Requirements to teach.....

So I thought to myself recently, "I know what I want to go into career wise....but what kind of classes will I need to take to get said degrees and endorsements to teach?" well, I decided to do a little research and.... I'm not quite sure what to think.

I want to do a double major in college-- US history and German. Simple enough, right? For an endorsement to teach German, I need to obviously pass German. Apparently, according to this PDF file I found (it was created by the State of Iowa), the endorsement I need is
126 5‐12 German, whatever that means.

As for US History, I thought it would be cool to possibly teach an AP level class as well as a regular level.... meaning, I would need to be endorsed to teach both levels. AP level requires two endorsements in and of itself (158 5‐12 American History, 186 5‐12 All Social Sciences). On the list I found, there was no one 'full US history' course, it is instead broken down into Early and Modern US history... but it makes no sense. The requirements for both early and modern US history are 158 5‐12 American History, and 186 5‐12 All Social Sciences. Meaning, I take both classes, and I'm qualified to teach both an AP level and regular level AP class....weird. You would think with teaching an AP class, you would need to have a deeper understanding of the topic than just what is required for a regular level course.

All in all, I really don't understand these endorsement things, I'm not quite sure if they're classes I have to take, but I'm assuming so. Sooooo...if I sound like a complete fool, that's why. It's something I'm planning on looking into deeper before I start college.

Good Teachers ---> Good Schools?

As I was reading my book, I found out that generally speaking, newer (and less experienced) teachers are sent to worse schools in districts. I suppose this makes sense, seeing how for the most part, our teachers are pretty experienced (Note: I say experienced, experience doesn't always make for the best teachers). The idea the author of my book has is (from what I got out of it) to put new and inexperienced teachers into higher preforming schools, thus moving the older, more experienced teachers to lower level schools.

A good idea, I guess, but wouldn't that just create a teeter-toter effect? I think so....good schools would become crummy and crummy schools would out preform most. My idea is along the same line, transfer some teachers that are experienced in their career to underachieving schools across the country, and move some newer teachers to better preforming schools. Keep a balance between experienced and new teachers, and maybe the education gap would even itself out. Then there's the question of how to keep teachers in bad schools, new teachers want a job wherever they can get one...but experienced teachers don't have that problem. The author suggested pay raises, which isn't a bad idea. However, I think that the government should intervene-- make keeping the ratio the government's responsibility. The government could place the teachers, seeing how they wouldn't be able to find a better job in education somewhere else, the government would oversee all of it. With that idea in place, the balance would be kept in place.

Rank and File

You want to know something I'm most certainly not going to miss when I'm out of school? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway, the testing. I hated all those scan trons, the standardized tests that put you in rank with other students in your grade and made you feel like a fool when you did poorly. I never really did that badly I was always in top 5-20% in the nation when it came to the ITEDS and ITBS tests we've taken yearly since third grade, which I think gave me a blown-up ego. I know when my scores slipped when I hit 10th grade, I was devastated, I felt like dirt...It kind of makes me wonder how the kids who see those scores year after year feel. Surely it can't be a good feeling to see on that paper you did better than 20 kids out of 100. There are 80 kids out of every 100 that are smarter than you, is what it basically says.

I think the testing and ranking should be removed from school ritual. I know our school is named 'one of the best in the nation,' but really, the people who give our school those titles don't see what our school is like. I'm sure there are schools out there worse than ours as far as 'student character' what not goes, but....In my humble opinion, we're not as great as we make ourselves out to be. In my eyes, it's more of a mix between morals and academics that would make a school 'one of the best in the nation'.

Test scores and GPA and all that are only a statistical look at a school-- it doesn't give a personal view. If you want to really wanted to give the school an award (this goes for any school, not just ours) the representatives from those organizations who give the awards should spend a few weeks observing the school-- to get a feel for how things really are, don't just give us awards we earn on numbers alone!

The Termination of Homework

Well, as a student all I can say to that idea is, "please, do get rid of it!"

Students hate homework, it takes away from their free time-- their time to unwind. Again, this is a point that the author of my book brought up, and I must say, I have to agree, it's a wonderful idea! We go to school for just about as long as most adults work, and we need the same time in the evening to relax and do our own thing without the hours of homework put on us by our 6 different teachers (none of which seem to understand that the other classes are loading us down with homework just as hard as they are)....
Most students have after school activities (be it work related or school related) that keep them busy until maybe 7 or later (I know when I work during the week, I'm usually not home until 9-9:30PM). As soon as the students get home, they have to hit the books. This doesn't seem right to me.

