Friday, December 4, 2009
Can dispositions be taught?
In reality, I do not know. I have not studied enough formal psychology and sociology to really know or provide an educated opinion that will answer this question. However, I can quote one of my biggest role models who tells me all the time the following, "I can teach any man to fix a machine, what I can't teach him is personality." I agree, one cannot teach personality. People have an innate personality. Now, I do believe, as my role model does, that personality is not solely innate, but can be and is affected by the environment. This lends itself to the nature vs. nurture idea. Moreover, dispositions are more like attitudes and one could easily argue that opinions and attitudes can be affected and changed. Therefore, based on this brief analysis drawn from both opinion, experience, and research I would to offer the following conclusion: when it comes to theories and philosophies concerning dispositions, attitudes, values, morals, and beliefs, I believe someone can teach TO anything, but one cannot FORCE anyone to believe or accept the teachings. That acceptance and belief is up to the learner. This assessment is neither bad or good, it is neither for better or for worse, it is a reality.
Resilience
"How do we prepare teachers for the stresses related to the teaching profession?"
My true answer to this question is, "I do not know." I have some ideas though. I think honesty is a good technique. As a current student of an education program, very few times has a professor told me or a class in general that education is a hard and stressful profession. I am only aware of this reality by talking with current teachers, both new and old to the profession. Perhaps some stress management techniques could be put to good use, or possibly, more emphasis on classroom management could help. Advice as well as techniques and best practices concerning interactions with administrators and parents, I think would be most beneficial. On a different note, I think we as a society expect the world of teachers but do not always offer them any of the benefits in return. Doctors have high stress jobs and work long hours, but are compensated both monetarily and with job prestige. I feel that both aspects are lacking in the world of education. I think teachers need to be offered high, competitive salaries along with great benefits and I think a little more appreciation for their work and the amount of work a good teacher puts in is necessary. I found with my studies that if one wants to be a great teacher and an effective teacher, one must work very hard. Yes, there is the aspect of teaching that the reward is watching students learn and grow and take pride and care in their work and learning. Though this aspect may be enough inspiration to draw some people into the profession of teaching, it may not be enough to compensate these same teachers for their high stress positions and not always ideal working conditions.
"How do we prevent 50% of teachers from changing professions less than three years into their career?"
Give them more money...well, money is not everything, but it might be what is missing from teachers' salaries, from school programs, both core and extracurricular, and what, actually, might be missing from education in general. Unfortunately, or fortunately for some, we live in a society that is run by money. Two of the greatest high school teachers I had both left the profession because they could make a lot more money doing something else. Though they both seemed to love teaching and did a fantastic job, their paycheck just wasn't cutting it, so they left the profession. From a different standpoint concerning money, a district may have a fantastic science teacher, but if this science teacher's program has no money for expansion or enough to stay on top of the latest technology, etc., the district may find themselves out of a great teacher who may have left to go to a place where their program or skills will be appreciated and well funded. This is sort of playing the "what if" game, but I believe that teacher retention would be at a much higher rate if the job became a competitive one where the benefits were well worth the effort. Otherwise, in defense of these teachers who change careers, it could very well be because the person found out that teaching just was not for them, and they were responsible enough to make the decision to leave the profession, hopefully to go work a job they can truly enjoy. It does both a school district and its students no good if they have a teacher that hates their job. A reason this scenario may occur, is because I am not convinced that pre-service teachers are always given enough opportunities, early enough in their course of study to really educate them about what the career of a teacher is really like. I feel that every course of study including both education and all fields outside of education should provide students with as many practical experiences as possible, so that students are well aware of the demands and the benefits of their prospective professions.
My true answer to this question is, "I do not know." I have some ideas though. I think honesty is a good technique. As a current student of an education program, very few times has a professor told me or a class in general that education is a hard and stressful profession. I am only aware of this reality by talking with current teachers, both new and old to the profession. Perhaps some stress management techniques could be put to good use, or possibly, more emphasis on classroom management could help. Advice as well as techniques and best practices concerning interactions with administrators and parents, I think would be most beneficial. On a different note, I think we as a society expect the world of teachers but do not always offer them any of the benefits in return. Doctors have high stress jobs and work long hours, but are compensated both monetarily and with job prestige. I feel that both aspects are lacking in the world of education. I think teachers need to be offered high, competitive salaries along with great benefits and I think a little more appreciation for their work and the amount of work a good teacher puts in is necessary. I found with my studies that if one wants to be a great teacher and an effective teacher, one must work very hard. Yes, there is the aspect of teaching that the reward is watching students learn and grow and take pride and care in their work and learning. Though this aspect may be enough inspiration to draw some people into the profession of teaching, it may not be enough to compensate these same teachers for their high stress positions and not always ideal working conditions.
"How do we prevent 50% of teachers from changing professions less than three years into their career?"
Give them more money...well, money is not everything, but it might be what is missing from teachers' salaries, from school programs, both core and extracurricular, and what, actually, might be missing from education in general. Unfortunately, or fortunately for some, we live in a society that is run by money. Two of the greatest high school teachers I had both left the profession because they could make a lot more money doing something else. Though they both seemed to love teaching and did a fantastic job, their paycheck just wasn't cutting it, so they left the profession. From a different standpoint concerning money, a district may have a fantastic science teacher, but if this science teacher's program has no money for expansion or enough to stay on top of the latest technology, etc., the district may find themselves out of a great teacher who may have left to go to a place where their program or skills will be appreciated and well funded. This is sort of playing the "what if" game, but I believe that teacher retention would be at a much higher rate if the job became a competitive one where the benefits were well worth the effort. Otherwise, in defense of these teachers who change careers, it could very well be because the person found out that teaching just was not for them, and they were responsible enough to make the decision to leave the profession, hopefully to go work a job they can truly enjoy. It does both a school district and its students no good if they have a teacher that hates their job. A reason this scenario may occur, is because I am not convinced that pre-service teachers are always given enough opportunities, early enough in their course of study to really educate them about what the career of a teacher is really like. I feel that every course of study including both education and all fields outside of education should provide students with as many practical experiences as possible, so that students are well aware of the demands and the benefits of their prospective professions.
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