Teachers are going to be tested
March 20th, 2010
The calm, confident and focused teacher
As the health care debate nears some resolution (at least for the time being), the legislative agenda is already setting its compass to point towards education. A lead article in the New York Times titled “Obama Calls for a Major Change in the Education Law,” the President and his Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan are calling for a re-visioning of No Child Left Behind.
(see referenced article link to ‘Major Change in Education Law’)
One of the key features of the new policy is the focus on teachers and how they teach.
Quoting the article: The administration’s proposals would also rework the law’s teacher-quality provisions by requiring states to develop evaluation procedures to distinguish effective instructors, partly based on whether their students are learning.
I read this to mean: teachers are going to be tested. Big time. I don’t mean…
that they’re going to be sat down with test booklets and scantrons, but their very work itself will be under the microscope and evaluated. The test for teachers is going to focus on two questions: how are teachers going their jobs, and effective are they? Certainly, student performance will be an indicator of teacher success, but there will be a great deal more attention to how teachers are instrumental in making that success happen… or not. This doesn’t have to do only with “teaching to the test,” but the way teachers carry out their jobs. Do they instill confidence in their students? Do they motivate them staying focused so they can succeed? Do they show them how to be calm and centered in the face of ongoing challenges?
It’s the same three legged stool: calm, confident and focused. It’s the same platform for successful performance, whether you are a teacher, a student, a politician, an opera singer, or a pro athlete.
When a teacher is calm, confident and focused he or she radiates the qualities that every student needs to succeed.
Everyone wants to succeed. Everyone can learn to be calm, confident and focused. Our teachers light that light inside of each of us.
