Every time I am brought to heightened emotions, whether tears, anger, frustration, elation, I feel compelled to write about the cause of these emotions. Today, it's tears.
I am in the midst of reading through my students' Path to Success papers in my First Year Experience courses. Some of them are truly making me emotional. I realize, through these narratives, that education needs to be a priority in the home. If parents don't accept the reality of how an education can lead their child to a more successful and secure life, then the student either doesn't prioritize it in their lives, and they meander wondering what type of job they can find in order to survive in life, or they fight for it--against all odds. I am reading through one student whose parents don't want her to go to college and don't feel that she is capable of getting a college degree. Additionally, they are not supporting her even though she is determined to succeed. She is working long hours and taking only 2 classes because she is fully on her own. She worries about debt at the end and wants to avoid it as much as possible, which is why she is only taking two classes. Her goal is to finish in eight years. This is only for an undergraduate degree. Another student shared that he desires to become a mechanical engineer and attend Texas A and M University. He also works long hours in order to pay for school and avoid debt. He describes if only his parents would contribute a little money for his school supplies (i.e. pencils and paper). He further elaborates on how these little things would help him reduce his work hours so that he could take more classes to finish earlier. After I read their essays, I left comments of encouragement so that they have at least one person they know who supports them and is rooting for them to finish! I also want to just provide basic needs for them, but I alone can't do this for all my students. They need so much support--from words of affirmation to basic supplies--so that they don't have to worry and that they can concentrate on their school work and make their education a priority. Students need to know that their education should come first, and it needs to start in the home. The other day I was talking with some friends about the state of US education. They were making snide comments about how "US education is not all that." They then began to list the top countries with the best education. I had to interject and share how these countries do not compare to ours because of the myriad understandings US households' view of education. There are significant number of homes that do not make education a priority; therefore, students will follow this mentality and not desire higher education or education period. Some of these other countries where the educational system are quite successful have more of a homogeneous understanding of education to where it is an absolute priority, and parents will break their backs in order for their children to succeed. These countries simply do not compare with the US. Therefore, some of the data collected do not account for these very drastic cultural differences, and this should be acknowledged. Does this mean US education can't succeed? Of course, we can! It needs to start in the home. Parents need to be educated about post-secondary opportunities for their children to be successful and thrive in our country--not just survive and live paycheck to paycheck. Parents need information sessions on career fields where certifications can be obtained rather than just bachelor's degrees. They need to know about compensation, health benefits, and the simple truth that being an educated citizen will help them make wiser choices in their lives. This can start in elementary school--not just in high school. Students need their parents, guardians and other adults in their lives to root for them--not to make them feel hopeless and alone. If it won't happen in the home, then it is all the more important for schools to advocate post-secondary education and the possibilities of greater success in life beyond a high school diploma. It is even more important for their teachers to believe in them--to root for them! We need to supply them with as much love and support--demands that we cannot ignore.
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Every time I get a burning desire to write in my blog, it is due to my passion for this work: Teacher Education.
I heard something deeply disturbing to me in a meeting today. I met with a university partner and my national organization executive to discuss my partnership with this university. We were sharing how our partnership is two-way--that there is a give and take. We help them with gathering their recruits, and they help us with developing our programs that will help our students succeed. One way we have partnered is by holding practice certification tests on our campus that this university provides, administers and sponsors free to our students. Then they also collect and analyze data for our program so that we can help our students succeed in these tests. The purpose of this test not only helps the student, but also the university and our community college. It truly is a win-win-win all around. When given some data about the test and content areas that were low, a faculty member from another partnership with this same university said, "That's not our problem if your students test low in our content area." This saddened me. I immediately realized that this faculty member just doesn't get it. First of all, this university is doing work that is exactly what teacher training programs need to do in our nation today. According to the Learning Policy Institute, "Nationally in 2013-2014, on average high minority schools had four times as many uncertified teachers as low-minority schools. . . . When there are not enough teachers to go around, the schools with the fewest resources and least desirable working conditions are the ones left with vacancies" (Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L. and Carver-Thomas, D., 2016). This university is reaching out to these types of school districts in desperate need for highly qualified teachers to teach at their schools. For every year a student is taught by an unqualified teacher, he is robbed of one year of his education. How long does this have to happen before he falls through the cracks? Does this affect only those students and those districts who have these issues? No, it affects