All right, so we realize that there's a problem with homework overload, right? How do we fix it? It seems to be a circular pattern. Increase the length of the school day to integrate some time to serve as a study hall, where students should be able to get their assignments done. This leads me back to my old blog post about extending the school day. The more I think about it, the more benefits I see in a longer school day.

The Idea of Full Day Kindergarten :-/

So in the book I'm reading, Brian Crosby says that full day kindergarten would provide a foothold for better education. I honestly thought that school districts all ready had mandatory full day kindergarten-- I mean, I went to kindergarten all day. I did a little research into this and was pretty surprised by what I found.

this pdf file is pamphlet distributed by the Foundation for Child Development, and discusses the benefits of having students in full day kindergarten. Page 10 has a color coded map of the US saying which states have laws making full day kindergarten mandatory (Iowa isn't among them). Actually, only 18 states in the country do require students to attend full day kindergarten.

I'm honestly a little surprised that 32 out of the 50 states don't have laws for full day kindergarten-- yes, I realize that most school districts have integrated it into their districts anyway, but I'm still shocked. With laws so lax, I can see why our country is falling behind academically. My point here is that the United States should probably be a "little" bit stricter in its enforcing of academic standards. It's really quite simple-- you want children to become successful adults, you have to put the motivation in them while they're young. I know in kindergarten I was much more interested in learning than I am now, and I think most children are. If the desire to keep learning is instilled in them at a young age, hopefully it'd carry over into their high school life and beyond.

Job security, student quality, and the kind of teacher I want to be

I think I touched on this in an earlier blog, but I think today I'm going to talk a little bit more about job security involved with teaching. I heard on the news that CRSD is going to drop some like 48 teachers going into the next school year. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about this, but seeing how I'm focusing on teaching as a career, it's a pretty big concern to me.
Usually teaching is seen as a career where you're pretty much there for life. From what I've seen lately, schools are dropping teachers like flies...this worries me. It seems like to me, that the education system is falling apart. A lot of the teachers I've had seem like they could care less about the student's learning and instead are worried about their salary.
Of course, we can't pin everything on the teachers. So, let me place some blame on us-the students. There are a lot of students at this school-- and across the nation-- that could care less about their education. They're still in the mindset that they're going to be come famous and money will never be an issue (and in their eyes, their lack of an education will mean nothing). I find that attitude disgusting. Sure, i don't do my homework ALL THE TIME-- I'm not a candidate for Valedictorian by any means, but...I know that my education is important and something that I shouldn't take for granted. I could be living in an impoverished country where education isn't mandatory, or in a country where women aren't allowed to go to school.
We're lucky to be living in America, a modern country where everyone is given an opportunity to learn (whether or not some of us take it is another matter). I think that students should take advantage of the things that they're given, and those teachers who only care about the money they're making, should reconsider the career that they've chosen for themselves. To be a teacher, I think that you need to have a certain personality. You need to actually care about your students, you want to see them do well in life, not fail. I also understand that there are some students that you just can't help and need to give up on, but I'm referring to the students who actually would like to succeed-- teachers should be always willing to help their students, even if it causes them some inconveniences. I once had a teacher (in elementary school) who would come in at 7 something in the morning and pull me out of my daycare program at the school, just so he could teach me how to do long division-- because I was the only one in the class who didn't get it. It's that kind of teacher that I want to be like-- willing to cause myself inconvenience to see students do well.

Drop Out Rates

Recently our school newspaper did a thing about drop outs, following up on them at other places. That wasn't what interested me in this thought, by any means, but reading a chapter in my book reminded me of it. In my book it stated that 1/3 of seventeen and eighteen year olds drop out of high school. Along with that, it cited that we rank 11th in the world of students who complete high school, when we used to be 1st. That's not right. I don't know why students feel the need to drop out (the book says that they simply 'hate being there'). That 'i hate being here' complaint doesn't fly with me. I hate being at school, honestly. I don't like a lot of the people, the condition of our text books are pathetic, I detest being looked down on by most of my teachers.... I could go on a rant if I really wanted to. However, I recognize without this diploma which I'm getting in just a few short weeks, I won't become anything (much less a teacher).
The drop out rates in America disgust me- I just don't understand how people can say 'oh well screw this, I'm done' and walk out on their education like that. Maybe it's because I've only had one person graduate college in my family, ever....and I know I don't want to wind up like the rest of my family working for only ten dollars and some cents an hour.
Either way, my point is that I think there should be more enforcement regarding drop out rates, even if it required students to graduate (New Mexico has a law like this- mandatory graduation for all high school students).
I also have this video, it's basically a bunch of high school drop outs talking about their experiences post dropping out......:

What the heck?!

