Tell Us About Your Teacher Training Program

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1. Student teaching was the only useful element of my teacher training. I took one ‘year’ of education classes in England, and to qualify in the US had to take another year… none of the classes were useful.
   1. All education classes should be taught by teachers who are currently teaching in public schools, at the appropriate level (no elementary teachers teaching high school teachers).
   2. Teaching should be recognized as a craft, not as a profession. I am very good at my craft, but I have no idea how I perform at my ‘profession’.

   Comment by Martin — December 28, 2009 @ 10:28 pm

2. I was trained to teach through Connecticut’s Alternate Route to Certification, designed for second career teachers. Our most important instructor, our science teaching methods instructor, was a practicing teacher, which I agree is an important ingredient. Our student teaching was only 3 weeks of summer school. This was valuable, but not really adequate, although everyone going through the program knew that this was the best that could be done. At the time it was an 8 week program to get new teachers certified and back to work.

   Two things were missing from the training, use of technology (this was 15 years ago and there really was not time), and more intense mentoring. I had a mentor and he did an excellent job, by the standards of the day. However, it was still in the realm of “sink or swim” in the classroom. Demands for results are increasing from the public, but there remains the attitude that teachers are part time and overpaid. State governments need to assert themselves and insist on better mentoring and be willing to pay for it. New teacher retention is poor and costs the public a lot financially and in terms of student learning. I think that retention is driven primarily by weak support in the initial years of teaching and giving new teachers the most difficult teaching assignments.

   Comment by Kim Trinklein — December 29, 2009 @ 7:55 am

3. As a teacher in the Catholic school system in Houston, we are not required to hold a state teacher certificate. The minimum requirement to teach in the Arch-Diocese is to have a bachelors degree in your teaching area and once hired you are assigned a mentor teacher who works with you. New teachers also have between 10 to 15 principal or department head observations their first year in the classroom. You are on probation until you complete a minimum of 15 hours of graduate level education courses, with two years maximum to complete the task. You then have an additional two years to complete the education degree. Teachers are also required to earn 10 hours of continuing education credits in their subject area and 10 hours of education based CEU’s each year of employment.

   My mentor teachers were fantastic and were the real reason for my success early on. The mentors reviewed my lesson plans, observed classes, tutored me in classroom management, let me vent when I was frustrated and taught me that it was more important to teach the children how to learn than how to draw a model of an atom.

   Comment by Daniel Bryant — December 29, 2009 @ 2:51 pm

4. I entered teaching through NC’s lateral entry program through regional alternative licensing centers…which tell you which college courses you need for licensure. I am now in my 5th full year of teaching and also teach other lateral-incoming teachers through NCSU’s NCTeach program. I am still in teaching today because I had a good mentor. I feel that this is the most critical part for incoming teachers, as, whether you enter the profession traditionally or laterally, the reality of the classroom is way different from what we are taught, and each also district has its own flavor. Classroom management was hands down the most important class, and will remain so forever, as long as we have classrooms with more than two people present. Not sure that I would call anything least valuable…we can always learn more, and it might just be a while for me to realize how important something was…this happens a lot. What was missing? I am not sure if any place teachs teachers how to interact with students…I know this sounds crazy. I see young teachers having to learn that they must separate themselves from being friends, that teacher/student is a different relationship. Also, realizing that being liked is not a requirement for doing a good job. If it happens that is okay, but it is not the/a goal…more important that you be respected.
   I would add one other comment, seconding Martin…instructors teaching people how to teach should not be long out of the classroom for the ages that they are trying to teach for…how things were when I was in high school is too different from today, so someone who hasn’t been in a high school classroom for the same length of time is largely useless as a resource.

   Comment by George — December 29, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

5. I got my undergrad degree in 1976, so the teacher training was different (we had a class on technology that included learning how to splice together a broken filmstrip!) but in many ways it hasn’t changed. I did not get enough time just observing in a high school science classroom, nor did I have any real mentoring once I began teaching. The young colleagues I mentor today don’t really get what they could from my experience because we have no time to collaborate, commiserate, or just plain talk to one another. I believe that my content training was sound, but that there wasn’t time to adequately combine strong content and strong pedagogy in a 4-year program…teacher training needs to be extended by at least a year or two much as with other professions. I also believe we need to build in specific training in truly reflective teaching, so that we constantly and consistently work to improve what we offer our students.

