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My high school teacher with Harper...


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One of my high school teachers just got the Prime Minister's Teaching Award... photo of him with Harper here:

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/city/education/point-grey-mini-teacher-awarded-prime-minister-s-award-teaching

He definitely deserves this recognition. He was (and is) an amazing teacher, and one of the reasons I pursued a career in science. Just thought I'd share.

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One of my high school teachers just got the Prime Minister's Teaching Award... photo of him with Harper here:

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/city/education/point-grey-mini-teacher-awarded-prime-minister-s-award-teaching

He definitely deserves this recognition. He was (and is) an amazing teacher, and one of the reasons I pursued a career in science. Just thought I'd share.

It's always good to see good teachers get their due rewards.

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All the teachers I've come across are good.

I had really good teachers too but the reality is there are some teachers that don't take the job seriously or understand the demand when they first decide to be a teacher. As such you get some that are jaded which reflects in their work and attitude.

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As in every profession in life unfortunately.

Unfortunately you see it more in teachers than any other though. A good number enter the profession as a back up plan as it offers great benefits, decent pay and of course summers off. It isn't until they become teachers that some realize it's not as easy as it looks.

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Unfortunately you see it more in teachers than any other though. A good number enter the profession as a back up plan as it offers great benefits, decent pay and of course summers off. It isn't until they become teachers that some realize it's not as easy as it looks.

I don't know one single teacher that became a teacher for benefits, pay, or summers off. Your ignorance is not warranted.

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A recent study from the US:

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511026.pdf

Our results are largely driven by findings from the literature and new analyses that more than 90 percent

of the variation in student gain scores is due to the variation in student-level factors that are not under

control of the teacher.

ie. It's hard to measure teacher quality.

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I disagree.

Based on what ? You only have to read the study conclusion to realize the many problems with measuring teacher performance. You have to follow the situation for 10 years to make an assessment, then what happens if something changes ?

Poor schools are inundated with social problems.

The difficult part is setting the acceptable minimal standard and able to use it to dismiss those "below" standard.

Your prescription is so high level that it's meaningless. The study outlines the many problems. Your idea to fire people below some standard wouldn't be effective, in the face of the known information.

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I base my opinion on many years experience. There are many ways to gauge teacher "quality" if/when you can establish the criteria of what it is you want to measure. What do you consider "quality"? The definition will dictated the evaluation methods. The problem is that there are reams of "studies", many which contradict each other.

The criteria could vary from the results of the students taught (which means very little) to the IQ of the individual teacher (which also means very little). A teacher of "quality" to one student is an "egotistical dictator" to another to a "strong disciplinarian" to a third.

You tell me the qualities that you think make a "quality" teacher and I will give you the methods of evaluation.

But do not be surprised if your opinion is not shared by others.

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I base my opinion on many years experience. There are many ways to gauge teacher "quality" if/when you can establish the criteria of what it is you want to measure. What do you consider "quality"? The definition will dictated the evaluation methods. The problem is that there are reams of "studies", many which contradict each other.

So then ... what ? The studies contradict each other (cite ?) so what are your criteria ? The study I quoted indicates that simply asking principals to assess is subjective. And how do you know the principals are good ?

The criteria could vary from the results of the students taught (which means very little) to the IQ of the individual teacher (which also means very little). A teacher of "quality" to one student is an "egotistical dictator" to another to a "strong disciplinarian" to a third.

You tell me the qualities that you think make a "quality" teacher and I will give you the methods of evaluation.

I'm not saying that I have an answer - I'm saying that it's a difficult problem. I have to assess project managers in my job, and that has a similar challenge but you can give a set of baseline measures in the end: profitability of projects, client feedback assessment score, team feedback scores.

Don't take my issue with your proposals as meaning I think that you're way off base on this. It's beyond difficult... it's about fixing social programs... all of our problems intersect in the schools and it's political.

But, to reiterate a position I've had for awhile:

Rating students on testing is fraught with problems, and as the study points out 90% of the problem arrives in the classroom with the student.

But do not be surprised if your opinion is not shared by others.

I do believe in some basics of any proposed approach: it has to have objective results, and the solution must be agreeable to parents.

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That is the problem. Parents are not a homogeneous group. Their expectations will vary with background, their education, income, country of origin, parenting methodology et al.

The results of tests for students tell you a lot about the test.

But you are wasting your time on me. I should not have commented in the first place. A serious discussion of this issue would take days, multiple references and no resolution. If I had the time and interest I would expect to be paid for it. I have neither.

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I know half a dozen including a family member. So take your BS somewhere else

You trying teaching kids who come to school hungry. You tr getting positive results with kids living in poverty. It's easy to sit at your keyboard pretending to know what it's like. You have no clue what teachers deal with these days.

And Topaz...this isn't the 1950s anymore. Leave it to Beaver is not reality.

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Unfortunately you see it more in teachers than any other though. A good number enter the profession as a back up plan as it offers great benefits, decent pay and of course summers off. It isn't until they become teachers that some realize it's not as easy as it looks.

I beg to differ, teachers are just the easiest kick at. I could reach my hand into a barrel of any profession (even doctors) and pull out just as many duds as good'uns. The only thing you can work to is to avoid that doctor/teacher.

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You trying teaching kids who come to school hungry. You tr getting positive results with kids living in poverty. It's easy to sit at your keyboard pretending to know what it's like. You have no clue what teachers deal with these

I never said it was easy. I said a lot of the teachers go into it thinking it's going to be easier than it is and then spend their career complaining about it. Almost all of the ones I know that do this are teachers by default meaning they chose it only because they couldn't get into the profession they wanted. The teachers that are truly teachers get into it knowing it's not easy.

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