A quick post today. I am subbing for a history class, and they are watching the film Enemy at the Gates, an extremely violent, pseudo-historical account of the Battle of Stalingrad. But that’s what movies are for when a teacher is gone and he needs a quick and easy lesson plan. That’s okay. No judgment here; I’ve done it myself. Sometimes the kids need a break, not a lesson from the sub. It’s up to the teacher anyway.
One of the classes I am subbing for is America and the World, a generic course title that meets state course offering requirements for the diploma. The teacher, however, is a good one, choosing a deeper study of historical eras rather than broad snapshots of American history for the sake of covering material as quickly as possible in a text-book.
This history teacher, who has taught for at least twenty-five years, is a good one. How can I tell? It’s easy for a colleague to know the “good” ones, though because of loyalty and a reluctance, often misguided, to criticize fellow teachers, teachers tend to remain silent about commenting on each others’ classroom performance. Primarily this is because teachers are used to being isolated from each other. Once in their classrooms, that’s where they tend to remain during the school day.
The District Calendar and Bell Schedule drives the pace of learning in any high school, so there is little time for any real collaboration within and among departments. Yes, some districts build “early release” time into the weekly schedule for teachers to meet with their departments, but one hour a week is not enough time for effective collaboration, and often the time is devoted to planing testing logistics.
High schools now reflect a testing culture, not a collegial culture, which, sadly, places importance on learning content first and foremost while not on allowing teachers any opportunities to hone their craft. It’s clear to me that one of the most powerful methods of honing our craft is simply observing other classroom teachers. I know that there is risk. Teacher evaluation methods (typically principal visits classroom for five or ten minutes then writes up an evaluation) have conditioned teachers to believe anyone—teachers, parents, guests—observing your teaching methods is doing so to evaluate you in some way. Why else would you be there? But I’m convinced that there is no better way to improve your own skill set than to watch others practice their own.
I can’t claim to be a reliable judge of good vs. bad teachers. Whatever criteria someone would use to make such a judgement, if applied to my tenure as a classroom teacher, I think I would fall into either category. But he is good teacher for two fundamental reasons: he loves his students and he loves teaching them history. The end result is that his students love him and, therefore, end up loving what he teaches them. This is an extremely simple formula for effective teaching. But are his standards high enough? Is his content rigorous enough? Do they know the subject matter well enough to score high on state tests? The answer: letter grades and test scores don’t tell the complete story. Ask his students what they know about American history, but make sure you ask the question in the right way.
Call and Response 