our entire society. Do we want to continue to produce more and more students who will fall into a life of crime, lead an unproductive life or continue to hinder our society from progressing and becoming leaders globally because they weren't given the education that they needed? Do we want US education to continue to fall behind many other countries in all academic areas? Effective teacher recruitment is part of the solution. I understand that there are numerous variables as to why students fall through the cracks, but effective teachers in all classrooms can help solve these issues. If only that faculty member could understand this snowball effect. If we care about our teacher recruits and their training, then we care about those students they will teaching; likewise, if we care about students and educational equity and access, then we need to care about the types of teachers who are placed in their classrooms. If the faculty member would help that student pass that content area, in whatever capacity he can, then he is being part of the solution in helping pre-service teachers, who have a heart for teaching and students, acquire a teaching position that high poverty, high minority schools desperately need. This faculty member needs to see the bigger picture. We all are responsible for solving this problem--not just the educator preparation programs. We can't live and work in silos when it comes to US education and the success of our students. We all have to work together now--the government, the districts, community colleges and universities--we must all work together to produce the best teacher recruits possible. Our children need them! I know that we all want to live in a better society. Therefore, we all have to care, and we all have to want to be part of the solution. References: Sutcher, L. Darling-Hammond, L. & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016). A coming crisis in teaching? Teacher supply, demand, and shortages in the U.S.. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. ![]() Teachers are some of the hardest working people today. Of course, the issue of working long hours for little pay is constant. However, we, as teacher education instructors/professors, encourage our pre-service teachers to realize that it is the heart (our students and their future) of the profession that drive us. If we forget this, we can become weary and grow weak. This weakness then leads to defeat and defeat leads us to eventually leaving the profession as a whole. We lose sight of the purpose behind our long hours of grading work, preparing lessons, analyzing data, and meeting needs of our students. The purpose: to take part in our students' success and to witness them thrive and grow up to be productive citizens of our society. How, then, can we prevent our talented teachers from following this horrible spiraling down? I was discouraged today. Our faculty and our program work hard to create the best experiences for our students, work hard to develop our instruction that is hands-on and experiential, and work hard to apply for needs so that our students thrive so that they confidently enter their 4-year university program and then eventually help meet the teacher shortages. We work hard--period. My colleague and I wrote a proposal for rooms that we wanted for our program. The rooms were perfect for our needs. There was a storage area for our equipment, glass windows for parents to watch their kids while our students taught them in training. We were going to name it our Classroom Learning Laboratory. We found out today that we were not granted our request. I started to feel incredibly discouraged. It seems that we work hard, but apparently we don't work hard enough. Is this right? I then began to remember why some teachers leave the profession. We leave because of the defeat we feel when we are not heard, when our voices are silenced. We work diligently, but the system sometimes prevents us from receiving what we believe our students need. We don't have a champion for our causes. Working conditions, therefore, are not conducive to our very own teachers to thrive. According to the Learning Policy Institute (Sutcher, 2016), "Beyond resources, teachers’ plans to stay in teaching and their reasons for actually having left are strongly associated with how they feel about administrative support, collegial opportunities, and teacher input into decision-making. When these elements are present, retaining teachers is much easier." This is true, and it is evident in our case as well. If only we would have been there in the decision room to make our case. To show them the growing needs of this profession in our state today--in our nation today. The compelling data below shows that teachers are desperately needed. Not only teachers meeting these needs, but qualified teachers, providing our students early clinical experiences so that they are confident when they enter their university programs. Again from the Learning Policy Institute, we see a dramatic demand for teachers and the unfortunate slim supply that we have of qualified teachers. Districts and schools are forced to fill positions with teachers who are on emergency certificates, teach in other subjects or are simply not qualified. The attrition rate for teachers in our country is 8%. If we reduced this by just half, we dramatically decrease the demand for teachers in our country. How do we do this? One way to keep our teachers in the field is to provide a conducive learning and teaching environment for them as well. We may feel defeated because we feel that we were not heard. However, I have to remind myself that ultimately our goals and our plans, although thwarted today, are still to help our students grow and build competency in this field so that our students will have a brighter future--no matter the circumstances. References Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016, September 15). A Coming Crisis in Teaching? Teacher Supply, Demand, and Shortages in the U.S. Retrieved November 1, 2016, from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/coming-crisis-teaching-brief One of my favorite shows to watch is Lisa Ling's "This is Life." She documents controversies, taboos and silent voices in society. The perspectives she produces in the shows help us understand another angle that somehow opens our minds to acceptance and sensitivity. Blindly just mentioning the topic would lead anyone to judgment and intolerance.
