Recently both President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have stated that paying higher salaries for teachers with Masters degrees is money poorly spent. Well, except for maybe math and science teachers. But for the rest of us educators, having advanced education does not bring any greater results in student achievement. Both men have also placed strong emphasis on charter schools and programs such as Teach For America to as solutions to the current problems in education. Both charter schools and TFA depend on young and enthusiastic educators with little to no experience. They are inexpensive to hire when they bring a desire to change the world and make a difference in the lives of kids – but have little education experience or graduate degrees. You can’t beat the price for enthusiasm.
In more than 16 years as an educator I have come to realize that experience, education and training DO matter. It has taken me many years to craft my lessons and understand the rhythm that is necessary to keep a lesson moving and motivate every learner in the room to work to their best potential. It has taken many professional development workshops and trainings to be able to integrate Project Based Learning, Differentiated Instruction, Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences, 21st Century Skills and all of the trends in education that have been in vogue since in the past two decades. I have learned to map my curriculum with the best of them; I design my courses with Backward Planning. Sure, any college grad could probably learn the lingo, but to really bring the methods into their classrooms is another thing.
What I’ve really learned in 16 years in education is how to work with kids and parents. I, like so many young teachers, really thought that kids who didn’t do well were lazy or just didn’t try. What I’ve come to understand is that kids do care and kids do try. Finding the best way for the student to demonstrate learning is the tricky part. And the part that comes with experience. Finding the patience to work with a student who is acting out or refusing to engage in class comes from knowing that tomorrow you’ll hopefully see a change. Or the next day. Teaching a student is not only about the subject but about life. Experience has taught me that every day students bring baggage from outside of class – a home foreclosed on, a parent’s illness, divorce, an abusive relationship. Experience has taught me that I am only one adult that can influence a child’s life, but at that moment in time I am the only adult who is there in the classroom to make a difference, who can make their day better, who can help them learn something they have never known before.
With 16 years’ experience, a Master’s degree, and hundreds of hours of further professional development and training, I earn much less than my contemporaries who have chosen other careers. I have no expectation that I will ever earn a bonus or get a substantial raise. I am a professional educator. I care deeply about kids and am passionate about teaching and learning. Our children matter – your children matter to me and I hope my children matter as much to the teachers who educate them. With all due respect, President Obama and Secretary Duncan – you are wrong. Advanced education for teachers improves teaching. Experience improves teaching. And measuring education only by student test scores is wrong.
[…] Experience Matters […]
Great post! I am re-reading Outliers by Gladwell and his focus on the number of hours needed to become excellent at something is worth noting. He states, “The idea of excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice…”
I cannot think of a profession where this is more true than education. There are no quick fixes to becoming a master educator. I guess when your job is contingent upon an election every four years you don’t have time to worry about real, long-term solutions.
[…] for Real Reform – Real Ideas, Not Faux Reform speedchange.blogspot.com – tomwhitby Experience matters « Magistra’s Musings magistram.wordpress.com – November 22, 2010 by magistram Recently both President Obama and […]
Very thoughtful post, and I do not disagree – experience does matter, as I too learned from 16 years in the classroom. But how do we build a system that brings young educators into the profession and gives them the tools and support to begin making a difference? Many school districts struggle with this issue, whether or not they use a program such as TFA, and the successful ones seem to be those that thoughtfully connect experienced educators with the not-so-experienced and do so in a manner that is long-term, well-planned, research-based, etc. But there need to be more, obviously – more districts that spend significant time and energy to ensure that new educators are ready to make a difference in the classroom.
Experience does matter, but as Aaliyah so wisely suggested, it “ain’t nothin’ but a number.” The number of years you have been in the classroom don’t mean anything unless you engage in meaningful reflection of what works/what doesn’t AND change course when necessary. I believe we have all encountered (or perhaps have been taught by) educators who have taught the exact same course year after year.
I’d also like to second Abner’s point about getting excellent teachers in the classrooms that need it and help to teachers whose skills are lacking. Many school districts are desperately wanting for warm bodies in the classroom–experienced or not. If not TFA, Teaching Fellows, Career Transitions, than what? How do we fill empty positions in troubled school districts?