   Comment by Merrie Rampy — December 29, 2009 @ 11:55 pm

6. My teacher preparation courses at the undergrad level were not helpful. The most valuable experience that I had was in my student teaching class. I was assigned to a school where the cooperating teacher was absent due to surgery, and I didn’t meet the man until two weeks before the end of the class. It was sink or swim for me as I took over the class the second day that I met with my students. Fortunately, I had had good science teachers in my high school so I used their methods as guidelines for teaching.

   Comment by Barbara Verthein — December 31, 2009 @ 11:04 am

7. I agree with number one, student teaching, or in my case taking over for a teacher in a long term sub position was by far the most helpful. As teachers we know that the best way to learn is to do, the same thing applies to our learning. If I did have to pick a course that was the most helpful, it would have to have been educational psychology. As weird as it sounds, it is nice to know how to get into their minds, and what to expect from them at their different levels.
   Ironically, I found that my technology “Teach for the Future” classes were the most useless. I do use technology everyday, but the kinds of technology that we learned about was already outdated by the time that I got into the classroom.
   What is missing in these college courses that I do not blame them for not having, is learning the ins and outs of the actual school you end up at. Each school has a different pulse, and a different way of doing things. The steepest learning curve comes from ones ability to adjust quickly to it. The biggest mistake that a teacher can make is to assume that their students know something, and I think that schools make that error when it comes to things like unspoken rules, or gray area situations. For these questions it is best to have a mentor, or even a peer friend to talk to about these questions or vent frustrations. The problem is that teaching is known as being an isolating profession, unless you make the effort, you will very rarely see your coworkers, just the kiddos. In addition to feelings of isolation, like Kim says in number two, new teachers often get the most difficult teaching jobs, or in my case are left to travel around the school without their own classroom. What would have been helpful, would have been to have one period a week, or even a mandated meeting after school with all of the new teachers to just sit and vent, and ask each other questions about occurrences. In college my roomate was also an education major and we would come home from student teaching everyday and for a good half hour just talk about the day. You can talk to non-teaches, friends or significant others about these things, but no one understands them like a fellow teacher.
   Another thing that would have been helpful was instead of being observed myself, giving me more time to roam around and observe other teachers that I have identified with as having a similar style, or as being masters. Sometimes you forget what a “normal” classroom feels like.

   Comment by Sarah Maddy — January 2, 2010 @ 1:07 pm

8. Initally I would have said the student teaching was the only useful part of my teacher education. . . . but as I taught I discovered that the philosophy of education course was important . . . the difficulty was that you really couldn’t understand its import until you had been in the classroom for a couple of years. . …. . and then my phiolosphy wasn’t anythingk like what I studied in class.

   I would say, however, that the most important part of my training has been the workshops and summer courses I have taken since entering the classroom. Workshops such as Modeling physics and chemistry, Quarknet and PTRA have not only helped meimprove my science comprehension, but has helped me to build a portfolio of materials, labs and demos, and has given me the opportunity to build a network of collegues whom I can call upon when I need guidance and assistance in my lesson planning.

   Comment by Gail Anne Aurand — January 8, 2010 @ 9:37 am

9. #1: The most valuable course in my teacher training was a course called Technology for Mathematics. The course was an elective for my certification in physics, but very science oriented. Most of all, it was nearly lecture-free. The less lecture, the better.
   #2: The least valuable course was probably a course called Classroom Management. It was 95% lecture and taken concurrently with student-teaching. The timing of the course and irony of the method will always be a mystery to me.
   #3: I think my program lacked a sense of deep philosophical debate about what teaching and schooling are in the big picture of the world. It was nearly impossible to build valuable discussion with others students and professors about what being a teacher really is or should be. I think as teachers, we need a sense of meaning; without meaning, its hard to plan fulfilling objectives.

   In the end, I think I would have preferred to spend time each semester in a school with science teachers and without the pressure to just step in an perform like a master on the first day of my final college semester. Contrary to popular opinion, “being thrown to the wolves” is not a good way of attracting and inspiring future teachers. In fact, I think teaching is the only occupation that uses this method; I have never met a surgeon who began leading an operating room on his or her first day.