Her topic last night was about the prison system in Los Angeles. I was deeply disturbed in many ways after watching this episode. First, I was disturbed by the cost of housing prisoners. There are 1.5 million people in prison in the US, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This is the size of Philadelphia. In one prison that houses inmates who are mentally ill, the state spends $70,000 per inmate. Let me repeat that $70,000.00. This is more than an average salary in our nation! These are prisoners who are basically being paid this amount. We spend about $500-$1000 per student per year in our country. How does this make sense? There are talks now about renovating the LA prison because it has been quite a while since they have updated the facilities. Yet, there are schools in our nation, where conditions are dangerous to our students--mold, leaky ceilings where mold can develop, old equipment, etc. Teachers who have given up teaching are still teaching in the schools. Some of them might as well be wardens because they probably feel like it. How can students grow and thrive in these conditions? My feelings disturbed me. Although these criminals have committed some of the most heinous crimes, I found myself pitying them. There was a vivid scene in the show when the inmates arrive for the first time in the prison and they are ordered to follow a routine of stripping them of their belongings. I couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of those who were there for the first time and wondered what thoughts were entering their minds. "What has happened to me? How did my life end up this way? I am so scared that I might die here." There were so many filing in, and then the scene fast-forwarded to the next set of new prisoners, following the same routine. How did they get there? -- Not the actual place but their lives--how did they get there? When did their education fail them? This, I believe, is a fact. Their education failed them sometime in their life. Their failures followed them. Their hopelessness followed them. I know they hold responsibility for being there, but no one showed them a better life. I truly believe this. No one was there to let them know that their lives mattered. No teacher was there to help them break out of their personal prison. My frustration and pity led me to think about these prisoners' early childhood. Once in their lives, they were innocent and oblivious to ills of the world. Their lives were limitless of great possibilities, but one moment, one decision drastically changed their path. This was the beginning of their lives spiraling out of control. Their environments failed to protect them. My thoughts again truly disturbed me. I almost wanted to cry because they were not shielded from violence, crime, gangs, drugs, etc. No one was there to keep them safe. Children need a strong barrier of protection from the world that some must live through. A school, a teacher could create this environment. I then began to think about how early childhood education must have a strong foundation. A teacher must cultivate a safe environment and a positive learning atmosphere so that the students can intrinsically motivate themselves to succeed--no matter what comes their way. Teacher training for these age groups needs to be highly specialized. All students need to know that they are cared for and loved--that their lives matter--that they have a future and a hope. This is one area where teachers can continue to develop in their teacher education. At the same time, teachers must be able to train the students to resist the pull of following gangs or violence in general. Teachers, administrators, and schools in general need to build relationships with these troubled children so that they can learn to trust and follow a life of fulfillment not of destruction. Teachers should also learn to give students a clean slate. Even if a failure follows a student, teachers need to give them a fresh start. If teachers do not, failure, hopelessness, and rejection will follow them, and then they will seek acceptance outside their safety zone. We can't continue this spiraling of lives that unfortunately end in imprisonment whether literal or metaphorical. All lives matter. Motivation to succeed starts in their primary years. Teacher training cannot focus merely on passing tests and knowing theorists. Teacher training should include knowing how to build relationships, fostering the learning environment and building a safe place so that barriers are removed and never created. The child's mind should be free from worry and fear. If we can't catch a troubled child early on, then we release the child who will be robbed of their innocence and robbed of their future. The Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, collects test results from 65 countries for its rankings, which are released every three years.
