Mr. Bobby is a young male teacher at a suburban school in a college town in the South. According to our county, he is one of the VERY best teachers around. I won't agree or disagree, because I don't really know what I think of Mr. Bobby. He does have the highest test scores/growth in the city for his subject area, but then, his kids can't answer basic questions about his subject.
On the flip side of the story is a veteran teacher named Ms. Megel. (btw, not real names) Ms. Megel came from Florida, where she taught High School Science curriculum to 7th and 8th graders who had the potential to succeed. Her students aced the FCAT/end of year exams and went on to do great things. She had to move to our city because of her husband's work. Instead of taking a job at the suburban schools, because of her background, she ended up teaching to low SES students. Her students showed some growth on scores, and dozens of them would tell me about how excited they were about using a microscope (which they had never even seen!), or how amazing their note-taking interactive notebook was. Yet, at the end of the year, Ms. Megel was given the lowest possible scores the system can give a teacher, basically, because test scores were just too low. Yet, her students can explain scientific principles that they had never heard a year ago. This year, "coaches" have to come and observe ms. Megel to see that she is improving her test scores. So far, the best advice they have given her is "Several students seem to finish early and are playing around during that free time. You need to give them something to do during that time."
My own story has been somewhere in the middle. While my scores weren't as good as Mr. Bobby's scores at the Suburban school, we did do very, very well. I received the highest rating possible even though it was only my first year. Then, last year, I moved to an inner-city, low SES school. I nearly quit after a month because the kids were just so poorly behaved I was in shock. We couldn't get substitute teachers to come and cover us when we were sick because the kids would literally run them out of the room. I pushed through, however, and with the advice and strategies of veteran teachers I got better and better. I taught WAY better last year. I grew so much as a teacher that this year I've already been told that I'm in consideration for our schools' representation of Teacher of the Year. My students can do things that I would have thought a year ago were impossible. I have had students in tears because they couldn't believe an adult cared that much about them. I have turned a student around by kicking his donkey (rear end), showing him if he didn't get to work, he wouldn't be playing football on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays. Yet, my own teacher rating last year dropped like a rock. I didn't get the lowest ratings, it was very middle of the road. But, how is it I taught so much more, accomplished so much more, and yet, according to the government, last year I wasn't a very good teacher?
Should I spend all my time on test-prep? Is this what the government wants? When my kids have never even heard of Christopher Columbus by 8th Grade (they haven't), I stop and have a thorough discussion about who he was and why he matters to the students. Yet, I feel pressured every day to instead give the students definitions that they copy so they can ace their multiple choice tests.
The answer, of course, lies in the middle. It's easy to say, "Well, screw what the government says, and do what you know is right." However, even the Democrats are turning against us, telling me that the two of us who have sacrificed so much for lower-income students could be let go because the test scores just aren't there.
A survey released last year (as soon as I can find it, but I remember reading it here on Dailykos) showed that 80% of parents loved their child's teacher. But only 30% of parents loved teachers all together. Republicans had accomplished a major goal in getting parents to dislike teachers, but it seems these days that the Dems want to jump on the pile, as well.
So, what do you guys think? What makes a great teacher?