I do worry about getting young teachers into classrooms. The current atmosphere of (sometimes hostile) criticism towards educators and the endless focus on test scores does nothing to inspire young people to enter our profession. Programs that get young people into classrooms should not be dismissed out of hand. But are these programs doing justice to both the participants and the students they teach? Do they provide adequate training and support? Are there mentors in place who can guide young teachers through the most trying times of the first few years? Are there supportive administrators who are willing to see occasional failure, knowing that ultimately those challenges will make a teacher better?
I loved the post.
I work with new teachers as well as veteran ones. Through experience, we learn what works and what does not. We become more competent in our practices. I have see enthusiasm in new teacher; However, I have seen it in veteran teachers too. New teachers bring a spirit into a classroom but veteran teachers have a great deal of reliability to share. In short, good teachers are determined by their effectiveness. Experience brings reliability. I have heard teachers say on more than one occasion, “I would pay 100 dollars for my first year of teaching.” In short, experience and reflection helps to create a better teacher.
I wonder if Obama would like to be operated on by a new surgeon or one with many years of experience. I guess that decision would help determine his real viewpoint regarding experience.
I do not even know how to address how ridiculous the idea of further education not making a better teacher is. That is just insane. What happened to the idea the more we learn the more prepared we are? Would this same line of thinking apply to the medical field????
It’s frustrating to hear such dismissive comments from politicians under the guise of reformist statements. The teaching profession below post-secondary level is already under-appreciated, and public sentiment seems to blame teachers for the failings of their students. While I agree that many teachers and educational systems are in need of drastic reform, the blanket statements from politicians and well-meaning influential individuals are demoralizing to all of us who dedicate ourselves to thoughtful and reflective teaching practices. What makes Bill Gates an expert on high school education? In what field does greater mastery and experience of a job not improve performance?
Michelle Rhee is quoted in a recent interview with Newsweek as apologizing for tarring all teachers with her inflammatory rhetoric about bad teachers. “I did a particularly bad job letting the many good teachers know that I considered them to be the most important part of the equation,” she states in the Dec. 06, 2010 issue. “I totally fell down on doing that. As a result, my comments about ineffective teachers were often perceived as an attack on all teachers.” She’s right about that. When everyone tells us how to do our jobs, and that we stink at what we’re trained to do, it does more to lower our effectiveness than any lack of reform.
Rhee continues in the same interview, “Go to any public-school-board meeting in the country and you’ll rarely hear the words “children,” “students,” or “kids” uttered. Instead, the focus remains on what jobs, contracts, and departments are getting which cuts, additions, or changes. The rationale for the decisions mostly rests on which grown-ups will be affected, instead of what will benefit or harm children.” I find this generalization infuriating. In our district, the emphasis is firmly on the students…or more often on how the parents might react to anything we do that upsets their perceptions of how the school ought to be run. Teachers have legitimate grievances: we’re expected to give up our energy, time, and effort with very little given in return, to the point where we’re exhausted and our families have put our pictures on milk cartons with the caption “last seen under a pile of student essays”. None of us chose this job without understanding the commitment required or expecting an easy path to riches. Yet we do it selflessly, which is perhaps more than many others can say about their careers.
In 2009, the House of Representatives was in session for 151 days and enacted 1.3% of the bills and resolutions they introduced (source). Let’s apply some merit pay to the Representatives, require continuing education with budget restrictions on their reimbursement, and evaluate them based on the number of things they actually accomplish and see if that improves their effectiveness. What, I’ve never been a State Representative, so I couldn’t possibly know how difficult the job is? I shouldn’t base one person’s salary on the influence and accomplishments of other people in a group? Really.
Jenn, thank you for your thoughtful comments and reflections. It is infuriating to know how hard we work, to know how committed the vast majority of educators are to children, yet to continuously be bombarded by messages of doom and impending disaster. We are not failures and we are not failing our students. We, educators, need to keep repeating this low and clear. Then, perhaps, the so-called reformists who have never set foot in a classroom will start to realize that wisdom and experience should be valued.