[quote=UCGal]Another small point about teachers. My sister (a teacher) has made it abundantly clear to me that there is more to being a subject matter expert to qualify you for teaching. You also have to learn the skill set of teaching – conveying the information in multiple ways – because not all students learn the same way. This is especially true in math. So math teachers not only have to understand the math concepts they are teaching – they have to be able to approach the concept from different directions – and communicate that to the class.
My sister grew up in the same house I did. Math ruled. Our Dad was an engineer. She worked in an engineering environment for years. When she went back to school to learn how to teach – she discovered her skillset was entirely inadequate. She could negotiate contracts with the pentagon, but didn’t have the skillset to teach. She had to get a credential and do a lot more coursework, in addition to her undergrad and masters she already had.
Since so many of us are engineers – I’m sure we’ve all had those “a-ha” moments in college where a hard topic suddenly clicked and the light bulb went off. It was because the teacher had found the way to explain that it worked for YOU… your classmate may have gotten it with a different explanation. Teaching is about showing multiple ways to solve something. Different students respond to different approaches.
I’m good at math. I’m a decent engineer. I’d be horrible as a teacher for so many reasons. I’m impatient. I’m not the best communicator. I want to solve the problems rather than teach others how to solve them. And so I sit in a cubicle in Sorrento Mesa rather than in front of a classroom. I picked the correct career path for me. My sister is a very good teacher… and I am a witness that she works as hard or harder than me.
I don’t begrudge teachers. There’s a lot more to it than you realize.[/quote]
UCGal,
That was an exceptionally good post. You are exactly right.
What makes a good teacher is NOT their expertise in a particular subject. It is their understanding of how students learn at various stages of development.
Teachers have to intuitively understand a student’s background, knowledge, learning style, and abilities, so that they can tailor their teaching to optimize the student’s understanding of the subject matter.
They also have to make the subject matter meaningful to the students, so that the students are motivated to learn and seek out information and gain understanding on their own.
In addition to all this, they need to have a decent grasp of the subject matter, and they have to convey the information while maintaining discipline and keeping 20-45 students on task (and challenged) at all times.
To those who say teachers should make $30K/year because their job is “too easy,” I challenge you to step up to the plate, and teach for a couple of years. Only after you’ve done it will you have earned the right to come back and tell us how overpaid and underworked teachers are.
