I've been meaning to reflect on the parts of the Baltimore City Teaching Residency(BCTR) I've participated in so far. I'm in the Math Immersion Program, which takes folks who aren't from a math background and trains them to become math teachers. This is done because Baltimore, like most cities has an enormous shortage in the number of qualified math teachers. The question yet to be answered is does this program bring in more qualified math teachers or just more bodies to fill rooms?
Today was the first day of the summer institute and it left me with a lot of questions about my status as a school teacher. A lot of the literature I have received through this program stresses the high need for qualified teachers in inner city schools, particularity in math and science. An article we read today cited a statistic that in schools with greater than 49 percent of the students on free lunch 40% of the math teachers were considered underqualified meaning they did not major or minor in the field they are teaching. In schools with less than 20% free lunch only 25% of math teachers were underqualified.*
BCTR and similar residency programs are designed to lessen the disparity in these statistics. My fear is that bringing me, with my bachelors degree in American History into a classroom to teach math is not helping this. The Maryland Board of Education has determined that after completing the Math Immersion program I will be considered highly qualified. Being highly qualified sounds nice, but ultimately it is a meaningless term that is easily circumvented to fill the real need for math teachers. While this program seems to be a reaction to necessity I am left wondering how the problem of underqualified teachers is going to be solved and if I am part of the problem.
Up until this point I've felt pretty comfortable with the idea of teaching math. In the fall I will most likely be teaching 9th grade algebra. For the most part my anxieties about teaching do not revolve around the content. Statistics about the problems created by underqualified individuals make me wonder if I will be a successful teacher. If I am what will this say about the importance of being highly qualified?
*The article I am citing is "Helping All Students Learn: CLosing the Achievement Gap" By Kati Haycock. The statistics I have cited come from page 16 of this article.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Highly Qualified
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2 comments:
Hi Dan,
I enjoyed reading your recent
reflection. Very insightful.
This coming from an experienced
teacher (though Washington County's
student population can't be compared to Balto. City's)....
If you feel comfortable with the content then good, great...that is
one hurdle...the next is classroom
management...sounds clinical and
cold...but that's what successful
teaching is to me...creating order
in the classroom so that you can
inspire your students. I have seen
many wonderful, well meaning teachers fail even though they love
their 'kids' and have a passion for and knowledge of their subject...they just didn't see the need for or didn't know how to
implement classroom management.
Felt like I needed to share years
observing classrooms with you.
You certainly have a challenge
and I admire you for taking on
this job.
I look forward to hearing about
your successes!
Carole
Thanks. Classroom management is one area where I am afraid I could be lacking. I am going to try and stay concious of the fair implementation of my rules. I've heard consistency is really the key and hopefully I will be on top of things enough to stay consistent with rules and consequences.
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