The latest results, from 2012, show that U.S. students ranked below average in math among the world's most-developed countries. They were close to average in science and reading. "In mathematics, 29 nations and other jurisdictions outperformed the United States by a statistically significant margin, up from 23 three years ago," reports Education Week. "In science, 22 education systems scored above the U.S. average, up from 18 in 2009." In reading, 19 other locales scored higher than U.S. students — a jump from nine in 2009, when the last assessment was performed. The top overall scores came from Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Macao and Japan, followed by Lichtenstein, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Estonia (B. Chappell, 2013). It is time for US education to change—for the better. We can blame that the US has lost her way, prioritizing other matters because of the incredible sea of issues in our world today. We have war; we have poverty; we have violence; we have oppression. We must combat these problems, and we cannot deny that they exist. However, what is truly at the center, the root cause, of these issues? Could it be that education is inequitable; therefore, we have these problems? Or because of these issues, we put our educational system last on our list of priorities; therefore, creating a viscous cycle? Regardless, wouldn’t our world be better when thoughtful decisions are made, when people understand others’ perspectives, and when creativity leads us to significant progress? Education is at the heart of resolving many conflicts that we must combat today. How can we ensure that education is a priority and that our future will be more secure? One way is to prioritize our teacher training programs to produce educators who will inspire their students. Teachers, today, need to be skillful, innovative and passionate about teaching our future leaders, innovators, inventors, great contributors and teachers in our society. It is time for a significant change in the way we train our teachers to educate our youth. The higher ranked countries greatly regard the teaching profession. Teachers in those countries are honored, lauded, and esteemed by the public. The other way we can prioritize is through our marketing of the profession. In the US, we need to re-brand the profession of teaching. This can be done. There has been an extensive stress on marketing STEM fields as highly respected professions. Likewise, there’s a significant push to influence young girls into engineering careers. These marketing efforts restructure our public’s view on STEM fields and women entering into these fields. They provide a pathway that what was once overlooked--but now is a possibility. We can do the same in changing perspectives about the field of teaching. With creative marketing, we must attract others into the teaching profession. There is an enormously growing need for teachers across our state and nation. All educator preparation programs (EPPs) are called upon to increase the teacher pipeline. More importantly, we must not neglect the value of producing highly qualified teachers. Community college teacher preparation programs can provide significant learning experiences for pre-service teachers. We produce a significant number of diverse teachers, provide a pipeline of “grow your own” teachers in many districts, and offer a financially viable avenue for those who cannot start at four-year institutions. It is a travesty today if a teacher leaves her college or university with a mountain of debt. All teachers should be given the privilege of graduating debt free. In fact, a report from Recruiting New Teachers "Tapping Potential: Community College Students and America's Teacher Recruitment Challenge” (2002), a nonprofit organization whose primary goal is to meet teacher shortages states: "Community college students represent an important, yet still largely untapped, pool of prospective teachers," according to the report, "Despite evidence of their promise, the role of community colleges in helping to solve the nation's teacher shortage crisis remains relatively unexplored." Additionally, from Community College Week, the executive director of National Association for Community College Teacher Education Programs (NACCTEP), Kimberly Tobey, mentions that “[i]n 2013, the American Association of Community Colleges reported that approximately 7.4 million students attended community college for credit. According to this enrollment data, Hispanics, Blacks, American Indian and students with more than one ethnicity were more likely to enroll in community college as first-time students than white students.” Therefore, we can increase the number of diverse teacher candidates who will enroll in Educator Preparation Programs. To this end, it is imperative that community colleges firmly establish a solid ground for our future teachers so that they will find job satisfaction and, in turn, have a long-lasting career in the field. Community college teacher preparation programs can achieve this by providing early clinical experiences that will deeply root our students’ knowledge and skills. With this foundation, Lone Star College-CyFair Associate of Arts in Teaching program has created a vision and mission that encompass the aforementioned core values about teacher preparation at the community college level. Vision Lone Star College-CyFair Associate of Arts in Teaching Department fully dedicated to meeting teacher shortages. Our program will not only focus on increasing enrollment, but helping our pre-service educators develop a passion for students, for teaching and for service. We believe that the teaching profession is a worthy occupation that will make a significant difference in children’s lives. Through incorporating project-based and service learning, students will make a firm decision to join the teaching profession. Mission Statement LSC-CF AAT program’s mission is to provide a solid foundation of essential concepts in education, to develop servant leadership, and to nurture a passion for student success. Upon acquiring these skills, students can seamlessly transition to an Educator Preparation Program (a 4-year university) to obtain a Texas Educator Certificate. |
AuthorProfessor of Education at Lone Star College-CyFair Archives
April 2017
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