Teacher Identification Good or Bad? By Amanda Cranford English 2010 MW 10:00-11:20.

Teacher Identification

Good or Bad?

By Amanda CranfordEnglish 2010 MW 10:00-11:20

When it comes down to the survival of mankind, education is a very important factor, if not the most important.

Education is what allows human beings to:• Think properly• Make effective decisions• Work efficiently

Without education humans would not be where we are today, living how we live. Especially in today’s modern world, life would be extremely difficult without a decent education.

The most important aspect of the education system is the instructor or teacher. They are the role model of the students; the one relaying knowledge and shaping the future generations.

Many Americans (parents, students, teachers and school board members) feel that the public education system is riddled with far too many incompetent teachers, labeling them as ‘bad teachers’.

These bad teachers are not meeting the criteria or standards set by education systems; they are poorly educating their students, therefore negatively affecting their future as well as the world as a whole. The future of the world depends on the education of the future generations.

How do bad teachers affect students?

The answer should hopefully be obvious; teachers are shaping the students’ minds, leading and controlling them in the direction of where their learning is going. One’s voice, opinion, views and even how they fit into society is heavily influenced in the education system, especially by the teachers one has had. If there is a negative influence over any of these areas, it can lead in a wrong direction.

This of course needs to be changed; these insufficient teachers either need to improve their teaching methods or be fired from the school system.

Teachers are the leading factors in the education system, and if they are incompetent in their teaching methods they negatively affect the system as a whole.

Identifying an insufficient teacher is the first and most difficult step in the process of improving the ‘bad teacher’ problem.

How exactly are they defined?What criteria is used to measure and

asses teachers?

Those are the questions that many principals and school board officials face in dealing with problem teachers since each one is truly a different case from the next.

What exactly is a ‘bad teacher’?

Let us identify some characteristics that define bad teachers.

Good vs. BadCharacteristics of Bad Teachers Characteristics of Good Teachers• They lack subject knowledge• They have poor classroom

control• They act unprofessionally• They can’t diagnose learning

problems• They are obsessive about

method• They focus on the wrong goals• They have no goals at all

• They teach beyond the textbook• They teach students to their current

level• In lesson plans they (a) connect daily

teaching activities to the Standards and curriculum (b) relate one lesson to the next (c) establish clear objectives

• They revise lessons often (sometimes during the lesson itself)

• Keep students active throughout lessons

• Involve students in establishing rules and consequences

• Be professional in dress, speech and attendance

These lists come from the article Characteristics of Bad High School Teachers Reveal Avoidable Behaviors for New Teachers (Foot et.al 129, 133)

How does one tell bad teachers from good teachers?

There are many arguments and disagreements over how a teacher’s effectiveness should be evaluated, focusing mainly on experience, performance, and peer evaluations.

Performance and Experience

A bill passed in Georgia in April of 2011 nicknamed the LIFO Bill (Last In First Out) “…requires local school systems to use teacher performance as the primary factor when deciding layoffs” says Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog. Reviews of performance will be largely based off student performance which is argued to showcase the teacher’s teaching abilities.

“Supporters argue that the policy change will give job security to the best educators and give mediocre teachers reason to improve.” (Downey, par. 5) 

Opposers of the bill argue that there are too many variables in the judgment; each individual student will vary, and in essence do whatever they want no matter the efforts of the teacher.

Due to this variable, value added (VA) has been used in the evaluation: VA is based on the improvement of one student’s test score to the next, supposedly reflecting the teacher’s quality of teaching. If improvement is shown, the teacher must be a good teach. If improvement is not shown, the teacher must not be an effective teacher.

There are still many variables within this method so it is largely protested by teacher unions.

Peer/Administration based Evaluation

This method includes teachers and administrators to sit in and observe the teacher in their classroom, evaluating teaching methods, structure of the classroom, and student behavior. Many feel this method is insufficient and will exert many biased reports due to whether or not the evaluator likes or dislikes the teacher.

A Perfect CombinationThe overall best option of evaluating teacher’s effectiveness would be a varied combination of the two; performance is a huge factor in teaching, but more importantly is whether or not the students are actually learning. Test scores and student performance should be taken into consideration, as well as some factors of teacher performance, perhaps based on comments from students as well as administration and faculty.

Methods of assessment should not be limited to just one. Apart, those two methods contain too many variables for anyone to agree with; together, they still contain variables but they are lessened and create for, while it may not be a perfect system for evaluation, a better one and a step in the right direction.

Although it is a difficult process, both timely and costly, in identifying and supplying evidence against an insufficient teacher and often times principal’s “would rather hide or transfer incompetent teachers than try to oust them,” (Mendleson, 52) if the education system is truly cared about one will become an advocate for bettering it, taking the time to evaluate teachers and help them to improve or dispose of them.

Especially in today’s modern world, it can simply not be afforded to be poorly educated. Teachers must be adequate and sufficient in supply information to their students, leading them in positive direction.

Works CitedBurke, Audrey. "Education Equals Future." Http://educationfuture.info/. N.p., 2009. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Consulting, CTE. "Follow Mom." Cartoon. Crestock. Crestock Images, n.d. Web. 2012. <http://www.crestock.com/image/2390265-Follow-Mom.aspx>.

Downey, Maureen. "Good vs. Bad Teachers: Who Decides and How?" Blogs about Atlanta News, Sports and More. Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2011. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.

Finn, Chester E., Jr., and Marci Kanstoroom. "Improving, Empowering, Dismantling." Public Interest 140 (2000): 64-74. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2012.

Lazy. N.d. Photograph. Http://lemartinixo.wordpress.com. Http://lemartinixo.wordpress.com, 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.

Works CitedMendleson, Rachel. "Why It's So Hard To Fire Bad Teachers." Maclean's 122.125 (2009): 52-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.

Terry, Pamela. "Teacher Yelling at a Student." Cartoon. Clipart Guide. Acclaim Imagery, Ltd., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Unknown. "Unknown." Cartoon. Maine.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://www.maine.gov/education/mecitizenshiped/youth/how_to_get_involved.html>.

Wingert, Evan Thomas,Pat. "Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 05 Mar. 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. Write-teacher-evaluation. N.d. Photograph. Reachingheights.org. Reaching Heights, 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.

Works CitedFoote, Chandra, Paul Vermette, Shirley Wisniewski, Audrey Agnello, and Cathy Pagano. "The Characteristics of Bad High School Teachers Reveal Avoidable Behaviors for New Teachers."  Education 121.1 (2000): 128-35. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.