Just a little random post here, but I have been hearing a lot about these 'corrupt' teachers on the news lately. It has something to do with my career of choice, so it's a valid post I think. So here are a few stories I found on KCRG's website about said teachers: Story 1, story 2, story 3. The worst part is, all three of those stories took place within the month of March. 3 teachers accused of molesting students....it's just sick! I think teachers should be hired with A LOT more care. That's not to say all teachers are bad (obviously), but you have to admit there seems to be a lack of concern about who is hired sometimes. I think that students should know that their teachers have never had any sort of trouble with that sort of thing- background checks and even possibly psychological evaluation should be done on new teachers being hired. That's just my opinion though, but I do think it could possibly cut down on these sort of events taking place. I also heard somewhere that teachers who are acquitted from these crimes/accusations, go on to teach in other school districts, because teachers can choose not to have their records released or something like that. I think that should be banished. A teacher's record, like a criminal record, should stick with them for LIFE.

Point 4: Longer School Years

It's all ready well known that the United States doesn't have as many days of school as say....Japan? Most 'developed' countries in the world all are sending their kids to school for longer than we are. We wonder why America's lagging behind....we need to pick up the pace for our students. Students may not like it, but if we want to remain a successful country leading the world, we need to. Brian Crosby makes this point as well. He doesn't say to jump to the 243 days that Japan has, but do increase the amount of days to around 200, and lengthen the hours to about 4 or 5 (with this, however, classes start around 9, so it's just an extra hour). This, according his calculations would mean something like another 20 days of school built into our school years on top of the additional 20 anyway. Here is a chart I found listing school days by country..... as you can see, Japan is at the top.

This site I think does a good job at explaining how students are taught around the world. If the choice were mine, American schools would be taught more like Japanese schools. Having spent a week in one, I actually found it pretty nice (aside from the language barrier, so I couldn't follow along, but I digress). They generally have school from 8AM to 4PM, with a mandatory club (i.e.: chess club, sports, etc) that can last until around 5, then students return home. They aren't given a lot of homework, but they study on their own constantly. If we could instill that kind of dedication in American students, there would be no reason why we're lagging behind in education.

Point 1: Schools and Prision are one in the same

In Smart Kids, Bad Schools, Brian Crosby makes the point that schools and prisons are very similar. His point is that schools should be a more inviting environment for children, and if that happened, students would have more of a likelihood to succeed in school. He says that schools need to innovate to help students (i.e.: comfortable chairs, nicer desks, etc). Though I agree with this point, I think going about it would be difficult, and it wouldn't last. Keep in mind I'm speaking as a student, having been through the education system (or nearing the end of it, rather). I don't know where schools would get the money to get these 'innovations'. Nor do I think people would take care of these items. They'd probably end up like the desks and chairs we have now--in pretty horrible shape. Just from some of the people who attend our school, I think it's fair to say with some certainty that things would not be taken care of if we were given something nice.

Mr. Crosby also brings up that from childhood, students would be taught to take pride in their new schools, thus decreasing the chance of vandalism and whatnot to school's property. Again, not a bad idea, but what about high school and middle school students NOW who don't respect their school's property? What do we do about them? It's simple psychology, say that you can't do something and most often, someone will lash out and do it anyway. My point here is that if we took the middle and high school students and said "oh you can't mistreat the chairs/property/whatever", someone will do it anyway. I don't think you can have a complete education overhaul unless we take a year, maybe 2, off to do the things we need to do to create this new education system.

My Book

It's not really MY book, actually, it's the book I'm reading for our assignment....but I digress. The title is Smart Kids, Bad Schools, 38 Ways to Save America's Future by Brian Crosby. Now how could some guy just go and write about a complete overhaul of the United State's education system? Aside from the fact that he's been through it, he's also a National Board Certified English teacher with over 20 years of experience under his belt teaching. This book isn't about teaching per say, but it is about the field of education--which i think counts as acceptable reading material. He also uses examples from those many years teaching in his writing, thus making it a book about education from a teacher's perspectives. From what I've read so far (which is like 50-60 pages, give or take) I have to say that I agree with Mr. Crosby on a lot of his plans. Most of them are logical little tweaks to the system that could possibly have a major affect on the way students learn and even how they view education and the architecture of schools themselves. The very first way to "Save America's Future" as Mr. Crosby words it is to change the way our schools looks. He spends pages upon pages comparing schools to prisons- and honestly, speaking as a student, I have to agree with what he said. I think in the next few posts, I want to focus on my opinions regarding his opinions, though they're (again from what I've read) mostly similar, I do have some slightly varying views on how to go about what he says in his book….

