not speak. The rigid script inside most classrooms was not much different.
Yes, you get student compliance with that model, but this is not the same thing as learning. I quickly picked up on how to look like I was paying attention when, in fact, I was zoned out, and I learned very little, if any, course content in classes where teachers strictly enforced that approach –which I found mind-numbing.
I was fortunate, however, to have had an exceptional teacher here and there who, behind closed doors, did not follow the script and were much more humane, inspiring and engaging. Those teachers did not consider teacher-centered learning the be-all and end-all of their teaching. They mixed it up. That was not so easy to do then either, since this was in classrooms where desks were bolted to the floor, so cooperative learning was not readily possible. It was much easier for them to teach to the middle, as if the entire class was just a single student at the expected norm, on the same page on the same day of their lives, all doing the same exact thing.
I’ll be forever grateful for the teachers who broke away from the accepted Behavioral practices of the school, because those were the only teachers who saw me as an individual with a constellation of strengths, pointed them out to me and nurtured them, rather than seeing me as a member of a pack of feral animals in need of taming and basic training.
Marcus there is one wonderful, completely unintentional, side effect that has come from your less than well thought rant – it has brought together all of these brilliant professionals who have commented here as one united front. Every great revolution needs an antagonist and you, my man, are it.
Place trust back in our teachers. We are here because we love what we do; not for what it does for us.
Robert Degnan, MAT
Certified Highly Qualified Elementary School Teacher (and proud of it)