   In summary, my teacher training program could have improved with more technology training, more on-the-job experience, and less lecture.

   Comment by Benjamin — January 8, 2010 @ 10:04 am

10. The best teacher training I had was a workshop in the modeling method of instruction I took 9 years ago. It was an intensive 3-week summer workshop during two successive summers, with several weekend sessions during the school year, and it addressed several of the deficiencies noted by previous posters. (I’m not saying it completely solved these challenges, but it addressed them in a way that was helpful, and better.)

    The format of the workshop was to work through a high school physics curriculum while alternating in roles as student and teachers. To “play student” well, you had to think about how students would think and react to the lessons. To prepare you for the student role, reading and instruction were provided about typical preconceptions students bring to the class with them . When you were acting in the teacher role, others teachers became your students and gave you more realistic practice.

    Every time the group met again, we shared classroom stories and worked through challenges. This was especially valuable because we saw each other off and on for two years, all had the same training and were attempting to teach in the same way. I stay in touch with my instructors and some of these teachers to this day. Through the modeling instruction program, I remain in touch with hundreds of teachers nationally through an active list serve. Connecting me with this community helped to break my isolation in my own classroom.

    The curriculum of the modeling workshop included use of technology for labs at several different levels, so I got valuable experience and training.

    Finally, the workshop completely transformed my approach to teaching to the extent that I never lecture, but instead guide my students to think and construct concepts through labs and graduated exercises. The workshop gave me valuable tools and practice to make the student discourse productive so that I had a better idea what the students were thinking and how to intervene.

    The modeling workshop is the most effective teacher training I have ever received. Nothing else in my experience even comes close. It is responsible for me remaining a high school teacher today. In addition to the teaching methods themselves that I learned in the workshop, I think the things that set it apart are the practical hands-on simulation of a classroom, intensive nature, supportive community and ongoing follow-up that enabled me to be successful.

    Just yesterday, a student returned from college and visited my class. He gave a spontaneous testimonial and said that he felt much better prepared than his peers in his physics class. Many of them were more mathematically adept and prepared, but he understood the concepts and could explain what was supposed to happen. That was giving him an advantage. I attribute this type of success to what I learned from the modeling workshop.

    Comment by Matt Greenwolfe — January 8, 2010 @ 4:39 pm

11. After many years in industry, I got my teacher certificate at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA. The BMC program was centered on developing a portfolio of artifacts and reflections in the areas of 1) ourselves as learners, 2) our students, 3) curriculum, and 4) pedagogy. BMC also had an active “student dialog” project where I e-mailed and talked with a local HS student to get their perspective on learning.

    Perhaps because I was coming from industry and hadn’t done much of this before, I found the portfolio useful in articulating my thoughts and feelings about teaching. Even now, after teaching for seven years, the reflections still resonate with me. And I still actively seek out student voices in my classroom each year to gain their perspective on learning. I think that both these exercises are still helpful to “frame” my overall teaching philosophy.

    I thought ed psych was a useful course just to help me realize the relatively dismal state of educational research compared to the quality of research I was used to as a working chemist. That said, I often wish that I could have taken the course after teaching a couple of years because the ideas presented were all “academic” until I got into the classroom.

    At the time, Bryn Mawr was offering a course called New Pedagogies in Science and Mathematics. It was a seminar course with speakers coming each week from various educational backgrounds to talk about how they were teaching math or science. It was helpful for me to begin to think flexibly about how I might teach a course.

    Right now, I wish I had more knowledge about how to write assessments. I didn’t get this at all in my teacher training. It is difficult to know what I should be trying to assess and how. There are so many levels that one can approach assesments and I can’t seem to find any core of information that gets at what is most important.

    Of course student teaching was the most helpful of all. I don’t think there is any way that my classroom experience as a student could have given me a sense of what it is like to be in charge of five classes of 10th graders.

    It is interesting to compare teacher training to a graduate research program for a PhD. (say in chemistry). I felt like the process of graduate research was very similar to what I ended up doing as a industrial research chemist and the prerequisite coursework meshed with the research. You could see why you were required to take the courses as you needed them to do your research. The teaching certification program was not at all like that.