My biggest concern....

Lately, I've been hearing about school districts cutting down on teachers. It's all over the news- with the bad economy, people aren't hiring even for the 'safe' jobs- teaching, doctors...etc. This is a big problem. It's always been my goal to be both successful (monetarily) and hold a safe job where firing would be rare. Even at our school, a couple of teachers will be dropped going into the next school year. That's scary to me. I'm worried about what might happen after college...

Sure, let's go with the idea that I do graduate college with my double major in history and a foreign language. Great for me, right? Not really, if I can't get a job. I'll be among the millions unemployed or still be working some sort of part time job. I’m not complaining though, if I did manage to get a part time job after college. Then again, it is my plan to keep the job I currently have to sustain me through college, but I- like most people- don't have plans to invest myself in the company for the rest of my life.

I don’t know how things will turn out 5 or 6 years down the road, who knows, maybe our economy will be recovering by the time I’m done with college and districts will be more interested in hiring. It’s hard to say what’s going to happen 5 or 6 years in the future, no one can predict it. Either way, I know teaching is the career I want to go into, and if I have to apply all over the country (even in places I’d rather not live—i.e.: the Deep South or way up north) to get a job, I will.

What I have to do

So....my plans for becoming a teacher....I haven't really thought a lot about it. I guess I've had this idea in my head that I'll just go to Kirkwood and do my Gen Ed's (because they don't offer a specialized teaching program)and after I got the credits I needed from there, I'd enter UI or ISU. I've decided on UI just because it's closer to where I plan to be living while in college. Dorms aren't really an option, because of the expense, so I'm trying to arrange living arrangements with friends while in college. I want to do a double major- history and either Japanese or German (it's a hard pick because I've taken Japanese for 4 years, but I've always wanted to be fluent in German). Either way, I want to make sure I'm qualified to teach more than one subject, it'll give me a better shot at getting a job in a school district.

While this is the ideal plan, it probably won’t happen like that. I’ll probably get my 1st major in history and probably do something like JET (see previous post) for a year— if I can’t get a teaching job right away—and then come back to teach in the United States.

As for where I want to teach, I’m not sure yet. If my relationship keeps going as it is, I’ll probably be moving to the East Coast (something I’ve wanted to do for a long time), or to Seattle (another top pick). The only downfall to teaching in Seattle I have seen is that the pay there is horrible. Teachers with a PhD who teach in the Seattle area earn about as much as a teacher with merely a Master’s do here in Iowa. That’s majorly disappointing to hear, especially since I’ve always loved Seattle’s atmosphere. I found this article listing the 6 highest paying cities in the US for teachers....only a few sound like places I could actually stand to live.

We’ve discussed in class the possibility that money isn’t everything in a career, but for me, it’s pretty big. I've lived in the lower middle class with only one income all my life pretty much....and I hope to do better in adulthood. So why teaching, you probably ask.... I know teachers when they start off don’t earn much. That I’m fine with—but if you stay in the district for a long time, teachers can do pretty well for themselves. Especially if they’re qualified to teach in more than one area.

ESL?

Since high school started, I had been playing with the idea of teaching English in a foreign country. It seemed like a great idea, because I love foreign languages...but after learning Japanese for 4 years, and actually going to Japan and meeting ESL teachers, I think it's probably not the 1st choice for me as far as life long careers go, it might be fun for a few years though...... These videos are a pretty good summary of what I assumed life would be like if I did ESL through a program like JET....
Here is the offical site for the JET program

My Inspiration to Teach....

I've wanted to be a teacher for a really long time-- late middle school was the first time I actually considered it. Since then I've gone from wanting to do ESL in Japan, to wanting to teach literature, or be an elementary school teacher.... and I think now I'm settled on the idea of being either a US history or European history teacher.
My sister went to college to become an elementary school teacher, which I thought was really cool. She got her degree almost four years ago and is now doing leasing in California. Despite the fact that she didn't actually become a teacher, I think the fact she even went to college for teachnig was awesome and one of my biggest inspirations.
Throughout elementary school and most of middle school, I had teachers that I....wasn't too fond of. They didn't inspire me to at all. But in 8th grade I had a US history teacher that just had this way that made me think 'I could do this, I could actually be a teacher'. Since that time, I've been really lucky to have some of the (in my opinion) best social studies teachers in our high school. They've taught me so much, and sparked my interest in all kinds of topics.
The combination of these factors is what inspired me to go into college wanting a degree in teaching and history. :)