Although I appreciate that students are graduating from high school unprepared to pass college placement exams, I have reservations about the amount of learning assistance time they need so that they are able to pass the exams. Like I wrote in my reflection, maybe what we need are transition programs (between high school graduation and college entrance) for those students who want to go to college but need to improve upon the basic skills needed for passing the placements.My quote for the week: A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. Thomas Carruthers
We have done our jobs as teachers if our students no longer need our help because they are ready move on to learn more than we are able to teach them.
That's such a scary concept for teachers--to become unnecessary! I agree, though, that the end of teaching should be that students can function without our help and scaffolding. We're supposed to help them strive for mastery, and part of mastery is not needing an outside Master. Great quote and great points!
ReplyDeleteI think that the "being progressively unnecessary" means that when we first our students at the beginning of the year they are almost totally dependent on us to give them the guidance they need to achieve success as students in the class. If we do our job right and we teach them the right skills, they will eventually be able to do the work without being so dependent on us as teachers. One of our jobs is to teach them to become independent thinkers and learners, but I don't think that there will ever be a time when good teachers are no longer needed.
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