Presentation on the Coorelation between High Post-Secondary Grades and Successful Teachers

On Thursday, the classed watched another presentation. The presenter was Heather Toth. She presented the research that she found while writing her essay. Her topic was asking the question of whether or not high post-secondary grades are a correlation between successful teachers. This is a topic that our classed has covered before because high grades do not necessarily mean that you will be a successful teacher, and it actually can mean the opposite sometimes. If this is the case, then why do universities praise these marks and allow only those with higher marks access to education programs?

Heather went over two studies that she looked at for her research. First, she looked at a study that questioned the practical value of what first year teachers have been taught in college. In other words, do the skills learned in University/College help fully prepare teachers? They found that there were 5 major deficiencies that teachers felt they were not prepared for when they went out into the field. These consisted of:
1. Classroom Management
2. Understanding Changing Families
3. Working with Parents
4. Establishing Rapport with pupils
5. Working in an Organization

For me, I think #2 and #3 are my weakest areas. These are things that we have not really discussed in class, but at the same time, a lot it is a learning experience. I just have not personally dealt with them. My biggest fear as a teacher is working with parents, but at the same time, as we haven’t discussed it much in classes. There could be brainstorming ideas for these deficiencies to help give 1st year teachers ideas to helping students who are going through changes as well as working with parents. Other deficiencies that were not mentioned in the study that the class felt was lacking in the program was using the chalkboard/blackboard and technology. I think especially with technology because it is constantly changing and there is so much to know that this is an important area.

A difficult aspect of this study is that the word “success” is such an vague word, that there is not one clear definition. Some people view success as merely making it through their teaching career, whereas others focus more on what their students get out of their teaching. How can we clearly answer this question without a model of what success actually is?

Overall, Heather’s presentation was really interesting. I think it is very interesting the way the system works to become a teacher. I also think that a lot of what we learn in University needs to be looked over to help us become better teachers, but once again, at the same time, the more hands-on-learning we receive (such as our professional semesters), will help us that much more.