    As I think about it, the comparison is intriguing. As one who hired PhD chemists in industry, I often told them that the most important part of getting a PhD was not the information they learned but that they learned how to learn. As an industrial research chemist, their jobs often entailed learning a new area up to the current state-of-the-art and then get going with research contributing to the field. I’m not sure if there is an equivalent assumption in teaching certification. Could a teaching certificate be seen as the begining rather than the end of an educational process?

    Comment by Paul Burgmayer — January 9, 2010 @ 2:04 pm

12. My science teacher training was very poor. We spent three days of graduate school, for example, making test tube holders. The best part were the required physics courses from the physics department. Especially the advanced lab course. Not sure if this influence my teaching at all though.

    I need a better sense of how kids learn, why they have troubles with specific concept and what specific interventions could be used. BEtter yet, teachers need a connection to science education researchers, and to university science types. This would allow us to get needed information on more of an as needed basis.

    Comment by Peter Sullivan — January 9, 2010 @ 10:29 pm

13. What were the most valuable courses/experiences you had in training to become a science teacher?
    A course called “Chem Lab for Teachers” where I team taught with the professor some pre-service teachers as part of my master’s program. It was through the chem dept. and was the closest thing to a useful “education” course I had.

    What were the least valuable?
    All of my theory based education classes, including student teaching as I did not have a good teacher to student teach for (they were not rehired the following year). My practicum experiences as teacher’s aides included basically copying and grading papers with litle/no time for observation or working with students.

    What was missing that you found you need TODAY in your work?
    Learning how to manage all of the things that are asked of me at the same time. I have 200+ students with classes of 32-33 and am struggling to keep up with all of the paperwork, grading, and “extra stuff” that is not actually “teaching”.

    Comment by Ann M — January 9, 2010 @ 11:30 pm

14. I entered the field of education in a non-traditional way. I have a BS in Chemistry/Biochemistry and had worked in industry for 10 years. During this time I would tutor high school students in both chemistry and biology. I decided to enter the field of education after the birth of my son in 1991, by enrolling in the California state SOS education program.In one year, I completed my masters of education degree and CA teaching credential. I was in the classroom beginning the Fall of 1993 without a teacher mentor or student teaching experience. The course I found most useful was education psychology.

    My most valuable experiences in education, summer workshops at NASA Ames and ChemCom. The ability to network with veteran teachers has helped in the development of innovative curriculum and the sharing of strategies when working with students.

    What is missing today? The ability to have a fluid and dynamic curriculum. Having to adhere to strict pacing guides and preparing students to take a state mandated test that does not accurrately show the knowledge and practical application of the course. Additionally, there is no follow up training or support for an annual multiple-choice exam.

    With the changes in priorities in curriculum and testing, encouraging critical thinking of students has become a lost art. The role of critical thinking and problems solving is the ability to reason, the assessment of content and its realtionship to the problem, and developing connections to understanding content. This is an area that I have struggled with in the classroom. I have developed a variety of alternative formative and summative assessments to encourage critical thinking.

    Comment by Cheryl Burleigh — January 21, 2010 @ 3:34 pm

15. This is going back over 35 years. Methods of Teaching Science and student teaching were most valuable. In getting a master’s degree (7 years later) in science education, assessment and curricular design were most valuable. Least valuable: US History, Volleyball (PE requirement), History of Education, Methods of Teaching Secondary Education, The Exceptional Child (Special Education) (absolutely NOTHING on talented or gifted), and Methods of Teaching Mathematics. One course that does not fit into either category is Educational Psychology.

    Missing were a few things. Paid summer workshops, introduction to professional meetings, research opportunities, results of brain research and how to integrate it into practice, how to deal with the mound of special education and 504 work, connections to higher ed and sending schools, and how to deal with make-work/non-teaching work (study hall, cafeteria supervision, . . .)

    Comment by Nathan — February 22, 2010 @ 6:46 am

16. I was fortunate to have completed my certificate in California in the late 1980s when math and science teachers were in short supply and the state had begun the SOS (Students Out of Synch) program. I was able to complete my certificate while teaching full time in a private school. The best part of this program was that, except for a short assignment in a public school in the summer, I completed all of my student teaching in my own classroom.

    The worst aspect of the program was the interminable courses that were supposed to prepare us to teach but consisted of nothing more than professors lecturing to us on the benefits of hands-on, student-centered classes. The worst was the educational psychology course. it could easily have been tailored to helping us to understand student development (Piaget), but was obviously not geared toward teachers in the least.

