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Taught a lesson: Regents support training teachers for the real world

By all means, let's get Thomas Dewey out of education courses.
The paper even provides a hot link to info about Thomas Dewey, a link that offers quite a few facts. The hot link to Friere offers almost nothing.

It's a hoot to think of the Regents objecting to information about New York's 47th governor, but that makes more sense than declaring that John Dewey is not important to teachers adn teaching. Here's a small point of information: I live in Charlotte, Vermont, where John Dewey taught briefly 1881-1882--before heading off to Johns Hopkins to get his doctorate. He was born nearby in Burlington, where his birthday is celebrated every year. He attended schools in Burlington, with an undistinguished record. He did much better at the University of Vermont, where he stood second in his class.

John Dewey started the Chicago Laboratory School, where Obama and Duncan have very close ties. Too bad Dewey principles failed to rub off.

Editorial

The state Board of Regents has planted the seed for a quiet revolution in the way teachers are trained - so that they actually focus on how to impart learning.

Teacher education programs are infamous for overemphasizing gobbledegooky theory rather than useful knowledge and skills.

Newbie instructors too often emerge from ed school stuffed with the ideas of everyone from Thomas Dewey to Brazilian Marxist theorist Paulo Freire (author of "Pedagogy of the Oppressed") - but clueless about how to help kids learn.

But now, alternative programs are focusing on clinical practice rather than theory and on producing more teachers who are actually ready to hit the ground running. The Regents are going with the flow by okaying a pilot that would give upstart organizations the power to train teachers, concentrating on the how-tos of the profession.

In the world of teacher education, this is viewed as a radical and threatening assault on all that is good. Everywhere else, it's common sense. One wishes the Regents had been even bolder and mandated a sweeping ed school overhaul.

That said, we're betting that aspiring teachers will flock to programs that offer the best practices for classroom success rather than jargon-filled lessons that are meaningless when standing in front of 25 first-graders, let alone among hormonally charged teenagers.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/04/25/2010-04-25_taught_a_lesson.html#ixzz0mDYvZSn8


— Editorial
New York Daily News
2010-04-25
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/04/25/2010-04-25_taught_a_lesson.html

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