    The most valuable things I’ve learned over the course of my career have come from two associations. The first was with the Exploratorium Teacher Institute in San Francisco, where I learned the importance of building physical models for students using cheap materials that they could put their hands on. I was one of the contributing editors to the original Science Snackbook and Paul Doherty and Don Rathjen were my inspirations (still are)!

    The second association is with the Modeling Workshop Program at Arizona State University. I spent two summers learning the Modeling Method from Rich McNamara and Kathy Andre Harper at the University of Maryland and St. Albans School in Washington, DC and it has changed my teaching forever. It provided a framework for all that was missing in my teaching: a way to be sure students are engaged and successfully building their own mental models while working together to reach a consensus about the experiments on which they are basing their understanding. Modeling also provided the pedagogical framework to allow me to develop my own curriculum materials and remain true to the idea that students are capable of constructing their own knowledge if I will only “shut up and listen” and “get out of the way”. Since those initial workshops I have learned even more from other Modelers (Larry Dukerich and Mark Schober) and from the many teachers who have participated in workshops I have led. Professional development is an ongoing process and even an old dog like me learns new tricks every year!

    Comment by Jeff Steinert — February 22, 2010 @ 1:51 pm

17. What was missing in my teacher training? Everything practical! I had numerous classes on adolescent development, psychology, the history of education, my legal responsibilities as a teacher, and the history of pedagogy. I studied Blooms, Gardner, plus hours of observing teachers while I was not allowed to do much except grade papers or decorate the classrooms. What saved me was the one meaningful internship where I got to look at the teacher’s units over the semester, create lesson plans, and actually teach several lessons while the teacher sat in the room.
    My student teaching was a nightmare with time spent grading papers alternating with setting up labs with little or no instructions, and teaching under the glare of a hard to please co-op teacher. When I arrived at my first teaching job I had to teach myself how to set up a grade book, use the software to take attendance and enter grades with no training or manual, determine if I was going to weigh my grades or use total points, and plan for the first day with no curriculum, supplies, or enough books for all the students. With no basic curriculum in place, I used the state standards and created units and lesson plans for each of my classes.
    I did not receive any instruction on the cycle of pre and post testing my students for each unit of study. Teaching has a rhythm or a pattern to it; each unit is connected to the previous unit, every unit has a pre-test and a post-test. The pre-test is used to guide instruction. The post-test guides any re-teaching needed or tutoring. Lessons build on each other. I also had no classroom management tips from my teachers: either they put up with the kids or had it down pat but didn’t explain how to do it beyond humiliating or intimidating the kids. I had a great college teacher that tried hard to explain classroom management to me, but some days I just couldn’t do the magic like he did.
    I was in a total sink or swim situation in my first assignment. What saved me was one very kind experienced teacher that helped me set-up my classroom and computer and got me through the bad days. Dark days when security had to come and take students out and I would be teaching with tears streaming down my face, trembling. My science courses were great, but it was pure content, not how to teach that content. My teaching classes were mostly theory.

    Comment by Karina — February 27, 2010 @ 1:33 am

18. The most valuable teacher training experience I’ve had was the 3 week summer workshop in Modeling Instruction. (See Matt Greenwolfe’s post for more details.) I also did a 2nd year Modeling workshop where I worked with a small team of physics teachers from my 1st workshop to develop and redesign units in E & M topics. E&M wasn’t addressed in the first workshop.

    Modeling totally revamped my teaching and gave me a way to make my students mentally active in class. It also gave me a cadre of like minded physics teachers with which to collaborate. This group is still my best source of information, advice, inspiration, etc. Physics teachers are often isolated in their schools. The Modeling workshop freed me from isolation.

    Another very valuable experience was my two years of teaching in Arkansas with Teach For America. I learned a great deal about the inequities in education across the United States that might never have been revealed to me if I hadn’t joined TFA.

    My teacher training program, although ranked very high nationally at the time I was a student, was not a very valuable experience. It was theoretical instead of practical and not very rigorous. I still don’t understand why strategies like Modeling, which has an excellent track record and is research based, aren’t a part of teacher training programs.

    Comment by Mary Battershell Whalen — March 5, 2010 @ 9:28 am

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